Men’s Hockey and Women’s Gymnastics both claim their crowns
Despite the MSU men’s basketball season coming to an end yesterday, it was mostly a good day for the Green & White. In the matter of a few hours, campus hosted two championship winning performances. Both were incredibly tight contests that came down to the very end.
Ladies first, of course. The MSU women’s gymnastics team was hosting the Big Ten Championships after winning the regular season title. With multiple teams and multiple athletes representing each team in multiple events, it was going to take a strong effort from everyone to wrap up the championship. The Spartans were led by Skyla Schulte, who won the all-around title on Saturday, becoming the first MSU gymnast to do so. But it came down to the work of Gabrielle Stephen on the balance beam.
MSU entered the final event in the lead, but a strong showing from the Minnesota team put the pressure on the Spartans. After their first two competitors went, MSU knew what they needed from Stephen in order to clinch the win. She was the last competitor in the event. And when the judges showed her score of 9.875, the celebration was on. The MSU Gymnastics team matched their regular season title with the program’s first ever Big Ten Championship.
As if that was not enough, a little bit later that day and just around the corner from where the gymnastics meet occurred, the Men’s hockey team started their game against their pesky in-state rivals. And this game did not get off to a good start for MSU as they surrendered a goal on the first shot of the game just 59 seconds in. The road team thought they had made it 2-0 just minutes later, but that goal was disallowed for goalie interference. That call proved to be crucial, as would another later in the contest. MSU responded to the early adversity and would score the equalizer midway through the first period; the two teams went into the first intermission tied at one.
The second period saw plenty of action, especially after the midway point. MSU got a goal just past the ten-minute mark to give the home team their first lead. It would not last long, however, as um notched a power play goal about two minutes later and then went back up with less than five minutes left in the second. The Spartans wasted no time though, tying the game at three apiece with under two minutes left. This goal was only credited after an official review overturned the call on the ice of a save. I will say this surprised me; I used to referee youth hockey and the rule is if the ref loses sight of the puck in the crease, he is supposed to blow the whistle, assuming that the goalie made the save. That is what happened here, but I guess the review showed that the puck crossed the line and that play should not have been stopped. So… Woohoo! And that was not the end of the action in the second. MSU kept pressure in their attacking zone and a pass from behind the goal line to an awaiting defenseman in the high slot resulted in a one-time goal that needed to be checked if it went in before the buzzer. After the review, it was confirmed that MSU grabbed the lead, 4-3, with .7 seconds remaining.
The Spartans took their one-goal lead to the final period, but they were unable to protect it, surrendering the tying goal just a few minutes in. From there, despite chances for both teams, no one was able to light the lamp and the game went to sudden-death overtime. Just past six minutes into the extra session, an unlikely hero got the winner. Freshman defenseman Patrick Geary got the puck just inside the blue line in front of his bench. He put his head down and wristed it toward the goal.
The puck sailed past a few skaters and pierced the top corner of the net, just over the netminder’s left shoulder, even dinging the pipe on its way in. And just like that, the second celebration was on!
It was a good day to be a Spartan, except for those of you who picked our basketball team to beat UNC…
Pool Update:
After day 3, SpartanFaith remains in a tie for the lead. He was previously in a three-way tie but the other two guys slipped a little bit. Now, that lead is shared with everyone’s favorite TOC writer, O! And no, there is nothing in the fine print which states that TOC staff are ineligible to win. Go me!