Head coach Rick Comley hugs senior goalkeeper Jeff Lerg as he steps off the ice after being defeated by Northern Michigan University 8-2 of the second round CCHA Tournament Saturday night at Barry Events Center in Marquette, Mich. This was Lerg’s last game as a Spartan.
Marquette — If you would have told Northern Michigan head coach Walt Kyle his team would score 13 goals on MSU senior goaltender Jeff Lerg in a weekend series, he would have said you were out of your mind.
“If you said we were going to score 13 goals on him, I’d ask if that was over a four-year span,” Kyle said.
But in Saturday’s 8-2 Northern Michigan blowout win coupled with Friday’s 5-3 victory, the Wildcats did just that and in the process ended the season for the MSU hockey team by sweeping the Spartans in the first round of the CCHA tournament.
Although Lerg allowed a career-high eight goals, MSU head coach Rick Comley didn’t have any hesitation keeping him in the net for the duration of the game.
“He’s the best player I’ve ever coached,” Comley said. “I don’t want this to diminish anything or leave a bad taste in his mouth. A lot of goaltenders I would have pulled. But out of respect to him, I wasn’t going to do it.”
The loss ended the year for the Spartans (10-23-5 overall) and the Wildcats will head on the road for the second round of the CCHA tournament to face either Miami (Ohio) or Alaska.
Comley said his team battled hard throughout the season despite being dealt several major blows to the lineup.
“It’s difficult to judge some of them because it’s such a depleted team in terms of what we started the year with,” Comley said. “There will be some hard lessons learned by some young guys, but we’ve got to work hard this spring and summer to get stronger and infuse some new talent and move forward.”
Kyle even gave the Spartans credit for continuing to battle despite the several road bumps throughout the season.
“That team has gone through so much, I think it’s a credit to all of those guys that they played the way they did,” Kyle said. “They’ve had a lot of injuries and players playing hurt. I give Comley a lot of credit for just holding it together just the way he has.”
The blowout victory for the Wildcats came as a result of a balanced offensive effort where only four of Northern Michigan’s 18 skaters didn’t record at least one point on the night.
“We don’t have a culture of stars,” Kyle said. “We have a culture of workers and grinders and everyone has to contribute. We’ve had some guys that have had tremendous growth this year.”
The firepower displayed by the Wildcats kept Lerg under a constant barrage of shots all night – most of which were high-quality scoring chances.
“They had too much energy for us right off the bat,” Lerg said. “Even if we had extended it one more game, I would have to play probably the best in my career to have this go my way.”
Half of the Wildcats goals came after Lerg made the initial save but was given no help by his defenseman in clearing the rebound. The other half of the goals were scored through heavy traffic in front of the net or deflections that snuck through.
“They are a bigger, stronger team and they out-muscled us to second and third opportunities,” Lerg said. “We knew that was what it was going to be like. They just capitalized on their opportunities. They are a good team and I think they will be a tough team to beat.”
The Wildcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead by 17:03 of the first period but MSU sophomore forward Dustin Gazley scored with just under two minutes left in the opening frame to keep the game within striking distance for the Spartans heading into the first intermission.
But Northern Michigan rattled off the next six goals – with three goals being scored in both the second and third periods, including a shorthanded goal in the final frame.
“I thought we really struggled in our zone,” Comley said. “Their cycling and puck possession really put a lot of pressure on our ‘D’ and they struggled.”
Gazley scored his second goal of the night for the Spartans at 16:54 but the game was all but over at that point.
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Lerg wasn’t happy to end his collegiate career on such a sour note, but said he will never forget his time at MSU.
“It’s disappointing going out like that,” Lerg said. “It was a lot of fun here and there’s a lot of pride in that jersey. It was the best four years of my life.”
