Detroit - The drive for five is on track.
Fourth-ranked MSU, fresh off a 20-day break, looked rusty early on but stormed back to beat Michigan Tech, 4-1, Friday in the second semifinal of the 37th annual Great Lakes Invitational.
The Spartans (13-3-2 overall, 10-3-1 CCHA) rode 22 saves by junior goaltender Ryan Miller to victory over the Huskies in front of 18,071 at Joe Louis Arena.
The MSU win means the Spartans will play North Dakota in the championship game at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Michigan Tech (5-10-2) will head to the consolation game at 4:05 p.m. to face Michigan, which lost to the Fighting Sioux 5-4 in overtime Friday.
The championship game will be a rematch of last year’s Frozen Four semifinal game, in which North Dakota upset the Spartans 2-0 in Albany, N.Y. Now the Sioux stand between MSU and its fifth consecutive Great Lakes Invitational title - a feat the Spartans have never accomplished.
Not to mention that MSU has not beaten the Sioux since Nov. 24, 1979 - 10 matchups ago.
But when reporters asked MSU players about North Dakota during the post-game press conference, head coach Ron Mason jumped in and squashed all talk of revenge.
“Let me answer that question, because I’ve been asked it too many times,” Mason said. “These are two different teams than last year. We came here to win the Great Lakes tournament championship and that’s all that’s going to be on our minds.
“What happened last year is over and done with and we can’t do anything about that. The only thing we can do right now is to look to try to win this game and play well.”
Mason also lauded the Spartans’ performance against Michigan Tech.
“I thought we played well all three periods tonight,” he said. “But this is half a job for us - we wanted to get to the championship game, and now we have that chance.”
Despite being outshot 15-4, Michigan Tech took a 1-0 lead into Friday’s first intermission on a goal by right wing Paul Cabana. The Huskies took advantage of MSU sophomore defenseman Joe Markusen’s broken stick on the play and found Cabana skating alone down the right side. The senior beat Miller under his right arm for the goal.
Miller then had to stop a breakaway by Husky right wing Tim Laurila late in the period just to maintain the one-goal deficit.
“That’s my job, to make up for mistakes,” Miller said. “Obviously, they were mistakes, we’re not just going to let guys walk in. As far as the one-goal lead that they had, you know, you just got to put that behind you and play.”
MSU junior defenseman John-Michael Liles evened the score at 1-1 at 6:23 of the second with his sixth goal of the season on a nice centering pass from senior defenseman Andrew Hutchinson. Freshman center Ash Goldie gave MSU a 2-1 lead five minutes later with a power play tally.
“(Senior right wing Adam Hall) made a great move out front and once I seen him go to the front of the net, I just went hard and followed behind him and the rebound came right to me,” said Goldie, who scored his third goal of the season on the play. “I just kind of swatted at it and it found the net.”
The Spartan power play finished 2-for-6, while Michigan Tech went 0-for-4.
Freshman forward Kevin Estrada padded MSU’s lead to two goals with his fourth marker of the year later in the second. Junior center Troy Ferguson set up the goal by faking Husky goaltender Cam Ellsworth to the ice and backhanding the puck behind him, where Estrada was waiting to knock it in.
Hall notched a power play goal - his ninth tally of the season - with 3:55 to play to complete the scoring.
In Friday’s early semifinal, North Dakota (8-9-1) outlasted No. 9 U-M in a back-and-forth shootout.
The Wolverines (10-6-3, 8-3-2) scored the game’s first goal, but fell behind 3-1 before tying the game 3-3 with 9:21 to play. After a Sioux goal, U-M forward Milan Gajic sent the game into overtime with a tally at the two-minutes mark.
But Sioux defenseman David Hale, who joined the offensive rush after his hooking penalty expired, blasted a loose puck past U-M goaltender Josh Blackburn for North Dakota’s game-winner 2:55 into overtime.
