Senior forward Ash Goldie had a goal and two assists and senior forward Kevin Estrada had a goal and an assist to lead the MSU hockey team to a 7-2 victory over Toronto on Sunday at Munn Ice Arena.
"Tonight, I thought two of our better forwards were Goldie and Estrada," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "If Ash and Kevin step up, that's great."
The Spartans suffered a serious loss when junior defenseman Corey Potter had to leave the game in the second period with what appeared to be a shoulder injury.
Potter was in the corner when he was hit from behind by Varsity Blues forward Jesse Rycroft. For the hit, Rycroft received a five-minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct. Comley does not know when Potter will be back in action.
"Until it settles down, I don't think any of us know," Comley said.
MSU came out early, as its power play was on fire in the first period - scoring three goals with the man advantage - the first of which came off the stick of freshman defenseman Jeff Dunne.
Dunne, racing toward the front of the net, was able to pick up freshman forward Jim McKenzie's rebound to put it past Toronto goalie Ryan Grinnell.
"In a game like this, you want to see your freshmen a lot," Comley said. "Dunne looked very comfortable."
The lone even-strength goal of the period came just more than a minute after the first goal, when Goldie jammed home his own rebound in the Toronto crease. Estrada and sophomore defenseman Ethan Graham picked up the helpers.
The Spartans went up 3-0 just two minutes later when Grinnell lost yet another rebound, this one to sophomore forward Drew Miller, who slammed it into the back of the net. Goldie and junior defenseman Jared Nightingale assisted on the goal.
MSU's onslaught continued when freshman forward Bryan Lerg took a pass from junior forward David Booth, who took a wicked snapshot that flew over Grinnell's shoulder and rang off the intersection of the crossbar and goal post into the net.
Toronto finally got on the board less than seven minutes into the second period when Andrew Smale was credited with a goal that took a strange bounce in front of sophomore goaltender Dominic Vicari. It was the only goal Vicari would allow on the nine shots he faced. He departed shortly thereafter in favor of senior Matt Migliaccio.
Goals by senior captain Jim Slater and Booth made it 6-1 entering the third period.
MSU made it 7-1 just more than four minutes into the third period when a wide-open Estrada took a pass from Dunne and had all day to knock it past Grinnell, who played the duration of the game for Toronto, making 44 saves.
"He sure stopped me a lot," Goldie said of Grinnell, who stopped him 11 times. "He stood on his head, he faced a lot of shots and he did good out there."
Toronto added its second goal less than a minute later when Migliaccio couldn't control a rebound and defenseman Tyler Kerr came crashing down the wing and made no mistake about finding the back of the net. It was too late for the Varsity Blues, though, as the clock wound down to an MSU victory.
The Spartans head back to the ice Friday at Munn against St. Lawrence, then host New Hampshire on Sunday.
"We have two big games next weekend," Slater said. "We've got to have a great week of practice."
