Spartans Three Peat as B1G Champions

Thursday night saw Spartan Hockey back to looking like themselves again. The Spartans dominated in all facets of the game and came out looking to make a statement on a national level. A 7-1 punch in the face to clinch the first ever conference three peat for the program. A message to the other top contenders that MSU intends to be a force to be reckoned with. A message to the powers that be in NPI rankings as they ask the question, are you sure about where you want to rank us? Friday night saw the Spartans take the foot of the gas a bit and fall in a shootout. Let’s take a look at the action from both games.

MSU struck early as Porter Martone stayed hot connecting on a pass from Stramel five minutes into the first. The Spartans are 23-3-1 when scoring first. The first period ended 1-0 but the Spartans outshot the Gophers and that 12-8 advantage just ballooned as the game progressed. The second period is where the Spartans went into turbo mode and put the game out of reach. The Spartans connected on a nifty goal from Lee on a pass from Romani as MSU dominated time in the Gopher zone. MSU then scored 3 more goals within a five minute stretch. Tiernan Shoudy scored on a fantastic pass from O’Connell that crossed in front of the net. Martone slapped in his second on a shot that went of the crossbar but slid in during a power play. Martone just missed getting a hat trick as he almost scored immediately after his second goal. Lee then connected on his second of the night and also just missed a hat trick when he hit the crossbar. As the teams headed into the second intermission MSU was up 5-0 and had doubled the shots on goal 31-16 and chased DiPasquo from the game.

Minnesota looked to almost be standing around ate in the second and that carried into the third as MSU was just out skating, and literally doing whatever they wanted with the puck. Minnesota was unable to disrupt passes or keep the puck out of their zone for prolonged periods of time. MSU went up 6-0 as Lindstrom scored his second of the year. Augustine lost the shutout a little over halfway through the third as Tanner Ludtke managed to get on past him. Shoudy got his second of the night on a late power play and as he shot it almost looked like he felt bad piling it on.

The Spartans played a near perfect game in the 7-1 route. Only three penalties, out shot Minnesota 45-24, and that coincided with their 45-26 face off wins at 63.4%. Obviously tournament games will be a higher intensity but this is the type of dominance they are capable of and would love to see the rest of the season. Minnesota has had a tough year but they were coming in off a very competitive weekend against the conference champion wannabes and MSU slammed the door on them building any momentum into the B1G Tournament, which will be Minnesota’s only way to make the NCAA tournament.

Friday night saw Nightingale give Augustine a rest and the nod to Melvin Strahl. Strahl hasn’t seem much time this season and there was a bit of rust on him. Minnesota gave the start to senior Wiese who had a nice save against Martone and then returned to the bench as DiPasquo finished the game. Brodie Ziemer scored first after a turnover by the Spartans at the Minnesota blue line. Mooney to Moe and then the hot Ziemer slapped it right past Strahl. Cayden Lindstrom evened it up as he tapped in a rebound from a Vansaghi shot. Action went back and forth and shots were fairly equal. Not the same dominance that was on display the previous night. Männistö managed to squeeze one by DiPasquo with about 33 seconds left in the period to put the Spartans up 2-1 headed into the first intermission.

Period two had Daniel Russell scoring early from some nice passing by his top line mates of Stramel and Martone. Minnesota managed two answers of their own to even things up in the second. The goal by Moe with about three minutes left made Strahl show that rust as he didn’t seem to see it at all and slammed his stick down in self frustration. Shots again were fairly even, MSU was dominating face offs and both teams were playing clean with only one penalty against the Spartans.

Heading into the third both teams went back and forth but neither team was showing much threat to end this in regulation. West gets stuck with an awkward tripping penalty that put the Gophers on the power play for almost the final two minutes. It was the only point in the period where there looked to be some momentum. Mooney missed wide on a wide open net that would have put the Gophers on top but instead, we headed to overtime.

Overtime saw an untimely interference penalty called on Stramel as Russell scored what would have been the game winner but instead was wiped away and the Gophers went on the power play to finish overtime. Strahl looked good and stood up on a couple of one timers and was able to extend the game to a second consecutive weekend shootout. Unfortunately, MSU could not take the shootout as Ralph and Lee both hit posts.

MSU has secured the conference title, the number one seed, bye and home ice for the B1G Tournament. They will have next week to rest up and get into do or die mode. The rankings will be interesting to keep an eye on as after last week, it’s really anybody’s guess as to how it will fall out. What do you think TOC? Who do you hope to face in the tourney? Where do you see the rankings placing MSU? Will NPI still give the Spartans the nod after the shootout loss? Let me know in the comments and lest start the post season dialogue.