Spartans make history
Its B1G Hockey Tournament and the grand finale night in East Lansing. Let’s take a quick recap of what went down on the ice. Both teams have been playing good hockey and it was evident this was going to be a battle.
MSU vs OSU got off to a hot start. Both teams going end to end as the game began until a questionable hit on Gucciardi that took him out. Three minutes in and OSU saw itself with a breakaway on Augustine who made a great save off a Spartan stick which led to a Spartan breakaway that was turned away via the games first penalty at 3:57. The Bucks defended the first chance fairly easily but MSU managed another opportunity at 6:29 with the Bucks second penalty. You can’t give the Spartans that many chances and Dorwart made them pay with the power play goal at 7:39. MSU stayed on the attack putting the majority of the pressure on and OSU was called for hooking at 11:29. This power play did not last long as the Spartans connected 11:41 with B1G Player of the Year, Howard assisted by Dorwart and Howard and Dorwart already had two points each. 12:51 had a slashing call on OSU giving the Spartans their fourth power play in the first period.
The Buckeyes began to put some pressure on in the Spartans end late in the period and managed to get on the board at 17:51 to cut the Spartan lead in half. The period ended to a rousing round of boos as OSU held onto the puck for the last 10 seconds behind their net. MSU headed to intermission up 2-1 and managed to keep the 60 Buckeye fans in attendance relatively quiet.
The second period saw some early back and forth action once again as both teams looked to settle into a rhythm. At 3:53 Tanner Kelly gets called for a very questionable cross check and the Spartans were off to kill their first penalty of the game. MSU had a few short handed opportunities including a bull rush through Buckeyes by Daniel Russell. Larson just missed a beautiful one timer at about the 6 minute mark. OSU took off down the ice for a breakaway of their own and if you haven’t seen the majesty and ease of Augustine in net, you are missing out. Ice in his face and two Bucks in the crease and #intreywetrust showed us all just why we do. At the 10 minute mark the Spartans put on a handful of shots as they put the pressure on Terness but he cleared them all.
Pacing continued to be quick but the feel in the rink was MSU in control. Two icing calls against MSU when Männistö was right on the puck frustrated the crowd. Obviously the refs are not aware of his speed like the Spartan faithful are. MSU headed into intermission number 2 leading in shots, and face-offs won. As the score stayed the same the third period intensity of all that was on the line made the rink an energy powder keg ready to blow at anytime.
Tanner Kelly, who had been working hard all night gave MSU some breathing room with a quick goal at :42 from Howard and Gucciardi to give the good guys a two goal lead. Unfortunately, Russell was called for a cross check at 1:20 to give OSU it’s second power play opportunity of the night. The Spartans managed to kill the penalty followed by a deep Munn exhale. Kelly just missed another at around the 10 minute mark and with a stop in the action at 11 minutes the crowd began to get louder as they sang and danced and further harassed the Buckeye net minder,
OSU made things tense when they squeaked an ugly one behind Augustine after a weird bounce at 12:46. OSU continued to keep pressure on the Spartan defense and kept the puck in Spartan territory for a slightly uncomfortable amount of time. At 15:32 Stramel just missed on a beautiful pass from Russell as Terness came up with a nice save. At 17:00 Gucciardi came up with a strong defensive stop on an OSU breakaway. The pressure was too much though as OSU managed to shove one through at the 17:39 mark to even the score. With two minutes left the Spartans looked to get momentum back as well as the lead that they had held all game. Some sloppy passing by the Bucks gave the Spartans a chance that they couldn’t connect on. With 19 seconds remaining OSU gets called for icing and there was a chance for last second heroics. None would arrive though and the game was headed to overtime.
The first nine minutes left many of us breathless with Terness and Augustine trading of save after save. MSU was putting on the majority of the pressure. It is moments like this where you see the beauty of this game at its finest. Howard with impressive stick work and getting turned away, one timers off of deflections and the crowd just continuing to get amped up. At 12:39 play stopped as a review for a potential major on Vansaghi was reviewed and a 2 minute penalty was given putting sou on the power play. MSU killed the penalty but I’ve never felt an energy in that building like this overtime was producing. Icing was called on sou with 18.7 remaining, would this be the time the late game heroics came through? Once again the answer was no, overtime ended with a lot of very near glory and many chances but still tied at 3 and OSU actually outshooting the Spartans by 2.
Period 5 saw MSU’s conditioning come into fruition as the Buckeyes looked gassed and just couldn’t keep the Spartan attack away. Finally, after setting the record for longest hockey game in B1G history, MSU scores at 15:09 with a second goal from the Ice Man. Hobey Baker anyone? What a game! Bring on the NCAA’s.
Steve Neumann