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Spartan Recap: Michigan State Swept by Notre Dame

Spartan Recap: Michigan State Swept by Notre Dame
SEF College Hockey

Following a tough series against the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, the Michigan State Spartans took on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the second time this season. Notre Dame took both games of the series, both with a 2-0 final.

Game 1:

Ahead of the first game, there were no new entries into the lineup for Michigan State, but there was one major change based on who was already on the roster sheet. Freshman Pierce Charleson got the nod for his first career start for the Spartans, while Dylan St. Cyr started for the Fighting Irish.

The first period was slow with a lack of scoring chances from either side. Charleson looked good, especially towards the first half of the period when Notre Dame was in the Michigan State zone and pressuring, but the Fighting Irish only had two shots in the last 8:30 of the period. For the Spartans, they had six shots in the first period, but they also had some missed opportunities when there were people absent in the slot. Overall, the game was scoreless after one, and the shots were 8-6 in Notre Dame’s favor.

4:31 into the second period, Notre Dame entered the Michigan State zone on a two-on-one, and after Charleson made the initial save, Landon Slaggert slapped in his own rebound from a tight angle. With just over 13 minutes remaining in the period, Kyle Haskins headed to the box following a tip, sending the Fighting Irish to the power-play, the first man advantage for either side. The Spartans, who have done well down a man this year, killed the penalty. With 6:13 to go, the Spartans went to the power-play for the first time in the game as Jagger Joshua was fighting for the puck in the Notre Dame zone, but Matt Hellickson was called for holding, but it was killed off. With less than a minute left in the period, the Fighting Irish had an opportunity on a two-on-one, but Alex Steeves sent it over the top of the goal. After two, Notre Dame had a 1-0 lead over the Spartans, and they had a 23-21 shot advantage.

Notre Dame began the third period by heading to the power-play as Tommy Apap went to the box for hooking. That was killed off, and then the Spartans headed to the power-play after Max Ellis was whistled for holding the stick. Michigan State had a few opportunities on the man-advantage, but nothing was able to get past St. Cyr. Just under halfway through the period Mitchell Lewandowski found Nico Muller who was streaking and he put it in the back of the net to tie the game at one, but the referees went to the box to review it for offsides, and the goal was overturned since Muller was offsides. With 8:36 left, Alex Steeves beat Charleson five-hole to make it 2-0 Notre Dame. Michigan State emptied their net with less than a minute left in the game, but there was no empty-net goal. The Spartans were defeated by the Fighting Irish, 2-0, and were outshot, 33-27.

Following the game, Head Coach Danton Cole, Pierce Charleson, and Tommy Miller spoke to the media.

Cole started with an opening statement. “Typical Michigan State Notre Dame hockey game, good hard battle and played a lot in the trenches. I think the guys did a decent job and you come up a little bit short, and it brings a bad taste to your mouth, but the guys didn’t cheat us, and there are things we’re going to have to do better tomorrow night and there are always some positives to build on and learn. I told the guys after the game that we could work harder, we can play better and we have to tomorrow.”

Cole said that Charleson started because they wanted to give Drew DeRidder, who had started every game up until the first game of the series, a night off. He has also been happy with the play of the Freshman Class, including Kyle Haskins, A.J. Hodges, and Kristof Papp.

In the first two periods, the Spartans had some strong offensive chances. “As pleased as you can be for not scoring any goals, I guess. The guys worked hard, we did some things, a couple turnovers, a couple shots, power-play moved it around, had some great chances, forecheck was good. I thought after they called the goal off it was hard to generate much of a forecheck. Overall, some of the things we worked on and we’ve been pushing, the guys are doing well… we’ll have to be a little bit harder and a little bit better.”

Charleson said that he found out that he was starting on Thursday after practice, and that Drew DeRidder has been helping him all season, ahead of his first career NCAA start. “All season, he’s been helping me, showing me the ropes a little bit, he’s done a great job, I’ve learned a lot from practicing with him every day.”

Miller thought that the Spartans had good chances during the close contest. “Obviously, you don’t want to be down a goal, but I felt like we had some good chances throughout the whole game, especially the one that got called back in the third, that’s tough and it would have been a different game at 1-1 rather than 2-0 after that. I think we can capitalize on those tomorrow, maybe some bounces go our way, shoot a little bit more, get more opportunities off the rush in the offensive zone and those shots will go in.”

Game 2:

In the second game of the series, Michigan State was celebrating the accomplishments of the Senior Class of Tommy Apap, Gianluca Esteves, Charlie Combs, Mitchell Lewandowski, Brody Stevens, Tommy Miller, Austin Kamer, and Jake Smith during Senior Night.

Alongside that came one lineup change, with Aiden Gallacher, who was banged up in Friday night’s loss, coming out for Jake Smith. Drew DeRidder got the start in the second game of the series, while Dylan St. Cyr started for the Fighting Irish.

Just under five minutes into the game, Jagger Joshua laid a massive hit on Notre Dame’s Matt Hellickson. It was originally called a two-minute-minor but after a quick review, the referees determined it was worthy of a five-minute-major and a game misconduct for a check from behind, sending the Fighting Irish to the power-play, and the Spartans, who dressed 13 forwards in Saturday’s contest, down a man for five minutes, and down Joshua for the final 55-plus. With 1:26 remaining in the penalty, Colin Theisen put a shot behind DeRidder to give Notre Dame the lead over Michigan State. After the first whistle following the man-advantage, Tommy Apap and Charlie Combs got into it with Solag Bakich, but there was no call. With about 5:30 to go in the period, Jake Boltmann was called for holding against Adam Goodsir, but it was nulled 48 seconds in when Mitchell Lewandowski was called for interference. None of the special teams during that span resulted in a goal. With 1:50 left in the period, Lewandowski and Spencer Stastney were given cross-checking penalties, resulting in four-on-four hockey for the remainder of the period, and the first ten seconds of the second period. After one period, the Spartans were down 1-0, and the Fighting Irish also had an 18-8 shot advantage. There would be ten seconds of four-on-four hockey to begin the middle period.

To begin the second period, the four-on-four expired rather quickly as there were only ten seconds remaining. The second period was quiet with some opportunities both ways, but with 6:28 remaining in the period, Brody Stevens and Nick Leivermann went to the box for coincidental roughing minor penalties, resulting in the third four-on-four of the game. With 34 seconds left in the period, Colin Theisen headed to the box for elbowing against Josh Nodler, giving the Spartans a power play. Michigan State requested to review the call to see if it was a five-minute major-worthy penalty. After the review, it was called a five-minute major and a game misconduct against Theisen for elbowing, and the Spartans headed to a continuous five-minute power-play. Michigan State will have 4:26 of power-play time to begin the third period, and after two, Notre Dame held their 1-0 lead and they were outshooting the Spartans, 29-23.

The Spartans’ power-play was unsuccessful to begin the third period. Just over halfway through the period, Christian Krygier was sent to the box for interference, and Notre Dame took advantage on the power-play as Landon Slaggert scored just over halfway through the man advantage. Soon after, Jake Smith and Nate Clurman were sent to the box for roughing penalties, putting the teams at four-on-four for the fourth time in the game. During the four-on-four, Spencer Stastney headed to the penalty box for hooking Dennis Cesana. With just under a minute left to play, Drew DeRidder left the net, giving the Spartans the six-on-five. The Fighting Irish were unable to score with an empty net. Notre Dame came out of the game victorious, 2-0, sweeping the series, and outshooting Michigan State, 34-29. Following the game, the Spartan Senior Class continued the tradition of kissing the Spartan logo at center ice, as seniors have done before them.

Head Coach Danton Cole and Captain Tommy Apap spoke to the media following the game.

Cole started with opening remarks. “Tough series, tough game tonight, but one thing we talked about with the guys today was the intensity and the physicality and how hard you have to play, not just against Notre Dame, but against anyone, and I just think it’s something that we’ve been working on lately and trying to establish and get a little back in our game. Last three weekends we’ve ended up 1-5 and a lot of things haven’t bounced our way. I think tonight was probably as hard as we’ve worked, the guys battled right to the end. We lost a special teams game, but the guys gave us a chance. They’ve got to take that, enjoy the Senior Night aspect of it and get a little rest tomorrow and get back to work on Monday.”

He spoke highly of the seniors and what they have meant to the program. “These guys came in and jumped into it. We didn’t recruit them, so they were coming in blind. The seniors that year did a really good job, and these guys bought in as a freshman class, they’ve worked extremely hard, they’re very close, they’ve done things. When (Assistant Coach Chris) Luongo and I got here some of the things we wanted to establish was the way Coach Mason had in terms of how we handled ourselves on and off the ice and how we move as a team and culturally and these guys bought in and left their stamp on it. I told them after the game that regardless of where (the rest of the games) end up, what they’ve left here is a pretty good legacy. They’ve taught the young guys, those three classes behind those guys are a representative of what they are and it’s up to them to carry it on… when you get things like that where everybody knows what it means to be a Spartan in how you behave, in how you act, in how you work, how you sacrifice for each other, then you go from just having a hockey team at a university to having a program. I like a lot of the stuff we have culturally and we’ll get over the hump, we’re going to win some games before all this is over and we’ll keep building from there, and a lot of that will be based on what those guys have helped us to established here.”

The Spartans have had a tough time scoring over the past month. “It’s not easy scoring goals in the Big Ten, look at some of the games. They’re tight like this weekend, it could be one bounce and things go in. You’ve got to keep shooting the puck, I thought our defense did a pretty good job getting them through and I thought our forwards were banging around the net. We’ve been challenged scoring goals a little bit this year, but the guys have done a lot of work and it’s just working on getting your shots through, it’s working on volume and quantity as much as quality and then all of a sudden you’ll bang in a couple of goals that are around the net… There’s not a lot of secrets to it, you keep shooting, you keep driving, keep working on some things. I think we have, and it’s the same as every season. You’re never scoring as much as you want, and obviously, this weekend was a challenge for us.”

One of eight seniors honored tonight, Tommy Apap has a strong connection to the school he calls home. Growing up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, his father, who passed away during his Junior season after fighting a ten-year battle with ALS, made him a fan of the green and white.

“Being a Spartan has been everything to me. My dad went here and all of his family, I grew up a Spartan, he almost brainwashed me into it, and I’m so glad he did. It’s been an unbelievable experience since I’ve been here from the first day we got on campus to now. We’ve had our ups and downs, for sure, we’re struggling to score and win games, but our season is not over though it was Senior Night, we’re not done, we’re not quitting on the season. I love our group of guys, and I’ve loved our group of guys all four years, so I have to say I’ve been pretty lucky to be a Spartan.

The Michigan State Spartans are scheduled to face the Wisconsin Badgers on Friday and Saturday at Munn Ice Arena, the home of Spartan hockey.

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