Spartans start B1G conference play with tie, shootout win against No. 1 Minnesota
By Alyssa Girardi –
EAST LANSING — The beginning of the inaugural season of Big Ten hockey presented a fresh opportunity for MSU to turn over a new leaf.
When they turned that leaf over, they found a 2-2 tie and shootout win against the No. 1 team in the country, Minnesota.
Spartan freshmen Mackenzie MacEachern (Troy) and Villiam Haag had a goal apiece, and sophomore Michael Ferrantino (Plymouth) put away the only shootout goal for the extra point.
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“For a first Big Ten game, a shootout, it looks like most people were standing watching that shootout at the end,” head coach Tom Anastos said. “Those are ‘love em’ and ‘hate em.’ Tonight, I love em. But on the other side, we hate em.”
Minnesota has been atop both USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls for seven weeks in a row, and MSU wasn’t the most likely candidate to take the Golden Gophers to extra time. MSU is 5-7-1, 0-0-0-1 B1G compared to Minnesota’s 11-2-2-, 2-0-1-1 B1G record.
But in their first-ever Big Ten game, the Spartans found a way to control the quick Minnesota transitions and hard forechecking, shutting them out in a three-shot shootout and taking two points. Minnesota earned one point from the tie.
“I think our team’s confidence is starting to grow,” Anastos said. “We’re seeing some things that we’ve been working on all season starting to take place. We just need it with more regularity and consistency. When we do execute well, we’re seeing our game come together.”
Minnesota took the lead on a cross-ice one-timer by Taylor Cammarata with about a minute and a half remaining in the first period. Goaltender Jake Hildebrand got a piece of the puck, but it still trickled in behind him.
Haag intercepted the puck near MSU’s blue line and broke through the defense on a two-on-one with MacEachern. When he was pressured, Haag slid the puck to his linemate who backhanded MSU’s first goal 1:02 into the second period to tie it up.
“He made a really nice play there because he was shielding, he clearly knew at some point he was going to give the puck to Mac, and Mac stayed with him, which was an important part,” Anastos said. “Sometimes guys don’t skate up the ice and he stayed with him and they made that little nice play at the end and Mac made a nice play to score the goal.”
The second period remained tied through its completion, despite a full two-minute power play by Minnesota without a stoppage of play. MSU’s penalty kill unit of defensemen John Draeger and RJ Boyd and forwards Joe Cox (Chelsea) and Thomas Ebbing (Troy) weren’t able to make a line change because the puck never left the MSU zone. However, they blocked four shots and Hildebrand made three saves to keep the game knotted.
At the beginning of the third period, the Golden Gophers found themselves with another power play opportunity. A shot by Minnesota’s Justin Kloss was deflected in front of Hildebrand to give Minnesota back the lead.
Five minutes later, Haag struck again to tie the game for MSU. Captain forward Greg Wolfe (Canton) found Lee Reimer in the right circle, and Reimer sent the puck toward Minnesota goaltender Adam Wilcox.
Haag was at the back door to get a little piece of his stick on the puck and redirect it past Wilcox.
“I was lucky I was there,” he said. “I just had my stick on the ice. I don’t know if it was the stick or the skate, but when I looked behind the goal line, I see it went between the legs and into the net. It was a great feeling that I see this go in.”
MSU held Minnesota scoreless through the rest of the period and a five-minute overtime, despite a Golden Gopher shot banging off the pipes with 30 seconds left in the final frame and a flurry around Hildebrand in the last seconds of overtime.
Ferrantino was lined up first for the shootout, and he scored the only goal of the six shots. Following the game, Hildebrand joked that Ferrantino scored on him in practice with that same move Thursday, the same move Ferrantino used on him when they both played in the USHL.
Hildebrand made 44 saves in the win, and made notable big saves at big times to keep MSU in the game.
“He’s unbelievable,” Ferrantino said. “He’s the guy that’s there for us every single night and gives us a chance to win no matter who we’re playing. He’s unbelievable, one of the best in the country.”