Thursday, March 28, 2024

Hockey's penalty kill unit has been a strength this season

January 28, 2015
<p>Junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand blocks an Ohio State attempt Jan. 23, 2015, during a game against Ohio State  at Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans defeated the Buckeyes, 4-1. Alice Kole/The State News</p>

Junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand blocks an Ohio State attempt Jan. 23, 2015, during a game against Ohio State at Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans defeated the Buckeyes, 4-1. Alice Kole/The State News

Photo by Alice Kole | The State News

Nowhere is that do-or-die mentality shown more than on the penalty kill. Penalty killers are usually role players or “grinders,” as the task of stopping a team with an extra skater is a physically demanding one.

For MSU hockey (9-11-2 overall, 3-3-2 Big Ten), the penalty kill unit has become one of its biggest strengths throughout the season. Part of it is chemistry comes from junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand, and the majority of it is the Spartans willingness to sacrifice their bodies. MSU leads the Big Ten in penalty kill percentage and places 11th in the country at .870

Its 10 power play goals allowed rank as the sixth fewest in the NCAA, and five of those goals came in one weekend against Minnesota. That weekend also marks that last time the Spartans allowed a power play goal, as they have killed off 21 consecutive power plays over a span of seven games. 

“Our PK is really good,” junior captain Michael Ferrantino said. “It’s definitely one of our strengths. We’ve got a lot of guys that are willing to sacrifice their bodies. Those are tough minutes to play and we’ve got a lot of guys that are willing to do it, so it allows us to keep us fresh and keep cycling through.

“Obviously, anytime you come into the weekend with a confident penalty kill you play that much harder and not too worried about taking penalties.”

One of the reasons that MSU boasts such an impressive penalty kill is a willingness to block shots. MSU is fifth in the nation with 15.86 blocked shots per game. In the 4-1 win over the Buckeyes on Jan. 23, the Spartans blocked a season-high 27 shots with many of those coming on the penalty kill. 

“That’s where a number of those shot blocks came and that can be a real lift for you,” head coach Tom Anastos said. “The shot blocking part in itself is emotional. Now you don’t want to go in to something thinking ‘God, we’re going to block a bunch of shots here.’ We don’t want to give up a bunch of shots, but nevertheless, the guys laid it out to block them and the result was a little bit of a momentum shift.

“All of our defense and forwards that are on that kill are committed to blocking shots. ... It’s not a glamorous job.”

Goaltenders are always said to be the most valuable and important penalty killers, given the fact that they are out there for the full two minutes and are the last line of defense. Even so, Hildebrand has nothing but praise for what his teammates are doing in front of him.

“There (are) three things,” Hildebrand said of what MSU does so well on the PK. “Taking away the back doors, making the shots just come straight on, they’re blocking a lot of shots and they’re picking up sticks up too. I think those are the three things that our team’s done really well which makes my job as a goaltender very easy during the penalty kill.”

While practice and execution are vital to a successful penalty kill, Anastos pointed to the growing chemistry between line- mates as the main reason.

“We’re growing in confidence in the pairs that guys are playing together,” Anastos said. “I know as a penalty killer myself here, I took great pride in being a penalty killer here and a big part of it was my partner and you kind of build that ying and yang, Batman and Robin, and probably Abbot and Costello at times. Whatever that tandem is, but that chemistry goes a long way to playing off one another, and I think we’ve been able to stay with that for a while and that’s allowed that to evolve a little bit.”

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