It was the tale of two different teams for MSU hockey over the weekend, splitting a home-and-home weekend series against rival No. 12 Michigan , including a comeback win on Saturday at Munn Ice Arena.
MSU was embarrassed on Friday at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich., losing 7-1 in its worst loss to U-M since 1996 .
MSU came back the next night to overcome an early two-goal deficit, scoring three unanswered goals - two in the third period - to win, 4-3 .
MSU was outscored 10-2 in the first four periods of the series, but was able to hold U-M scoreless for the final 40 minutes on Saturday after playing senior goaltender Will Yanakeff .
Head coach Tom Anastos said Saturday’s win was an example of the character of the Spartans and the will to fight back, after what he considered the worst loss in his three years of coaching.
“That was a great win and for a lot of reasons,” Anastos said following Saturday’s 4-3 win. “Last night was the worst loss since I’ve been here in terms of how we performed and I was concerned how it’d impact us... I’m really happy for our team because I think how we fought back, it says a lot about the perseverance that they’ve played with all season.”
U-M made quick work of MSU on Friday, scoring only 56 seconds into the game.
U-M held only a 2-1 lead going into the second period, but exploded in the next frame, scoring three goals.
U-M junior defenseman Andrew Sinelli would add two more goals in the third period to give him a hat-trick on the night.
The following night saw a similar start, with U-M jumping to an early 3-1 lead after the first period.
From there, MSU flipped the script and began a comeback rally late in the second period, with senior forward Lee Reimer scoring on the power play to trim the U-M lead to only one goal.
MSU’s comeback bid continued into the third period, scoring two goals within a 1:13 span to take the lead.
Sophomore forward Michael Ferrantino had the game-tying goal and freshman forward Mackenzie MacEachern had the game-winner with 12:13 left in the game.
“Growing up you always dream of scoring the game-winning goal in a big game, so it was definitely good to score against Michigan, (our) biggest rival, so definitely a good feeling,” MacEachern said.
Yanakeff finished with 24 saves after replacing sophomore goaltender Jake Hildebrand.
He came into the game after the first period. Yanakeff also replaced Hildebrand in net on Friday night. Until Friday, Yanakeff hadn’t seen the ice since Nov. 9 at Michigan Tech.
Yanakeff was emotional following the 4-3 win on Saturday, shedding tears as the final buzzer rang. Yanakeff said the win against the U-M was special after a challenging season that hasn’t lived up to expectations.
“It was really emotional, I’m not going to lie,” said Yanakeff. “It’s a great feeling. It’s been awhile since I felt like this and I got to say I’m really happy things worked out this way.”
