Junior defenseman Justin Johnston, right, attempts to steal the puck from Michigan defenseman Brandon Burlon during Friday’s game at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor. The Spartans will face the Wolverines again on Saturday evening.
Ann Arbor — Senior goaltender Jeff Lerg is fed up with the way his team has been performing.
Whether it’s the 10-game winless streak the MSU hockey team is currently ridding, or the 6-1 spanking it received Friday night at the hands of No. 14 Michigan at Yost Ice Arena, the Spartans captain is beyond frustrated.
“We keep saying that we are a young team and we are immature but we are halfway though the season and it’s time to realize that it’s time to start playing,” Lerg said. “We can only have so many excuses for so long. It’s definitely frustrating from my viewpoint.”
Despite the tough road atmosphere, the Spartans (4-10-3 overall, 2-7-2-2 CCHA) jumped out to a one goal lead after the first period. But that was all the offense MSU could muster, as they gave up six unanswered goals.
Senior forward Matt Schepke scored the lone Spartans goal shorthanded at 9:09 in the first period to give MSU the only lead it would have all night.
But the Spartans played shorthanded because senior defenseman Brandon Gentile had been thrown out of the game for committing a check from behind.
MSU head coach Rick Comley said Gentile’s loss set the Spartans back and hurt them down the stretch of the game where the Wolverines poured the offense on and scored three goals in both the second and third period.
“(Michigan) cranked it up for sure,” Comley said. “Once we lost Gentile we lost some toughness. Their speed and work effort just overwhelmed our defense.”
In a 6-1 loss Schepke admits there aren’t a lot of positives to take from the game. But he was pleased with the Spartans’ play in the first period and said his team needs to find a way to sustain that level of play throughout an entire game.
“I think we just got a little comfortable coming out in the second period,” Schepke said. “In the first period everyone came out fired up and knew what we were doing. In the second period we got a little too comfortable in our shoes and that’s what happens.”
And once the Spartans gave up the lead in the second period, Lerg felt the game slipping out of MSU’s grasp.
“We play well and we think we have it going, then one bad play turns into two and that turns into three,” Lerg said. “It just snowballs and we have to learn as a team that we have to play 60 minutes to win. We haven’t done it in the last month and it proves in our record.”
The U-M (10-7-0, 6-5-0) defense smothered the Spartans in the latter phases of the game, and held MSU to only three shots in the third period – the first of which came with 4:17 left.
After U-M recorded its fifth goal, Comley decided to pull Lerg. But he was quick to admit that it wasn’t because of Lerg’s performance in the net.
“I did not pull Jeff because of what Jeff did,” Comley said. “He was just left out to dry.”
The Wolverines matched the Spartans shorthanded goal less than two minutes into the second period when they stole the puck at neutral ice and came in on a 2-on-0 on Lerg.
U-M’s Matt Rust passed the puck across the ice to Chris Summers who slid the puck under Lerg.
The second and third goals were of very similar fashion for U-M. Both entailed a scrum in the slot that resulted in the puck being passed to a wide open Wolverine in the perfect position to play it into the open net.
The fourth goal for the Wolverines came at 10:32 in the third period on a perfectly designed play. Summers intentionally fired a shot wide from the point and the puck redirected off the boards behind the net and went right onto the stick of a wide open David Wohlberg.
A tic-tac-toe passing play put U-M on the board for the fifth time. The Wolverines cycled the puck down low before finding a streaking Brandon Naurato in the slot and he ripped a wrist shot past Lerg and into the net.
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Lerg said he didn’t have much of a chance on all five of the goals scored against him and he wasn’t happy when Comley gave him the yank.
“Obviously I wasn’t happy because I feel like I give every ounce of energy every game and there’s not a good result that has happened in a month,” Lerg said.
The Wolverines final goal of the night came when Brandon Burlon walked right through the Spartans defense and sent the puck into the top of the net over MSU freshman goaltender Drew Palmisano.
The Spartans will have another shot at the Wolverines at 7 p.m. Saturday at Munn Ice Arena.
Through the winless month of November and Friday’s loss, Lerg feels he’s said all he can to try and inspire his teammates.
“I’m going to say nothing (tomorrow),” Lerg said. “We’ve talked enough the last month straight and I’ve said all I can say. If they want to play, they can play hard for 60 minutes.
