St. Louis — The crowd at Scottrade Center knew something magical was about to happen.
As the 1-1 game against Boston College for the national championship Saturday crept closer to a possible overtime, Spartans fans in the Frozen Four record-setting crowd of 19,432 kept cheering. During television timeouts, those in green and white belted out chants. And when the clock stopped with 57.7 seconds left in the third period, the fans united for a "Let's go State" cheer.
And in just that many seconds, those fans and the team would be celebrating a national championship.
Sophomore forward Justin Abdelkader's goal with 18.9 seconds left — which came moments after he clanged a shot off the post — ignited the crowd and MSU bench, sending everybody into a screaming, jumping, fist-pumping jubilee.
"When you're growing up, you're always going, 'Yeah, I scored the game-winner in the national championship,' and obviously the Stanley Cup is the ultimate," Abdelkader said. "You're always thinking as a kid that you're going to score that game-winning goal. It's tied, under a minute left. I was just in the right place in the right time."
Even MSU head coach Rick Comley couldn't contain his excitement.
"Coach jumped about six feet in the air," MSU assistant coach Tom Newton said. "I didn't know he had ups like that. It was unbelievable."
And when junior forward Chris Mueller sealed the game with an empty-net goal with 1.2 seconds remaining to make it 3-1, the players hopped over the bench, threw down their gloves, helmets and sticks, and swarmed the net. The players' collective momentum moved the huddle to behind the net, banging against the boards in celebration.
"I didn't even know when he scored the empty netter," junior defenseman Daniel Vukovic said. "I turned right when I saw three seconds, and I chipped it out of the zone and (junior forward Jim) McKenzie had it. I turned right away — I already threw my gloves up in the air and helmet and Jeff was in my arms before Mueller shot the puck."
Comley celebrated MSU's third national championship and first since 1986 with assistant coaches and team personnel on the bench.
Boston College players stood motionless, probably thinking what most people thought — unbelievable.
"In my dream of dreams, I didn't know if we would get it done," junior forward Bryan Lerg said. "I've been dreaming about winning this championship ever since my dad laced on my first pair of skates. We have been the underdogs every time we take the ice, every weekend."
The Spartans stumbled into the postseason by dropping four of their last five games. But a month later, they're national champions.
"It's an amazing feeling to win this championship for Michigan State," said sophomore forward Tim Kennedy, who tied the game at one midway through the third period with a power-play goal. "There certainly were a lot of people out there who doubted that we could do it."
And throughout much of the game, it seemed the doubters may finally prevail. MSU missed on a number of chances, failed to capitalize on several power plays and had no goals after two periods.
But the team gained inspiration from sophomore goaltender Jeff Lerg's sliding stop on an Eagles two-on-one rush early in the third period. All MSU did after that was score three unanswered goals to win the national championship.
After the game, the players skated around the ice with the national championship trophy. But when the players ran to the locker room, they forgot the trophy on the ice.
Still, the whole experience is anything but forgettable.
"I will never forget this," Mueller said. "This is the best feeling in my entire life, and I will never forget this. We're a family forever. Obviously, every team is a family with a bunch of brothers, but this is just a special moment we'll never forget for the rest of our lives."
