After dropping its first four contests in a row to start the season, the MSU hockey team was looking for its third straight victory after the slow start. The Spartans were unsuccessful in their effort, as they dropped game two of the weekend series to the Michigan Tech Huskies, 5-1.
Redshirt-freshman defenseman Jerad Rosburg was out for his second straight game, which meant the Spartans dressed seven blueliners.
In the second game of the series, the Huskies jumped out to a lead quickly, less than five minutes into the match. The away team used the minute of 4-on-4 hockey to its advantage, sneaking the puck past freshman goaltender John Lethemon with just one second left on the special team.
Once the mere second was over, Michigan Tech was back on the power play and they scored just 11seconds later. Forward Joel L'Esperance nailed a backhand after he got free on the breakaway to score against the home squad.
Sophomore forward Mason Appleton appeared to suffer an upper-body injury halfway through the period for MSU. He didn't see the ice the rest of the game after his heroics in game one.
In the latter half of the period, though, MSU stormed back after it was down 8-1 in the shots on goal department at one point.
Picking up the slack for his fellow linesman, freshman forward Taro Hirose scored his second of the season just after the Spartans' second power play opportunity expired. Freshman Sam Saliba chipped in an assist, contributing his first point of his young college career.
By the end of the first, the Spartans pressured the Huskies as the shots on goal was significantly closer, with Michigan Tech holding the slim 10-8 lead.
The second had the Spartans struggling to muster up any offense in the Huskies' zone. They were outshot 11-6 and yielded the only score of the period.
Michigan Tech's score came courtesy of defenseman Shane Hanna when the Huskies had the 5-on-3 man advantage after back-to-back MSU penalties. Hanna went upper-shelf over Lethemon to aid the away team's cause.
Going into the third, the Spartans were facing a two-goal deficit and were struggling to get anything going offensively in the Huskies' zone.
Less than one minute into the final period, the Huskies added another goal after a grave MSU miscue. Freshman defenseman Butrus Ghufari over-skated past the puck and left it sitting there for forward Reid Sturos who appropriately sent it past an unexpected Lethemon.
The Huskies were on the scoreboard again right off a face-off in the MSU zone. Forward Chris Leibinger blasted a wrister into the back of the net.
For the rest of the period, the Spartans continued to struggle in their opponent's zone. They had two power play chances, but came up empty in both, finishing a woeful 0-for-5 on the man advantage.
After an overtime win in game one of the series, MSU came up empty as its record dropped to 2-5-0 on the season.
The Spartans will look to bounce back from the loss as they face off against Ferris State University in a home-and-home series this upcoming weekend. They will host the Bulldogs, Nov. 10, with a 7:05 p.m. puck drop. Afterwards they'll head to Big Rapids, Mich. to wrap up the series on Nov. 12 with Ferris State.
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