Glen has already posted the score and Jeff the boxscore to I-H-L, so it would
seem up to me to post an analysis of the win which moved Michigan State into
sole possession of first place in the CCHA.
The game started at 6:45 to avoid running into commencement (which didn't make
much difference except fore fact that about half the stands were empty for most
of the first period except for the last few minutes). About 25 seconds into
the first period, Anson Carter took a tumble near the Western goal and appeared
to have sprained a knee, but was back before the end of the period. According
to today's LSJ, he hit the post with both legs and "they felt numb." Carter
was pretty much ineffective the rest of the game.
MSU made it 1-0 midway through the first, when Tony Tuzzolino, on a pretty good
individual effort, spun in front of the Western net and backhanded a pass to
Steve Ferranti, who beat Marc Magliarditi. Spartans ended up outshooting WMU
in the period 15-7.
The game seemed to settle down a lot in the second, with a lot of whistles
and scrums resulting in penalties. MSU went up 2-0 when Jeff Kozakowski hit
Taylor Clarke with a pass on the Western side of the red line after he had
beaten the defense. Clarke dove to stop the puck from icing, had time to get
up and skate into the Western zone ahead of the Bronco defense, and beat
Magliarditi high to the stick side.
The Broncos never seemed to be able to get their offense on track throughout
the game and managed a total of 18 shots, many of which were easy saves for
Chad Alban, who posted his second shutout of the season. The only difficulties
Alban seemed to have were not clearing the puck from in front and forgetting
to look up and count how many men are in the zone when you leave the net (he
actually went after a loose puck with all 10 players in the MSU zone and only
2 or 3 above the faceoff circle). MSU's shot totals ended up at 35, but many
of these were fairly easy saves for Magliarditi, since many came from the point
with no screen in front. Neither team scored on the power play, with WMU
going 0-4 and MSU at 0-7.
The rougher play started in the third, with Western's frustation added on top
of the fact that these two teams always seem to get into extra action whenever
they meet. Some of this had started in the second, with some extra shots after
the whistle by Kyle Millar, which landed him and Mike Watt in the penalty box
for two each. The third saw Cardwell for WMU and MSU's Vanstaalduinen go at
it after Cardwell checked Vanstaalduinen into the boards after an icing call.
The major fight of the evening occured with about 3 1/2 minutes left, when
Jamal Mayers checked MSU's Brian Crane from behind in front of the MSU bench
(for which he received a 5-minute major) and the gloves dropped from there.
Crane picked up an extra 2 along with the fighting 5 and the game DQ (surpris-
ingly, this was MSU's first DQ of the season) to go with Mayers' 5 and DQ.
The extracirriculars culminated with delay of game penalties for Carter of MSU
and Maloney of WMU, when Maloney hit Carter after Carter had been stopped by
Magliarditi on a semi-breakaway. (Looked more like it should have been 2 for
Maloney for roughing and 2 for Carter for trying to stop the punch with his
head.)
MSU put it away with an empty-net goal by Sean Berens (who has a point in 12 of
the last 13) at 17:48 (before Crane's 2-minute penalty had expired, and MSU
would have gotten a power play for the remainder of the game). Ferranti's
goal in the first turned out to be his fifth game-winner of the season, and
earned him #2 star. Alban received #3 and Clarke #1.
Out for Saturday's games will be Mayers of WMU and Crane of MSU, which is a
much bigger loss for the Broncos. Michigan State, now with a two-point lead
over Western Michigan, 4 over Michigan, 8 over LSSU, and 9 over BGSU, will
host the Lakers tonight at a snowy Munn Ice Arena. Western will go home to
play Michigan, coming off their second consecutive "let's put a snowman on
the scoreboard" rout in their victory over LSSU at Yost.
G. M. Finniss
Michigan State University 11-2-0, 14-4-0
Congratulations to the Michigan State women's volleyball team, who at approx-
imately 2:45 am EST this morning (I was up watching) advanced to the Final
Four with a come-from-behind, huge upset win over the Rainbow Wahine of the
University of Hawaii in Honolulu. MSU lost the first two sets 15-6 and 15-8
and trailed in the third 5-2 before winning the third 15-10, trailed in the
fourth before winning that set 15-7, and led 8-3 in the rally-scored fifth
before allowing Hawaii to tie at 11 and then managing to retake the lead and
hold on for a 15-12 win in the fifth set. (Spartans were down 6-0 at one
point of the fourth set [or game, sorry, I'm mixing my terminology].) The
Rainbow Wahine had been undefeated at 31-0, including 23-0 at home, leading
into last night's match. The Spartans will now advance to the semifinals in
Amherst, MA on Thursday to play the winner of the Nebraska-UCLA match in
Lincoln.
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