Junior defenseman Justin Johnston tries to keep the puck away from MSU’s net at the MSU vs. U.S. National Under-18 Team game on Tuesday.
The MSU hockey team’s game against the U.S. National Under-18 Team was “more of the same” for head coach Rick Comley. For senior captain Jeff Lerg, it was the “same old story.”
Untimely turnovers, bad penalties and not playing a full 60 minutes once again cost the Spartans in a 4-2 exhibition loss Tuesday night at Munn Ice Arena.
“It’s obvious the mistakes you make that cost you goals,” Comley said. “Everybody in the building can see them and it wasn’t necessarily freshman that (made them).”
Like many of the prior games during MSU’s 11-game winless streak, the Spartans played a solid first period.
Freshman defenseman Tim Buttery hit the post in the first minute on a great scoring opportunity. Then MSU converted at 2:11, capitalizing on a USA turnover.
Freshman forward Ben Warda found fellow freshman Mike Merrifield across the crease on a 2-on-0 down low and he found daylight past Team USA goaltender Brandon Maxwell.
MSU would hold the lead into the second period, but USA struck twice in the frame to take the lead.
Forward Ryan Bourque drove to the net, where his shot was stopped by freshman goaltender Drew Palmisano. But A.J. Treais was there to tap in the rebound to tie the game at one.
The duo combined again to give USA the lead just over six minutes later.
On the power play, sophomore forward Dustin Gazley tried to make a pass up the middle, but it was intercepted by Treais, who slipped a pass inside to Bourque, who went in all alone on Palmisano from the slot and buried it for the shorthanded tally.
“You put the puck in bad areas, bad things are going to happen,” Comley said.
Bourque made his presence felt later in the period when he leveled sophomore defenseman Jeff Petry into the boards. Petry went down in pain and had to be assisted off the ice. He would not return and Comley said he is unsure of his status.
“We played well in the first period,” Lerg said. “We’ve done that before, played well in the first period and something comes out of us in the intermission and we don’t seem to have the same jump and we didn’t have the same jump the rest of the game.”
The Spartans got off to a quick start in the third period, recording several chances in the first 20 seconds, but Maxwell stood tall in goal for USA.
MSU would eventually break through to tie the game, as sophomore forward Corey Tropp scored a nice goal on the power play at 7:34.
Senior forward Matt Schepke took a shot from the point that was deflected by Tropp and stopped by Maxwell, but the puck shot up in the air and Tropp knocked it out of the air into the goal.
Despite having chances in the final frame (Maxwell faced 20 shots in the period, 39 for the game), the Spartans couldn’t push another one through.
Team USA, though, answered the bell in a big way at 14:25.
Senior defenseman Brandon Gentile turned the puck over near the blue line, allowing USA’s Kenny Ryan to dash in on a 2-on-1 down the right side. Ryan’s snipe shot beat Palmisano over the left shoulder to give the Under-18 Team a lead it would not relinquish.
“That shot by Ryan, the third goal, was a great shot, holy cow,” Comley said. “He had nothing to shoot at.”
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USA would add an empty-net goal off the stick of Jerry D’Amigo with 31 seconds left to seal the deal.
“They control their own destiny, to be honest with you,” Comley said. “They have to challenge each other and find a way to push each other. You can’t make mistakes like that, especially when you’re not scoring, and win games. It’s just going to kill you, like it did tonight.”
Lerg said Team USA outworked the Spartans and wanted it more.
“That’s how it’s been for a month,” Lerg said. “The other team’s wanted it more. It’s gotta mean something to the team here to win a game and to this point it hasn’t meant something to play a full 60 minutes.”
The team will now head home until Christmas, when it will return for a practice that night in preparation for the Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit on Dec. 27-28.
“It’s a time for self-reflection,” Lerg said of the break. “If you go back and you reflect on yourself, how you’ve played, what you can do. If you’re not willing to sacrifice, then just don’t come back from break. We don’t want to have you if you’re not willing to do the right things, help us move in the right direction … if you’re not willing to do the dirty work and work hard for the next three, three-and-a-half months, then don’t bother showing up and that’s what we said.”
