Munn Ice Arena had a record-breaking aura this weekend, but even more importantly, the Spartans earned a key sweep in their last home series of the season.
No. 1 MSU (24-3-4 overall, 17-3-3 CCHA) handed Alaska-Fairbanks a 4-1 loss on Friday and a 3-0 defeat Saturday, as Spartan sophomore goaltender Ryan Miller broke the NCAA record for career shutouts with Saturday’s blanking.
Miller finally nabbed the elusive 17th shutout in the series closer with a 19-save effort against Fairbanks (8-14-6, 6-12-6).
“Congratulations to Ryan Miller and our whole team,” head coach Ron Mason said. “I’m glad it happened at home because those fans deserve to see something like that. That’s just amazing to break a 70-year-old record.”
Miller was 11:04 away from breaking the record Friday night, but Nanook defenseman Daniel Carriere blasted a slap shot past Miller’s stick side for Fairbanks’ only tally of the weekend.
The goal was the first surrendered by MSU at Munn since Dec. 9 vs. Ferris State - a stretch of 378:01.
For the Spartans, junior defenseman Andrew Hutchinson gave Miller support on the offensive end, scoring MSU’s first goal in both games.
Hutchinson’s blue line cohort, sophomore John-Michael Liles, also scored on a laserlike slap shot Friday night, snapping his career-long eight-game streak without recording a point.
“It’s great when we can get scoring from the defense,” Hutchinson said. “We have offensive-minded defensemen, but our main job is to stop the other team’s offense. Anything we can chip in is great.”
Junior center Joe Goodenow and sophomore center Troy Ferguson also scored for the Spartans in the series opener. They both tallied their second goal in one of MSU’s best efforts of the season.
“After a couple of losses in our last few games, it kind of felt nice to go out and definitely know we were the number one team on the ice,” sophomore left wing Steve Clark said. “We came right out of the gates and were the best team from drop of the puck.”
In Saturday’s shutout victory, senior right wing John Nail notched his team-leading 15th goal after linemates Andrew Bogle and Sean Patchell dug the puck out from behind the net and Bogle found Nail alone in the slot.
“It was all my linemates,” Nail said. “They battled behind the net for what seemed like 30 seconds and I just stood there in front. I called for it and (Bogle) put it on my tape.
“Those are the easy ones.”
Senior left wing Damon Whitten added MSU’s third goal Saturday, his 11th of the season.
With the sweep, MSU extended its CCHA lead to five points over second-place Michigan. The Wolverines split their weekend series with Northern Michigan in Ann Arbor.
The Spartans have won nine straight games at home, but now embark on a crucial four-game stretch against three of the league’s top teams, all away from Munn.
MSU plays Western Michigan on Friday in Kalamazoo and No. 5 U-M on Saturday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit before heading to Columbus for a series with Ohio State Feb. 23 and 24.
“We’ve done well on the road this season,” Nail said. “We handle the things like the other team’s crowd well - I don’t think it’ll affect us.”
