Freshman forward Daultan Leveille, center, celebrates the first goal of the game against Alaska in the last few minutes of the game. The Spartans won, 2-1.
For the second time in three games, the MSU hockey team upset a team ranked No. 18 in the country.
Last Saturday, the Spartans beat No. 18 North Dakota 2-1 in the Great Lakes Invitational. On Friday night the Spartans beat No. 18 Alaska 2-1 at Munn Ice Arena.
Both goals for the Spartans came with under four minutes left in the third period and were 86 seconds apart to give MSU its first conference victory since Oct. 31.
MSU head coach Rick Comley was thrilled to get the victory, especially after his team trailed most of the game.
“The best part was the win and the fact that we persevered and worked hard and never quit,” Comley said. “We are offensively challenged so scoring is not going to be easy. But I thought we competed pretty well and got better as the game went on.”
With the victory, the Spartans are now 10-1-1 against Alaska since the 2005-06 season and haven’t lost a home game to the Nanooks since Nov. 8, 1996. The win also bumped the Spartans from 12th place in the CCHA to ninth.
The line of sophomore Andrew Rowe, freshman Daultan Leveille, and sophomore Dustin Gazley were responsible for both of the Spartans goals.
Comley has stuck with that line more than any other – they have nine games together – and Comley said he likes their offensive chemistry.
“I like their speed,” Comley said. “I broke them up tonight…but I put them back together in the third. It’s our best line.”
Gazley recorded the game-winner for the Spartans with 2:09 left in the game and he said the come-from behind victory is going to be a big motivational boost for the team.
“The win was so good for this team,” Gazley said. “I think it’s really going to spark something for this New Year.”
The Spartans (6-12-3 overall, 2-8-2-2 CCHA) had only six shots in both the first and second period and the team’s best scoring opportunity came midway through the first period when they had a 2-on-1 from center ice.
Senior forward Matt Schepke brought the puck down the left wing and waited till the last possible second to dish it off to sophomore forward Corey Tropp. But the pass was too much for Tropp to handle and it jumped over his stick.
The Nanooks struck first with 2:44 left in the first period when Joe Sova fired a shot from the point that was traveling well wide and to the left of the net before hitting MSU senior defenseman Brandon Gentile in the shoulder and deflecting into the net.
At 2:44 in the second period, freshman forward Andrew Conboy was drilled from behind into boards – resulting in a five minute major and a game misconduct to Alaska’s Scott Enders.
To make things even better for the Spartans, just over a minute later, the Nanooks took another penalty, giving the Spartans a full two minutes with a two-man advantage.
But MSU was unable to capitalize on the long power play and were only able to record a total of three shots – none of which were any real threat to Alaska goaltender Chad Johnson.
Alaska had a 5-on-3 of their own later in the second period for 1:44 but were also unable to score and at the end of two the score was still 1-0.
In the first minute of the third period, Gazley walked right in on Johnson but tried one move too many and was unable to get a shot off.
The Spartans were on the power play with 3:43 left in the third period when it appeared they tied the game up. Leveille brought the puck down the right side of the ice and played it perfectly to freshman Ben Warda who was flying hard to the net. Warda got his stick on the puck and it appeared the puck went into the net. The referee went upstairs to review the play, but deemed it no goal.
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Comley kept the same line on the ice and they were able to tie the game up with 3:35 left in the third period. Gazley passed the puck from behind the net to Leveille who was able to get just enough on the puck to slide it under Johnson.
“The goalie kind of didn’t know where it was and it bounced behind the net,” Leveille said. “Then Gazley sent it back in front. The goalie didn’t really know where it was and it was fortunate to get into the back of the net.”
Then 1:26 later the same line struck again for the Spartans – as Gazley picked the pocket of an Alaska defenseman and fired a wrist shot from a sharp angle that snuck between the blocker of Johnson and the post.
But Alaska almost tied the game up on the power play with under a minute left and an extra attacker on the ice, but they missed a shot with a wide open net.
Comley said Alaska’s missed shot and just the game in general was a huge break for his team – a break they wouldn’t have gotten in the beginning of the year.
“That’s the first game where we’ve had things bounce for us,” Comley said. “So maybe that will be a good sign.”
MSU will look to lock up their first weekend sweep of the season at 7:05 Saturday at Munn.
“We will take tonight with a smile and try to come back tomorrow,” Comley said. “You need good things to happen to move forward. So maybe this will be the start of it.”
