Spartan teammates celebrate after freshman forward Ryan Keller scored the second goal of the game on Monday night, Oct. 8, 2012, at Munn Ice Arena. MSU defeated Windsor, 6-1in the first and only exhibition game. Adam Toolin/The State News
Slow and steady might win some races, but the Spartans will have to up the tempo if they wish to get upcoming games under their belt as wins.
The MSU men’s hockey team (1-2-1) currently has played 12 full periods of regular season hockey, and has failed to score in eight of those periods.
In fact, all eight of MSU’s goals this regular season have been scored in the third period.
“We still have a lot of work,” junior forward and captain Greg Wolfe said. “We have to start making a little smarter plays, reacting a little quicker and just coming together a little bit more and start playing more consistently as a whole group.”
To this point in the season, MSU leads the third-period scoring margin over its opponents, 8-3.
Minnesota scored a goal in the third period each game of its two-game series with MSU, and Niagara got one last-period goal Saturday.
In overall scoring, MSU falls to its opponents 17-7, with 12 of those goals by Minnesota in the opening weekend of the season.
When asked 2how to get the team moving earlier in the game, head coach Tom Anastos joked he is going to try and trick the players into thinking the first period is the third.
“I didn’t mind how we started the game (Friday), other than some goals that ended up going in our net,” Anastos said of the Niagara series. “I thought we got better as the game went on. (Saturday), I’m not exactly sure. I thought they went out more ready to start than we did. Now we’re going to have to take a look at that and figure out why we weren’t as ready as we need to be and fix that.”
Wolfe also laughed when asked about the continual late rallies by MSU, joking that the team must just like to wait until the third period to score.
“Just getting off to that start, it takes us a little while to get our legs under us,” Wolfe said. “I think if we can figure out how to come out with the same intensity that we come out with in the third period, if we can come out in the first period with that, we should be all right. But that’s the trick, finding that confidence to come out and attack and battle and knowing that we can carry the play for 60 minutes, not just 20 or 15.”
Sophomore forward Brent Darnell found a positive in the late goals by himself and his teammates: at least the goals are coming.
MSU has trailed every single game it’s played this season heading into the third. Despite losing two of the games, the Spartans fought back against Niagara to pick up a win and a tie in the series.
MSU might be struggling to find the back of the net in early periods, but in some cases, it’s better late than never.
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