ANN ARBOR – The No. 3 Michigan State hockey program came into Yost Ice Arena on Dec. 6, looking to avenge a 3-0 shutout loss at the hands of its biggest rival in No. 1 Michigan the previous night.
It took MSU nearly five full periods to finally break through and get one past Michigan goaltender Jack Ivankovic in the series. That’s when freshman forward Anthony Romani’s two goals in a three-minute span helped lift MSU to a 3-1 rivalry win on the road, earning a series split with the Wolverines.
“It was a heck of a response from our group,” MSU coach Adam Nightingale said. ” We needed to be a little more determined offensively, and for our guys, the way it went on Friday and to have the first period we did and be down 1-0, they stuck with it and didn’t chase to be someone other than ourselves. Stuff isn’t always going to go your way. We were playing a really good team, and this is a good reminder of what we can be, but we still have to keep going.”
The Spartans outshot Michigan 17-4 in the first period, but it was the Wolverines who led 1-0 after 20 minutes. Sophomore forward Will Horcoff netted his NCAA-leading 19th goal of the season with Michigan on the man advantage, while MSU had seven shots on frame and hit the crossbar once in its second opportunity on the power play in the first.
Play was more even in the middle frame, with the Wolverines testing MSU goaltender Trey Augustine more frequently. Romani would level the game at 1-1 when he banked in a rebound from behind the goal line off the blocker of Ivankovic with just over a minute left in the second period.
Then early in the third, Romani would gather a pass from freshman forward Cayden Lindstrom before driving through the slot and firing a shot that slipped through Ivankovic to give MSU its first lead of the series.
“It was good to get the first one. We knew the goal was going to come in front of the net or on the rebound,” Romani said. “It was good to get the lead on him, too, and (Lindstrom) made a great play to drive it and push the defense back, and he made it pretty easy on me to just shoot it.”
Michigan had several chances as the third period continued, with Augustine stopping Horcoff on two attempts with the Wolverines skating with an extra attacker. Shortly after, freshman forward Porter Martone would skate away from everyone and deposit the puck into an empty net to secure the victory.
Augustine stopped 30 shots on the evening, while Ivankovic denied 30 Spartan shots.
What’s next
MSU will be off until Dec. 28 when the Spartans play Ferris State in the opening round of the Great Lakes Invitational.
Contact Nathaniel Bott at nbott@lsj.com and follow him on X @Nathaniel_Bott
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State hockey tops No. 1 Michigan on road, earns series split
Reporting by Nathaniel Bott, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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