Sophomore forward Villiam Haag takes the puck down the ice Jan. 23, 2015, during a game against Ohio State at Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans defeated the Buckeyes, 4-1. Alice Kole/The State News
MSU hockey (8-11-2, 2-3-2-2 Big Ten) improved its standing in the Big Ten Friday night, while simultaneously hurting Ohio State’s (7-12-2, 2-5 Big Ten). The Spartans skated to a 4-1 victory Friday night, behind junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand’s 33 saves.
“It was a good response,” junior captain Michael Ferrantino. “We didn’t play as well as we wanted to last weekend. I thought we came out with a lot of energy. We were able to put together pretty quality hockey throughout the night.”
Senior forward Brent Darnell scored his fifth goal of the year while adding two assists. Senior forward Matt Berry and sophomore forward Mackenzie MacEachern each added a goal and an assist. Even with all the offensive production, Hildebrand was named the first star of the game, while picking up his eighth victory of the season.
“After [Darnell] put the puck between his legs in the last minute I thought there was no chance. I thought I was going third star for sure,” Hildebrand said. “[Darnell] and Berry had great games. They both deserved it.”
The Spartans got plenty of opportunities to show off the Big Ten-leading penalty kill (85.9%), killing off all four of the Buckeye power plays. MSU has now killed off 19 consecutive power plays.
“It’s a strength of our team,” Ferrantino said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that are willing to sacrifice.”
The second period was highlighted by two goals from Spartan seniors. Berry broke the scoreless tie 1:35 into period off a wraparound. Berry, now with eight goals on the year, made his first appearance for MSU since missing the last six games due to not meeting team expectations, per Anastos.
“I just went out there and worked as hard as I could with my linemates,” Berry said. “We got a couple bounces and luckily just snuck one in there in the second period.”
Darnell gave MSU a 2-0 lead at 14:08 of the second period when he netted his fifth goal of the year. After sophomore forward Thomas Ebbing won a clean face-off right to Darnell, the senior rifled a wrist shot from the top of the circle that beat OSU goaltender Christian Frey. It was Darnell’s fourth goal in the last seven games, giving him eight points over that same span.
The Buckeyes were finally able to get something past Hildebrand in the third period, as David Gust scored for OSU just 2:46 into the final period. The Spartans responded quickly, however, when MacEachern scored his sixth goal of the year on the power play. MacEachern’s goal came at 6:14 into the period and with just six seconds left on the power play, with the assists going to Berry and Darnell.
Junior forward Ryan Keller added a late goal for the Spartans, potting his third of the year off an assist from Brent Darnell.
“Overall, I thought it was a pretty good start to the weekend,” head coach Tom Anastos said. “Nice to see four pucks go in the net. Nice to see us win special teams tonight…With our team right now, we looked at it as three periods of a six period weekend.”
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