Marquette - It’s only two weeks into the season, but patterns are already emerging for the MSU hockey team - lose badly Friday night, watch the videotape of the loss early Saturday, make adjustments and then win the second game.
Such was the case against Northern Michigan at the Berry Events Center during the weekend. The Wildcats destroyed MSU 10-4 in the series opener, but MSU regrouped for a 3-1 win Saturday.
The difference between the two games? A throwback to the Ron Mason era of MSU hockey on Saturday.
“We went back to a little Ron Mason collapse-5 in the defensive zone, and they were comfortable with that,” Spartan head coach Rick Comley said, referring to last year’s defensive system. “What I kept coming back to was that they were a little confused (Friday), so I was willing to compromise.
“What happened tonight was the coach and players met halfway.”
The weekend in Marquette mirrored last week’s Maverick Stampede, in which MSU lost 5-0 to Denver before beating Colgate the next night. After the Denver game, Comley watched the replay to count MSU’s turnovers.
After the loss to Northern on Friday, he included his whole team in the video fun.
NCAA rules stipulate that a coach can’t make his team watch a game replay on the same day as the contest, so Comley gathered the Spartans at 12:01 a.m. Saturday for a 90-minute video session.
The result was a compromise in playing style, which led to a much sharper, more relaxed MSU team Saturday.
“We tried some things that weren’t new, but were new to our team this year,” senior defenseman Brad Fast said. “But what it came down to tonight was that we got embarrassed last night, and we came out here with something to prove.”
Fast, the team’s captain, was MSU’s star all weekend. He scored two goals in each game, including the game-winner with 48.3 seconds left in Saturday’s third period.
Nobody else on MSU’s team has more than one goal this season.
“The second one, I was just trying to make something happen,” Fast said of his game-winner. “I came down and thought I saw a little bit of room blocker-side, so I shot it and I’m not really sure how it went in.”
Sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio was solid for MSU on Saturday, stopping 17 of the 18 shots he faced. He looked calm in the crease throughout the game, and only a power play goal by Wildcat defenseman Peter Michelutti at 7:25 of the third period prevented Migliaccio from earning his first career shutout.
“We buckled down defensively real well,” Migliaccio said. “The defense played real well in front of me and did a good job of blocking shots when I couldn’t see the puck.”
It was a completely different story Friday.
The Berry Events Center crowd was brimming with excitement for the return of Comley, who coached at Northern from 1976 through last season, and the Wildcats seemed to feed off the fans’ energy.
They scored four goals in a seven-and-a-half-minute span early in the second period and then scored three more goals in less than four minutes later in the frame.
Northern’s 10 goals on Friday were the most MSU had allowed since losing 11-1 at Lake Superior State on Feb. 11, 1994. The Wildcats’ seven goals in the second period were the most MSU had allowed in one frame since Minnesota scored seven in the second period on Feb. 8, 1952.
Freshman goaltender Justin Tobe surrendered most of the damage, allowing eight goals on 31 shots in two periods of play. Migliaccio played the third period and gave up two goals on eight shots.
“Today was embarrassing,” Tobe said Friday. “We’re supposed to be one of the premier programs in the country, and I don’t think any guy would say right now that we’ve gone out there and earned the right to wear a Michigan State jersey this year.
“From goalie on out, we just didn’t have any heart tonight.”
All four of MSU’s goals Friday were scored by defensemen on the power play. Fast tallied two, while senior John-Michael Liles and sophomore Duncan Keith each got one.
