Icers edged by No. 1 RedHawks, 2-1

Late goal propels Miami to victory

Oxford, Ohio — The MSU hockey team didn’t walk out of Steve Cady Arena victorious Friday night.

But the Spartans proved a point — they can play with the best team in the country.

MSU played neck-and-neck with undefeated No. 1 Miami (Ohio) for the duration of the game, with both teams exchanging a handful of chances.

But Miami forward Tommy Wingels was the hero for the RedHawks, scoring both of his team’s goals, including the game-winner with 1:58 left in regulation to help the RedHawks sneak by the Spartans, 2-1, in the first conference game of the season for both teams.

“They are the No. 1 team in the country and we went toe-to-toe with them, not only in quality of play but the physical game, too,” MSU head coach Rick Comley said. “I thought we battled hard.”

Wingels late game-winner came off a fluky play. The puck bounced around the high slot and found Wingels’ stick. With a handful of bodies stacked in front of the goal, MSU senior goaltender Bobby Jarosz didn’t see Wingels’ wrist shot and the puck was by him before he had time to react.

“I lost sight of it,” Jarosz said. “Then the next thing I knew it was in the back of our net.”

Jarosz made 26 saves — many of which were high-quality chances — and Comley said Jarosz looked “very solid” in just his third career start and second of the season.

“I felt pretty good,” Jarosz said. “I thought for the most part, anything I could see I was going to stop. It felt really good to get going right away and feel like that right off the hop.”

With it being homecoming weekend in Oxford, Miami’s crowd came out in bundles, causing a hostile environment for the Spartans from the time the puck dropped.

But MSU was able to get into the locker room at the first intermission with a score of 0-0.

“That was important keeping it close early,” Comley said. “When you go on the road you want to keep it as close as you can. It was a low scoring, hard-fought game.”

MSU junior forward Andrew Rowe was given a golden opportunity to break the scoreless tie 49 seconds into the second period when he was awarded a penalty shot after being dragged down on a breakaway by Miami’s Chris Wideman. Rowe tried to deke Miami goaltender Cody Reichard and sneak the puck under him, but Reichard kept his left pad on the ice and made the save.

Miami recorded its first goal while on a 5-on-3 power play at 11:45 of the second period. The RedHawks were able to cycle the puck low and found Wingels wide open at the left faceoff dot and he teed up a one-timer that beat Jarosz.

The Spartans answered with a power-play goal of their own at 15:17 on a perfectly executed tic-tac-toe passing play. Junior defenseman Jeff Petry found junior forward Corey Tropp on the goal line to the left of the net and Tropp played a quick pass to freshman forward Derek Grant, who was wide open at the top of the crease.

“Petry and Tropp made a great play to find me,” said Grant, who has recorded multiple points in four of the Spartans’ five games this season. “We drew the goalie out, so I just had to put it in.”

In the third period, the RedHawks dominated play, but the Spartans were able to find an occasional burst and put pressure on Miami’s defense and Reichard.

Comley said unnecessary penalties killed the Spartans. MSU went to the sin bin eight times, two of which were for facewashing.

Although the Spartans (3-2-0 overall, 0-1-0 CCHA) were disappointed to take the loss in a game they had a chance of winning, Grant said there were a lot of positives the team can take into tomorrow’s game.

“I thought we matched their intensity right off the bat and played with them all night,” Grant said. “For the No. 1 ranked team, we were pretty happy with the way we played. Just the last five minutes killed us. It’s going to take a lot of what we had tonight, plus some to win tomorrow. We are going to have to play a full 60 minutes.”