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Michigan spoils ice hockey's senior night with 5-3 win at Munn

March 14, 2015

Stakes could not have been much higher Friday night at Munn Ice Arena. Sitting in first place of the Big Ten, MSU hockey (16-15-2, 10-7-2-2 Big Ten) welcomed in-state rival Michigan on the Spartans Senior Night.

In a back-and-forth game, the Wolverines came out on top to win 5-3. MSU came back on two different occasions – from a 2-0 deficit and 3-2 deficit – and junior forward Ryan Keller registered a hat trick and all three goals for MSU.

Junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand, coming off a weekend shutout of Wisconsin, stopped 39-of-43 shots.

The game was tied 3-3 down the stretch, but UM’s Travis Lynch scored a one-timer 14:57 into the final period.

“We just gotta let it go,” junior captain Michael Ferrantino said. “It’s a tough one, obviously. Against them, on Senior Night at home, it’s emotional.”

The Wolverines entered the night just one point behind MSU in the Big Ten standings. Entering Friday night, MSU had 34 points, UM and Minnesota both had 33, and Penn State had 31.

With both the Wolverines and Gophers winning on Friday night, MSU fell back to third place. Entering the final game of the season on Saturday, MSU trails both UM and Minnesota by two points.

“It’s been a bit of an emotional week with all the waiting,” head coach Tom Anastos said. “We didn’t have any school so guys had all this time on their hands…that emotional level had just been carried for so long.”

That might have been the case, as the Spartans started out slow and allowed UM to grab a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes. Three of the Wolverines’ goals came off plays from behind the net. It is a staple of their offense, and MSU knew it going into the game.

“That’s fundamental to their game,” Anastos said. “They do it really well and we practiced against it all week long, and we didn’t execute.

“We’re not talking about guys that really made special plays or were wide open. We had guys that we left open that we were standing right next to.”

Keller’s three-goal performance moved him into a tie for the team lead in goals with 11. Ferrantino, senior forward Matt Berry and sophomore forward Mackenzie MacEachern also have 11 goals on the year.

Keller also extended his career-long scoring streak to seven games.

Keller scored a goal in each period, but it was his second period goal that had fans wondering ‘How did he just do that?’

Keller intercepted a pass, chipped it up the ice and out-skated a UM defenseman. With the puck rolling on its edge, UM goaltender Zach Nagelvoort thought he could come out to play the puck. Just as Nagelvoort was about to sweep it away, Keller dove and swatted the puck in the open net.

“I created a foot race for myself there and happened to beat the goalie to it,” Keller said.

The Spartans sent five seniors off on Senior Night. Berry, forward Brent Darnell, forward Tanner Sorrenson, defenseman Ron Boyd and goaltender Zach Cisek were all commemorated before the game.

Looking ahead, MSU can clinch a first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament with a win at Yost Ice Arena on Saturday night. The Spartans will need some help if they want to clinch their first regular season conference title since 2000-2001. MSU will need to beat UM and have PSU defeat Minnesota.

“You don’t get a week to sit and wait and get prepared for the next day, you don’t even get a few days,” Anastos said. “We’ve got to get after it, so we’ve got to deal with it tonight, refocus for tomorrow.”

Friday’s First Star of the game is prepared for the environment the Spartans will face at Yost on Saturday – an arena that the Wolverines are 12-2 in this season.

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“We’ve got to rebound tomorrow and it’s gonna be a war,” Keller said.

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