Ann Arbor - So much for phase one of MSU’s “Loosen Up the Offense Project.”
The No. 3 seeded Spartans didn’t mount much of an offensive attack against Colorado College on Friday, and fell 2-0 to the sixth-seeded Tigers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament West Regional at Yost Ice Arena. The loss ends the Spartans’ season and the MSU careers of five seniors and head coach Ron Mason.
The way MSU (27-9-5) lost was especially frustrating for the team. For the second-straight season, the Spartans didn’t even manage a single goal in their last game of the year. They lost 2-0 to North Dakota in last year’s Frozen Four.
From the onset of this season, the MSU coaching staff said things would be different this time around. Gone were big, tough, defensive-minded forwards like Sean Patchell, Andrew Bogle and Damon Whitten. In their places were slick-skating, raw offensive talents such as Jim Slater, Kevin Estrada and Ash Goldie.
In the end, not enough changed to match the superior skills of Western Collegiate Hockey Association teams such as Colorado College and North Dakota (which snapped MSU’s streak of four-straight Great Lakes Invitational titles in December).
“When you have a four-senior, eight-freshmen balance on your team, you’re going to be inconsistent,” Mason said. “You’re not going to be as good defensively, but you’re going to show flashes of excellence.
“But I think, if this (freshman) class stays together for four years, they’re going to have an unbelievable team. There’s an unbelievable amount of talent in that class. This loss will humble them.”
Numbers don’t tell the whole story, but MSU actually scored fewer goals this season than last. Through 41 games last year, MSU scored 134 goals. In 41 games this year, MSU scored 129.
Meanwhile, the Spartans’ trademark defensive stinginess - which Mason was willing to sacrifice a little for added offense - also took a hit this year. The team allowed opponents 1.78 goals a game this year, up from 1.36 last season.
Still, MSU finished second in the nation in team defense and a lot of that can be attributed to All-American goaltender Ryan Miller. Miller played well Friday, stopping 27 shots and keeping the Spartans within striking distance of the Tigers with several nifty saves on point-blank chances.
But Tiger right wing Trent Clark scored the eventual game-winning goal just 10:05 into the contest when he stationed himself in front of the net and redirected a soft shot past Miller’s glove-side.
The score stayed 1-0 until just 5:43 remained in the game. That’s when Colorado College center Alex Kim gathered the rebound from left wing Noah Clarke’s shot and backhanded the puck past a sprawling Miller to seal the win.
“Ryan can stand on his head all night, but if we can’t score, we can’t win,” senior left wing Joe Goodenow said. “Maybe, if we would have gotten the first one, maybe they would have started to come. But we didn’t get it.
“Some nights it doesn’t go in, and some nights you can’t keep it from going in.”
Miller was very emotional after Friday’s loss - which many speculate was his last game as a Spartan.
“You keep coming to NCAAs with high hopes, but I guess I was wrong,” Miller said, choking back tears. “The worst I could have been was wrong, and it doesn’t feel too good.”
Tiger goaltender Jeff Sanger stopped 25 shots Friday to shut out the Spartans. MSU’s best scoring chance came 4:35 into the second period when Goldie, a freshman center, tossed a shot at the net that hit Sanger and plopped in front. Freshman forward Mike Lalonde knocked the first rebound right back into Sanger and then senior right wing Adam Hall lifted a backhand off the crossbar.
“We just couldn’t get that one last little bounce,” senior defenseman Jon Insana said. “We were kind of on edge all game, just waiting for that one break, that one goal and we never got it.”
Mason pinpointed age and experience as two determining factors in Friday’s loss.
“This team is a very, very young hockey team - one of the youngest I’ve had,” Mason said. “There’s no doubt in my mind the experience of getting to this position is invaluable for them.
“(Colorado College) had six senior forwards and experience and strength - they should win the goddamn game.”
The Tigers (27-13-3) went on to lose to No. 2 seed Minnesota in Saturday’s second round. With the win, the Golden Gophers (29-8-4) advanced to the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn., April 4-6.
No. 4 seed Michigan took advantage of a boisterous crowd at “neutral site” Yost, and beat No. 5 seed St. Cloud State 4-2 Friday and No. 1 seed Denver 5-3 on Saturday. The Wolverines will play Minnesota in the semifinals.
No. 1 seed New Hampshire and No. 3 seed Maine survived the East Regional in Worcester, Mass., and will play each other in the other semifinal on April 4. The national championship game is April 6 at the Xcel Energy Center.
