Detroit - On a holiday where the color green was showcased in respect to St. Patrick, it seemed only fitting for the hockey team in green and white to upend Nebraska-Omaha, 5-0, in the CCHA Super Six quarterfinals.
The Spartans (20-15-4), on a six-game winning streak, play Ohio State next in the semifinals at 8:05 p.m. today at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. With the Mavericks loss, the team finishes the season 19-16-4.
"Right now, there is a determination throughout the locker room," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "They feel good about each other.
"It was a very solid win for us."
MSU got on the board less than four minutes into the game on the power play. Good puck possession by sophomore forward Drew Miller and senior captain Jim Slater led to a shot by Colton Fretter high in the slot to beat Mavericks goaltender Chris Holt. Junior forward Fretter recorded his team-leading 20th goal of the season.
"The power-play goal put the other team back on their heels," Comley said. "It's just unbelievable what that does to your team."
The next time the Spartans were given the man advantage, freshman forward Jim McKenzie found the back of the net, giving the Spartans an important 2-0 lead heading into first intermission.
Sophomore forward Tommy Goebel added another goal early in the second period. Then, on a delayed penalty call, freshman defenseman Daniel Vukovic tallied his first collegiate goal on a blast from the point to give the Spartans a 4-0 lead after two periods of play.
Freshman forward Chris Mueller tallied the lone goal of the third period into an empty net as the sixth-seeded Spartans skated to a blowout over fourth-seeded Nebraska-Omaha.
Slater and Miller each tallied three assists, while the Spartans defense kept the opposing offense to 33 shots - all sticked aside by sophomore goaltender Dominic Vicari.
"We play as good as Dom plays," Slater said of Vicari. "He played great again, and we followed him. He made some big saves when he had to."
Earlier this seaon, the Spartans defeated Nebraska-Omaha, 5-0, as well.
In the other quarterfinals game, Alaska-Fairbanks beat Northern Michigan, 6-3.
The winner of the MSU and Ohio State contest plays the winner of the 4:35 p.m. semifinal game between Alaska-Fairbanks and Michigan for the Mason Cup.
Eric Fish can be reached at fisheric@msu.edu.
