Senior forward Matt Schepke and Michigan goaltender Bryan Hogan watch the puck in the air Sunday evening during the championship game of the Great Lakes Invitational at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Schepke scored MSU’s lone goal of the game. The Spartans were defeated 5-1.
Detroit — The third time wasn’t the charm for the MSU hockey team when facing arch-rival Michigan.
After two losses against U-M at the beginning of the month, the Spartans fell to the same fate – losing 5-1 to the No. 12 Wolverines in the championship game of the Great Lakes Invitational at Joe Louis Arena.
MSU head coach Rick Comley thought the Wolverines displayed too much fire-power for his team to handle.
“Once they got going there was just nothing we could do,” Comley said. “(Michigan) played very well … I think it’s pretty obvious, some of the teams we match up pretty good with and a couple teams we don’t. Our young kids just couldn’t handle that speed and strength.”
The championship was won in the second period of the game, where U-M netted three goals compared to MSU’s three shots.
The third period didn’t go much better for the Spartans (5-12-3 overall), as they were only able to muster two shots compared the Wolverines 16 — four of which dinged off the post.
The final shot total of the lopsided game was 54-20 in favor of U-M.
Although senior goaltender Jeff Lerg allowed five goals, senior forward Matt Schepke thought the Spartans captain did all he possibly could to give his team a chance.
“Jeff played unreal again,” Schepke said. “He gives his heart and soul every game. He always comes to play and he had another great game despite what the scoreboard showed.”
Schepke scored the first goal of the game – his third of the weekend, which earned him a spot on the All-Tournament Team – but that was where the offense ended for the Spartans.
Schepke’s goal came at the 11:57 mark of the first period on a 5-on-3 power play after freshman defenseman Tim Buttery was slashed to give the Spartans the two-man advantage for 33 seconds.
Senior forward Tim Crowder fired a wrist shot from the point and big 6-foot-3 freshman forward Andrew Conboy was camped out in front of the net setting up the screen on U-M goaltender Bryan Hogan. When the shot made its way through, Conboy tipped it just enough to confuse Hogan and the rebound fell behind him to his left. Schepke pounced over the uncovered puck and was able to bang it home to give the Spartans the lead.
The Wolverines (13-7-0) tied the score at 1-1 with 3:43 left in the period when forward Travis Turnbull walked through the slot and took a low backhand shot that beat Lerg to his right.
And after getting one goal, the Wolverines never looked back and left the Spartans shell-shocked.
Only 1:11 into the second period, the Wolverines took the lead when they had a 3-on-2 rush down low. U-M made two quick passes to move the puck from one side of the rink to the other and found Ben Winnett who was able to elevate a backhand over Lerg.
The Wolverines extended their lead to 3-1 on the power play with 7:05 remaining in the period. U-M’s Chris Summers made a diagonal pass from the point right in the wheel-house of Brandon Naurato who blasted a one-timer into the net.
The forth goal for the Wolverines came when the puck was bouncing around at the top of the crease. In an attempt to alleviate the danger, Lerg sprawled out and went to poke-check the puck. But a split second before he could get his stick on it, U-M’s Tim Miller took a swing at the puck and got just enough on it to find the daylight between Lerg’s legs and into the net.
U-M’s Louie Caporusso, the tournament MVP with four goals in two games, showed off his speed on the Wolverines fifth and final goal of the night when he blazed down the left side of the ice and flew by a Spartans defenseman. Caporusso then came in on a sharp angle, brought the puck to his backhand and shelfed it over Lerg.
Schepke wasn’t happy with the result of the game, but said he did see progress throughout the weekend – especially in Saturday’s victory over No. 18 North Dakota, who lost 2-1 to Michigan Tech in the GLI’s third place game earlier Sunday.
“This weekend was a step in the right direction,” Schepke said. “The outcome is not what we wanted, but you could see that we can compete with the best of them. Now it’s figuring out how to bring that intensity day in and day out.”
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The Spartans will return home to play a two game series at Munn Ice Arena against Alaska starting Jan. 2.
