Postgame: Clarkson Game 2

Clarkson looked like a much better team tonight and gave the MSU hockey team a much closer game.

But the Spartans were able to find a game-winning goal from freshman forward Chris Forfar with 2:49 remaining in the game, giving the Spartans a 4-3 victory to earn the weekend sweep.

Forfar’s game-winner was controversial because it appeared his stick was above the crossbar when he slapped the puck into the net. The referee immediately waved the goal off, but after going upstairs, he overturned his initial call.

Forfar knew it was a goal and was shocked when the referee waved it off.

“I saw it in the air, and I didn’t know if it was going to go in or if the goalie was going to glove it,” Forfar said. “So I tried to get a piece of it at my shoulders before the play was dead. It ended up being a good goal, which I was happy about, obviously.”

Again the freshmen came up big tonight for the Spartans. I’m starting to understand why MSU head coach Rick Comley is so high on them.

Granted this was only one series, but the Spartans haven’t swept a weekend series since March 1, 2008.

This one was a long time coming and the players were ecstatic to sing the fight song in the locker room – an activity reserved for weekend sweeps.

“It was a lot of fun,” Forfar said. “They make us memorize (the fight song) the first couple days here. It felt really good to sing it tonight.”

Will the Spartans power play be productive again tonight?
Tonight, MSU went 2-for-6 on the power play. That’s not too shabby, considering they were also called for eight penalties. The power play looks much improved from last season and the Spartans have shown they can really work the puck around. Freshman forward Derek Grant had two golden opportunities he should have put in the net on the power play. But to go 5-for-13 on the weekend was very impressive.

How will Jarosz look in net for the Spartans?
It was a very shaky start for Jarosz. On only the second shot of the game, Jarosz was beat by a long wrist shot from just inside the point. There wasn’t a screen and the puck simply beat him to the short side. After allowing that goal, Jarosz settled down and looked decent, making 33 saves on the night. But I guess his shaky start was to be expected, especially because he didn’t see any game action last season and because Clarkson came out of the gates extremely hungry tonight.

Said Comley: “I thought he struggled in the first and played really well in the second and third. He looked nervous in the first. He did a real good job. Some saves didn’t look real difficult, but he kept the puck in him and around him and there weren’t a lot of rebound. It was a big game for him mentally.”

After recording only two assists last night, can the all-freshmen line be more productive tonight?
The all-freshmen line came up huge tonight. The line was responsible for the game-winning goal — with Forfar slapping it into the net and Zach Golembiewski and Kevin Walrod both recording assist. Along with coming up big in the clutch, the freshmen line looked really good on the penalty kill. I wasn’t sold on this line last night, but they looked impressive tonight.