Omaha, Neb. - In the wee hours of Saturday morning, head coach Rick Comley watched the replay of MSU’s humbling 5-0 loss to Denver with a tally sheet in his hand.
He was counting the number of turnovers his seventh-ranked hockey team made against the Pioneers in the first round of the season-opening Maverick Stampede on Friday.
Comley’s final calculation: 110 MSU giveaways, including 50 by the defensemen, in 60 minutes of hockey. For the math-challenged, that’s about two turnovers a minute.
“It was almost impossible for me to imagine, but I watched the film until 3:30 this morning, so I know it’s accurate,” Comley said.
Without a doubt, the Spartans looked bad against the second-ranked Pioneers at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. Freshman goaltender Justin Tobe did all he could to keep MSU close in his first collegiate game, but the Pioneers’ speedy forwards were too quick for MSU’s defensemen.
Tobe stopped 30 of 35 shots overall. He allowed two goals in both the first and second periods and one in the third, and Comley figured that all five Denver tallies were the result of MSU’s carelessness with the puck.
Senior left wing Brian Maloney agreed, saying the Spartans were trying to force plays that weren’t available.
“We haven’t been beat that bad since I’ve been here,” Maloney said. “We got out-worked, and we were sloppy in our own zone. Every time we had the puck we made dumb plays.
“We weren’t using our heads tonight.”
Comley said he can usually gauge a team’s effort in a given game by its hits-to-turnovers ratio. He said MSU was -78 in that category Friday.
“What I see is a bigger ego than a workload,” Comley said. “No matter what your draft (pick) was, if your workload isn’t your No. 1 talent, then teams are going to make you look foolish.
“You tell me who was an effective player tonight. How many guys off our team would make Denver’s team right now with that lack of workload? You’re not just automatically the best players. It’s not just your turn to wear the crown. Despite the fact you’re at Michigan State, you have to earn the right to be the best players.”
MSU (1-1-0) rebounded from the Denver loss with a 2-1 win over Colgate (0-2-0) in Saturday’s consolation matchup.
Maloney scored MSU’s first goal of the season six minutes into the second period, breaking an MSU scoreless streak of 167:04 dating to last year’s CCHA Tournament championship game at Joe Louis Arena.
“No matter what kind of person you are, you’re going to get frustrated if you’re not getting goals,” Maloney said. “But I was able to put one in there, and the guys kind of relaxed and the bench kind of picked up.”
Freshman defenseman Corey Potter scored his first collegiate goal, which turned out to be Saturday’s game-winner, about three minutes after Maloney’s tally.
“I thought we were so much better tonight with the puck,” Comley said. “We were a sounder hockey team tonight. We’re a work in progress in a lot of different areas. My biggest concern is a lack of speed, you can’t just fabricate that.
“Obviously, you’d like to win the tournament, but the bottom line is you have to win a hockey game, and you have to score a goal and both of those things happened for us tonight. Now we have to build on it.”
Sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio got the start for MSU against the Raiders and made 30 saves.
Denver beat host Nebraska-Omaha 3-2 in the Stampede championship game Saturday. Omaha beat Colgate 6-5 in overtime in the first round.
