The MSU hockey team didn’t win by as much as most people expected, but the Spartans still conquered heavy underdog Western Ontario 6-2 on Tuesday night at Munn Ice Arena.
MSU misfired for most of the game, going 1-for-6 on the power play and regularly sending passes just out of the reach of their targets.
But the Spartans still thoroughly outplayed the Mustangs, outshooting them 23-2 in the first period, 21-4 in the second and 12-7 in the third. The only reason Western Ontario kept the game somewhat close was a brilliant performance by goaltender Mike D’Alessandro.
D’Alessandro stopped 50 shots overall, and the Spartans helped him by missing their share of open shots, especially in the first.
Eventually, MSU wore him down and tallied goals in the second by senior left wing Brian Maloney, sophomore center Lee Falardeau and senior left wing Steve Clark.
Sophomore center Jim Slater, sophomore right wing Steve Swistak and junior right wing Mike Lalonde added insurance goals in the third period when the game was out of reach.
“You have to be careful in your analysis of the game,” MSU head coach Rick Comley said afterward. “You have to hope that the sloppiness that shows up against these teams doesn’t show up against a team like Denver. You have a tendency to try too much in games like this.
“It wasn’t a question of controlling the puck, because we had it so much. We were just too sloppy with it.”
Tuesday’s game was MSU’s last exhibition of the year. The No. 7 Spartans open the regular season against No. 2 Denver on Friday in the first round of the Maverick Stampede in Omaha, Neb.
“Now we’ll see what we’re really made of,” Maloney said. “Preseason games are good, but it’s not the real thing.”
MSU sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio wasn’t tested very often Tuesday, but he was solid when he needed to be. He stopped Mustang forward Chris Haskett on a first-period breakaway and also turned away forward Jamie Chamberlain on a point-blank one-timer when the game was close in the second.
He stopped 11 of 13 shots overall, allowing a second-period goal to Haskett and a soft tally by defenseman Kelly Paddon, who lofted a long shot over a screened Migliaccio in the third.
“The guys made it easy on me tonight, they played really well in front of me,” Migliaccio said. “I prepared totally different tonight than for the Green and White (scrimmage Friday). The Green and White, I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform well. Tonight, I just went out there and had fun with the guys.
“I felt real crisp.”
Aside from the Spartans’ unimpressive showing, they had another worry Tuesday - sophomore left wing Brock Radunske left the game in the first period and did not return. Comley said he suffered a hip injury, the extent of which is not known.
Radunske was playing on the second line, along with Slater and sophomore right wing Kevin Estrada.
MSU’s forward lines and defensive pairings Tuesday were almost completely different than they were against the Under-18 U.S. National Development Team on Saturday. Comley said he will continue to tinker with the lineup until he finds a combination he likes.
James Jahnke can be reached at jahnkeja@msu.edu.
