Spartans split series with Irish after 4-1 win Saturday night
By Michael Caples –
EAST LANSING – It didn’t take long for the Spartans to break their goal drought.
Tanner Sorenson’s goal 1:48 into Saturday night’s game in East Lansing jumpstarted a Spartans offense that hadn’t scored in eight periods, leading them to a 4-1 win over No. 3/No. 2 Notre Dame at yost Ice Arena.
R.J. Boyd scored his first career goal as a Spartan, while Brent Darnell (Canton) and Matt DeBlouw (Chesterfield) added goals for Michigan State.
The Spartans had lost to Notre Dame 1-0 in Game 1 of the series on Friday night. Captain Greg Wolfe said that the series-evening win will help the mindset of the youthful Spartan roster.
“Any time you can beat the No. 2 ranked team in the nation, I think it’s an eye-opener,” Wolfe, a Canton native, said. “If these guys are the No. 2 team in the nation, and we can play with them, and we can have a one goal game and then beat them, the sky’s the limit for us, I think. I think the young guys will take that and run with it. We’re preaching the same thing day in and day out, and we just haven’t been getting the bounces or whatever you want to call it. But I think as we see our hard work pay off, it’s only going to get better.”
Freshman Jake Hildebrand continued his stellar play for the Spartans between the pipes, stopping 33 of the 34 shots he faced in the contest.
“It was a goof effort and it was nice to see the puck go in early; it was nice to see the puck go in late,” coach Tom Anastos said. I” think it was probably our best six periods of hockey of the season it all starts in goal, he handled all that pressure including bodies that were coming into him.”
Michigan State held the Notre Dame power-play unit scoreless on four opportunities. They also didn’t take a penalty until the third period.
Anastos said that now the pressure is on his team to continue the level of play they showed in front of a sold-out Munn Ice Arena.
“It puts us one the hook because we knew we were capable of a good solid effort and we demonstrated that we were, so it sets an expectation,” coach Tom Anastos said. “You’re not always going to get the results that you want but I really thought that Notre Dame was way better tonight than they were last night that was a tough game. It was physical, they were strong, they outsize us. They came hard at us and I really loved the way we battled all night long.”