Michigan
Michigan State
Michigan Comeback Falls Shy as Spartans Salvage Split
2/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
Site: East Lansing, Mich. (Munn Ice Arena)
Score: Michigan State 5, #8 Michigan 3
Records: U-M (21-8-1, 15-6-1 CCHA), MSU (17-11-2, 13-8-1 CCHA)
Attendance: 7,113
Next U-M Event: Friday, Feb. 21 -- at Nebraska-Omaha (Omaha, Neb.), 7:05 p.m. CST
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Opening a three-game road trip and a stretch of six of its final seven regular-season games away from Yost Ice Arena, the eighth-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team suffered a 5-3 setback to Michigan State in front of a sold-out crowd at MSU's Munn Ice Arena. Freshman forward Jeff Tambellini (Port Moody, B.C.) scored two goals in a 20-second span during the third period to lead the Wolverines back from a three-goal deficit, but the rally fell short as MSU was able to hold off U-M to earn a split in the weekend series, the first of two in a three-week span between the two teams.
The Wolverines and Spartans, who play four times this season, will meet again on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 28-March 1, in the second-to-last weekend of the regular season. Friday's contest will be staged at U-M's Yost Ice Arena, while Saturday's rematch will take place at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
The game came down to the third period, a stanza in which five of the game's eight goals were scored. The Spartans built up a 4-1 lead with 11:33 remaining on a pair of goals in the opening 8:27, then Michigan mounted its comeback, with Tambellini lighting the lamp twice in a 20-second span to cut the lead to 4-3 with 10:01 to go in regulation. Michigan State held on and eventually scored in an empty net with 1:37 remaining to seal the game and keep Michigan from moving into second place in the CCHA. Ohio State, which was one point ahead of the Wolverines entering tonight's game, fell at Miami (Ohio), opening the door for U-M to move up in the standings.
Michigan and Michigan State played to a scoreless tie in the first period, but each team had its chance to light the lamp, with the best scoring chances coming midway through the period. With the Wolverines on their second power play of the night, sophomore forward David Moss (Livonia, Mich.) passed up a chance to shoot when he was all alone in front of the net with MSU goaltender Matt Migliaccio down on the ice. The Spartans responded as the power play expired with a pair of point-blank shots in front of the net, both of which were turned away by freshman goaltender Al Montoya (Glenview, Ill.). Montoya also gloved a breakaway shot by Mike Lalonde about five minutes into the game to keep the Spartans scoreless.
Opening the second stanza on the power play, Michigan State took a 1-0 lead 48 seconds in when John-Michael Liles wristed a shot from the blue line that caught Montoya off-guard. The shot, taken just seconds before the power play was to expire, arched toward the right side of the net and past junior defenseman Andy Burnes (Battle Creek, Mich.), who was stationed at the right post to block the shot. Liles struck again just 2:35 later, sliding an uncontested shot under Montoya's glove hand from the left faceoff circle to make it 2-0.
After the initial Spartan surge to begin the period, the Wolverines reversed the momentum, making the score 2-1 at 7:25 when sophomore forward Dwight Helminen (Brighton, Mich.) poked the puck past Migliaccio during a scramble in front of the net. Montoya, who made 33 saves in the series opener in Ann Arbor on Friday (Jan. 14), stopped a golden opportunity for the Spartans to regain a two-goal advantage when he robbed Brock Radunske of an open net with 7:11 remaining in the period. Sophomore forward Eric Nystrom (Syosset, N.Y.) almost tied the game with 1:28 left in the period, but his shot from the left faceoff circle rang off the right post.
As was the case in the second period, Michigan State came out flying in the third, scoring two goals in the first 8:27 to take a 4-1 advantage. MSU regained its two-goal lead 2:20 into the stanza when Jim Slater tipped a shot from Liles through Montoya's five-hole. Colton Fretter made is 4-1 MSU at 8:27 when his shot from the right point caromed off Montoya's glove and into the net.
With the game almost out of hand, Tambellini emerged to bring the Wolverines back to life, scoring twice in 20 seconds to pull Michigan within one goal with just over 10 minutes remaining. Tambellini, who had a pair of goals in Friday's 3-1 victory, sniped a shot from the right faceoff circle past Migliaccio at 9:39 to convert on the power play, then added his second of the night and fourth of the series at 9:59, pushing the puck through Migliaccio's five-hole after he had his first shot stopped by the netminder.
Brian Maloney sealed the game for the Spartans when he scored into an empty net with 1:37 remaining after Montoya had been pulled following a Michigan timeout.
The Wolverines outshot the Spartans 35-29, reversing the stat from Friday's game, with Montoya stopping 24 shots while Migliaccio halted 32. Each team converted once in four power-play opportunities.
The Wolverines will continue their three-game road trip, traveling to Omaha, Neb., on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 21-22) to face the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks in the final CCHA series for UNO at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. Opening faceoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. CST on Friday, while Saturday's series finale is scheduled to begin at 7:35 p.m. CST. The Mavericks, who have called the Auditorium home since the program's inception in 1997-98, will move to the Omaha Convention Center and Arena, a 14,500-seat facility, for the 2003-04 campaign.
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Red Berenson
On the game ... "This is a disappointing game to lose, not that we expected to come in here and win easily. You expect to build on last night and come in here and get a better start, and we have up two sloppy goals in the second period and we had to come from behind. I thought we turned the game around, and at the end of the second period I thought we had them on their heels. The puck was not going in. We were getting chances and we couldn't capitalize on them and it finally caught up with us."
Contact: Paul Thomas (734) 763-4423
