The No. 5-seeded Spartans allowed a flurry of offense in the second period in each game and were handled physically at both ends of the ice for the duration by No. 4-seed Miami (Ohio) to fall 6-0 on Friday and 4-1 on Saturday at Steve Cady Arena in Oxford, Ohio.

With the best-of-three series victory in hand, the RedHawks advance to the semifinal round of the CCHA Tournament next weekend at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, while the Spartans are forced to sit and wait for a potential bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s difficult because I’m sick about losing,” MSU head coach Tom Anastos said after the loss Saturday. “I’m sick for the seniors; I’m sick for our team. And yet, we’re gonna deal with the loss because losing is not something we want to accept here. And yet, at the same time, we’re building some fundamental building blocks for our program to get back to the level we expect it to be at.”

Even though the Spartans recalled an earlier season sweep at the hands of Miami (Ohio) at Munn Ice Arena, it didn’t much prepare them for the physicality and athleticism of the RedHawks this time around.

“We kept competing and even though we had such a poor effort (Friday), we showed up (Saturday) and gave it our all, which is a positive,” junior forward Kevin Walrod said following Saturday’s loss. “In just a rebuilding thing for us, we try to stay positive.”

Trailing by just a goal on Friday, the Spartans were forced to watch in agony as Miami poured on four of its six goals in the second period to take the lead and later the first game of the series.

The four goals allowed by MSU in the period was the most it has allowed in any period of the year, and it effectively ended the night for sophomore goalie Will Yanakeff.

“Size is a big factor in the game,” Anastos said on Friday. “We’ve got to find different ways to compete hard to play against that because obviously we’re not big bodies. I think they competed a lot harder than we did (Friday).”

The next night with senior goalie Drew Palmisano in net, the Spartans couldn’t overcome another second-period pummeling, giving up three goals in the period and were forced to face an early exit from the CCHA Tournament.

With the pair of losses, the Spartans currently sit in a tie with Merrimack and Western Michigan for 14th in the PairWise Rankings with a week of games to play. As it stands, MSU has an edge by mere percentage points in the three-way tie, but that is likely to change in the next week with teams still in action.

As NCAA Tournament odds remain up in the air for the Spartans, junior forward Anthony Hayes said the team has earned its fate but will have to wait and see how the standings finish before determining what that fate might be.

“Nobody likes to play the waiting game,” Hayes said on Saturday. “We did it when I was a freshman, and I think we ended up coming a tie or a win short. I’m sure it’s going to be close again this year. Nobody enjoys it, but that’s the situation we’ve put ourselves in.”