Spartans’ season comes to a close in OT loss to Ohio State
By Jesse O’Brien –
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Wearing dark, muted colors, Jake Hildebrand spoke softly, looking down at the floor.
“I think the only thing you can take out of games like these is a sour taste in your mouth, and the feeling in your stomach that you don’t want to happen again,” he said.
It was a quiet, reserved quorum held by the Michigan State sophomore goalie following the Spartans’ 2-1 overtime loss to Ohio State Thursday night in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at Xcel Energy Center that effectively ended MSU’s season.
About four and a half minutes into the extra period after 60 minutes of brick-wall hockey, Hildebrand found himself splayed on the ice to make a save, and felt a skate nick the back of his helmet, moving it out of position. As he stood and gathered himself, freshman defenseman Drew Brevig had already corralled the puck into position in front of the net. Firing through a scrum of Michigan State skaters, he found the back of the net and that was the game.
Officials reviewed the goal to see if interference had caused the score, but ruled it had not and the play stood.
“It’s just frustrating,” Hildebrand said. “Things like that happen all the time (but) it’s just frustrating.”
In the four regular-season meetings between the two teams, the Buckeyes came away with one 5-3 outright victory and two shootout wins, while the Spartans took a shootout win in Columbus on Jan. 11. So it was no surprise to head coach Tom Anastos that this would be another close match.
“It was a one-shot game,” he said. “All of our games with them have been. Unfortunately, they got the one shot that mattered.”
The Spartans got the first one four minutes into the first period when senior forward and captain Greg Wolfe hauled in a long pass from senior forward Lee Reimer and split a pair of defenders to go top shelf on Ohio State goalie Christian Frey’s glove side.
Michigan State rode the momentum out through the rest of the period’s first half, stopping the Buckeyes from recording a shot until 10 minutes in. But that momentum started to shift when Wolfe headed to the box for hooking, and sophomore defenseman John Draeger drew a penalty for interference.
“I think we took a couple penalties towards the end (of the first) and that really got their game going for them — they’re a really good power-play team and I thought they generated some good offense and that gave them some confidence,” Wolfe said. “They took that momentum into the second, and we were kind of weathering the storm in the second, then it became anyone’s game in the third and overtime.”
Ohio State equalized with 3:34 remaining in the second when junior forward Tanner Fritz snapped a rebound past Hildebrand from right in front of the net. Hildebrand finished with 32 saves.
Anastos said he saw the team’s energy levels start to dip as play continued, and it became a crucial detriment as the game continued. Freshman forward Villiam Haag said the dropoff was noticeable on the ice as well.
“We were all over them the first period and we just felt it was so easy, but we could see in the second period we were just starting to throw pucks in the middle,” Haag said. “They were all over us, and we can’t let them do that in a game like this because they’ll punish us.
It was a frustrating end to a frustrating season for the Spartans (11-18-7, 5-9-6-4), who needed to win the inaugural Big Ten Tournament to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Instead, they’ll leave St. Paul with a sour taste in their mouths, and a feeling in their stomach they won’t want to experience again.
But as Anastos’ third season coaching the Spartans comes to a close, he sees a growing team with a bright future ahead of it when the ice returns to Munn Ice Arena next season.
“I see players on our team that are just going to get better and make a greater impact as they gain experience,” he said. “I know where we’re headed. And I like it.”