Full data on OSU's 2nd goal: White (Peters, Power) 10:55 1st period
 
Given that now MSU has blown probably the most golden opportunity a team can
have, it should be really interesting to see which team shows up this afternoon,the one that beat UM 6-3 only two weeks ago or the one that stunk out Munn
Ice Arena last night.  (Don't get me wrong, I take nothing away from Ohio State.The Buckeyes were given a chance to win and they took it.)  Unfortunately for
MSU, last night was the kind of game you have nightmares about.  Only this time,the nightmares came true.
 
To place the blame on any individual Spartans would be tough.  This was a team
loss.  Eric Kruse had a tough night in net, but he got very little help from
his defense.  He appeared a bit rusty when leaving the puck for his defensemen
(esp. Chris Slater) and running into them half of the time.  This would cost himlater in the game when he left the puck behind the net and didn't get back to
cover when a wide-open Bryan Riedel got ther puck in the slot and had a wide-
open net to shoot at.  He didn't miss.  Kruse was beaten 39 seconds later on
a nice 2-on-1 which saw Ron White get his second goal of the night and the
eventual game-winner.  Kruse was lifed for Buzak at this point, who was not
tested pretty much the rest of the game, except for a nice glove save early in
the third.  To OSU's credit, they withstood a somewhat substantial charge late
in the game.  (They must have watched films of the Jan. 22 MSU-UM game, when
UM's primary concern in the third was just to get the puck out of their own
end.)
 
The big picture shows that this loss may be felt a lot more in about 6 weeks.
These are the kind of losses that don't get you tournament bids.  Fortunately,
MSU has a chance to redeeem themselves next weekend at the Soo.  And, if that
series wasn't already big enough, let's just add a little more fuel to the fire.
This could be the kind of win that the OSU program really needed.  They have
come close this season to some big upsets, e.g. leading 3-1 on UM in the third
before losing 4-3, taking a tie at Lake Superior within the past month.  This
should give them some confidence that they can contend (notice I didn't say
compete) with some of the heavyweights in the conference.  I wouldn't be sur-
prised to see a marked improvement in the Buckeyes for the remainder of the
season.
 
G. M. Finniss
Michigan State University
WVU '87, UTenn '92, MSU who the hell knows when?
 
P. S.  To the top teams in the WCHA:  Be kind to us.  Would you guys mind
        beating up on each other for a while so that if we do make the NC$$,
        we don't have to be the #4 seed, or much worse, have to go to Albany
        (no offense to those of you in the Capital District)?  Then again, with
        the way we've been playing at home, Albany might look pretty good about
        now.
 
P. P. S.  To those of you out there who might be fans of that other winter
           sport (you know the one where the guys run around half-naked and
           throw that ugly orange ball at this plane of glass with that round
           piece of metal and a net hanging off it),  Jimmy King, Ray Jackson,
           and Chris Fields (bench-warmer) are suspended for tonight's UM-MSU
           game due to a nice little (alleged) incident of shoplifting in Ann
           Arbor.  Supposedly they and two others lifted six to eleven 12-
           packs of beer from a Dairy Mart in A2 on 12 January.  What's really
           nice is that two of the five (not mentioned in the Lansing State
           Journal summary of the A2 News report as to which two) greeted the
           cashier with a "hug" and that the cashier did nothing to stop the
           theft.  According to the cashier, it was "covered."  The three play-
           ers are day-to-day (which is really good considering that they host
           Indiana on Tuesday).