Staff writers Dillon Davis and Alyssa Girardi discuss the MSU hockey team’s loss to Union in the NCAA tournament.
Bridgeport, Conn. – The No. 1-seed Union hockey team has the second highest ranked scoring defense in the country and they more than lived up to that ranking Friday, beating the No. 4-seed MSU, 3-1, at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn.
When MSU found out it was going to be playing against Union in the East Regional NCAA Tournament game, it understood it had a defensive game waiting for them, head coach Tom Anastos said.
“Well the game was played pretty much as we expected,” Anastos said. “We expected it would be a very tough game to find space, very difficult for us to create scoring chances. They certainly played how we thought they would play.”
The Union defense clogged up their end of the ice throughout the duration of the game, making it difficult for MSU to get many quality shots on Union goalie Troy Grosenick.
Despite Union playing up to its reputation, the Spartans still failed to find their way around the Dutchmen defense to put the puck in the net — generating just one tally in the game by freshman forward Matt Berry.
“They played very well in front of their goalie and it was hard to create chances,” junior defenseman Torey Krug said. “To their credit they were a very good defensive team, and unfortunately we weren’t able to capitalize on our opportunities.”
A stolen opportunity
With nearly a minute and a half left in the first period, the Spartans had a potential game-altering opportunity taken away from them.
Berry took a shot on net that was presumed to be a goal until referee Derek Shepherd declared it no goal because of a dislodged net. The referees spent several minutes reviewing the play before the goal was waived off.
Senior forward Anthony Hayes said he looked at the call as a win-some, lose-some situation and it didn’t affect MSU’s outlook of the rest of the game.
“They looked at it from every possible angle so we trust them to make the decision,” he said. “Unfortunately it didn’t go our way but when we look back on our season there were some that did. I don’t think it would have changed the outcome of the game.”
The game might still have resulted in a 3-1 Union win, but had that goal been counted, the game would have been tied at 1-1 going into the first intermission.
Anastos was CCHA commissioner before taking the MSU head coaching job, and he joked about the relationship between his former job and the goal review process.
“Being a former commissioner, I know some of the commissioners here are looking into head coaching jobs next year,” Anastos said with a laugh. “But you know they gave it plenty of time and I trust the process. But I will look at it,” he added.
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