Icers winless in past 4 games

Road bumps were bound to materialize in the No. 8 MSU hockey team’s season. With the Spartans starting 14 underclassmen in each game, MSU head coach Rick Comley said this season’s red-hot start, in which the Spartans went 9-2-2, eventually would hit a wall.

And after being unbeaten for a nation-high eight games, the Spartans now are winless in their last four, which includes two losses this weekend in the 17th annual College Hockey Showcase at Munn Ice Arena — a 7-3 stomping by No. 15 Wisconsin on Friday followed by a narrow 2-1 loss to Minnesota on Saturday.

“At 9-2-2, you are going, ‘Wow,’ but you had to be careful,” Comley said. “The first 10 games were super, and the next 10 games are much more difficult and we are fighting our way through that. Young kids are going to be up and down.”

MSU hasn’t won a Showcase game since 2004, and Wisconsin and Minnesota hold lengthy unbeaten streaks against MSU, at 4-0-1 and 4-0-5, respectively.

After the Spartans played what Comley called the team’s “worst game so far this season” in Friday’s thumping against Wisconsin, MSU’s coach was pleased with the way his team responded Saturday. But the Spartans couldn’t get a bounce to go their way against the Golden Gophers, despite recording a season-high 38 shots.

“It felt like every bounce was going our way and every goal was going in,” junior forward Andrew Rowe said of the Spartans’ unbeaten streak. “But now, we have to work for our bounces and work for our luck. But it will come. We aren’t worried.”

MSU gave up a season-high 36 shots to Wisconsin on Friday, then watched Minnesota top that number Saturday, recording 42 shots on sophomore goaltender Drew Palmisano.

Despite being pulled midway through Friday’s game after surrendering four goals, Palmisano stood on his head and gave MSU a chance to win late in the game Saturday.

The Spartans held all the momentum in the third period and Rowe scored the game-tying goal at 16:35 of the final frame.

But on the very next shift, the Gophers took advantage of a defensive zone turnover by MSU and capitalized, scoring the game-winner 39 seconds after Rowe tied the score.

“It was sickening and disappointing for sure,” Comley said. “It wasn’t even dangerous. We just gave them the puck.”

Sloppy play and miscues were the theme of the weekend for the Spartans, as Friday’s seven goals were the most allowed by MSU this season and also marked the team’s most lopsided loss.

“We got it handed to us,” Comley said after Friday’s loss. “(Wisconsin is) a very good team. That’s probably the toughest game we’ve had all year, as far as playing against speed.”

Through the month of November, Minnesota was the only unranked team the Spartans faced. But the Gophers are no slouch, sporting a roster with 17 NHL draft picks, compared to MSU’s six.

But this weekend, the Spartans (9-5-2 overall, 6-2-2-0 CCHA) will travel to Marquette for a two-game series against unranked Northern Michigan, where MSU looks to reach the 10-win mark, matching the total number of wins posted by last year’s team.

“It’s not like we are playing that bad,” Palmisano said.

“It’s just that we are up against better opponents, and we have to bring our ‘A’ game every night.”