It’s one down, 25 to go for Matt Migliaccio.
The sophomore goaltender notched his first career shutout in the MSU hockey team’s 7-0 win over Lake Superior State on Thursday night at Munn Ice Arena.
The blanking puts him 25 shutouts shy of the all-time record set by his predecessor, Ryan Miller.
“We’re going to go one at a time,” said Migliaccio, who made 23 saves Thursday. “Hopefully, I’ll get to that point, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen.
“We just have to stay on a roll here and keep plugging along tomorrow.”
Aside from Migliaccio’s triumph, the 12th-ranked Spartans treated the 6,529 fans at Munn to a slew of other milestones in Thursday’s victory. Among them was head coach Rick Comley’s 600th career win.
MSU Athletics Director Ron Mason, who holds the all-time college hockey record with 924 victories, came down to the Spartan bench to congratulate Comley afterward.
“He said he was happy to be part of it,” said Comley, who noted that he is still a long way from No. 924. “Hopefully, we’ll both be here for 700.”
On the ice, junior center Tim Hearon scored for the first time in his three-year college career by redirecting freshman defenseman Jared Nightingale’s slap shot into the net 2:11 into the third period.
Hearon’s tally gave MSU a 3-0 lead.
“It came at a pretty big point in the game, so it felt pretty good,” Hearon said. “Even with bad luck, you’d think you‘d get one before now, but you just take it all in stride.”
Freshman right wing Nenad Gajic also tallied his first career marker Thursday, and he did it in 63 fewer games than Hearon. Gajic’s goal came on a power play and gave MSU a 4-0 lead with 12:23 to play.
Freshman defenseman Corey Potter, sophomore defenseman Duncan Keith and sophomore center Jim Slater each tallied a goal in a 1:19 span late in the third to blow the game wide open.
The victory bumps MSU’s record up to 3-2-0 overall and 2-1-0 in the CCHA. Lake Superior falls to 3-2-0 and 0-1-0. The teams will finish off their two-game series at 7:05 p.m. today at Munn. Comley said Migliaccio will start in goal tonight.
Keith and sophomore forward Mike Lalonde teamed up to give the Spartans to a 1-0 lead 7:17 into the game. Skating in the left corner, Lalonde took a pass from freshman left wing David Booth and then fed Keith streaking to the net.
Laker goaltender Matt Violin could only get a small piece of Keith’s ensuing shot.
Senior defenseman Brad Fast made it 2-0 with his team-leading fifth goal of the year 14:20 into the opening frame. Fast’s wrist shot tally from about 20 feet away chased Violin from the game.
His replacement, Terry Denike, stopped 27 of 32 shots the remainder of the game.
Overall, MSU outshot the Lakers 40-23. The Spartans went 3-for-5 with a man-advantage Thursday, and they also killed all four of Lake Superior’s power play chances.
MSU got a scare when senior left wing Brian Maloney left the game with a charley horse in the early going. Comley said Maloney is questionable for tonight’s game.
