Junior forward Corey Tropp skates up the ice and looks to pass in MSU’s 4-1 loss to Ferris State on Friday in Big Rapids.
Big Rapids, Mich. – The MSU hockey team looked like it hadn’t played together for more than a month on Friday night.
Really, MSU only had one weekend off. But the bye weekend caused the No. 12 Spartans to come out of the gates flat and out of sync, eventually leading to a 4-1 loss to No. 14 Ferris State at Ewigleben Ice Arena.
“These road games, for some reason, have been giving us trouble,” senior forward Nick Sucharski said. “That first little bit we have to come out and set a good tone. Whether it’s bus legs, or whatever it is, you have to put aside the excuses at this point in the season. It’s February. We have to go out there and get the job done.”
With the victory, Ferris State now stands alone in second place in the CCHA standings at 19-10-4 overall and 13-8-4 in the conference. MSU (17-11-5, 12-8-5) sits in third place.
Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels said his team capitalized on the Spartans’ struggles early in the game.
“When you come off an off-week, sometimes it takes awhile to get going,” Daniels said. “I thought we took advantage of that to an extent tonight.”
The Spartans scored a total of two goals in their last three games. MSU now is winless in its past four games (0-3-1).
MSU head coach Rick Comley opted to jumble the lines at the start of Friday’s game for only the third time this season. As the end of the first period approached, and the Spartans continued their sluggish play, Comley decided to go back to the Spartans’ usual line combinations.
Luckily, MSU was able to escape the first period and keep the game scoreless. But consistent sloppy play – and loads of turnovers – led to several quality scoring chances for the Bulldogs.
Ferris State goaltender Pat Nagle could have curled up in the crease and taken a nap during the first period, as MSU recorded a season-low two shots in the opening 20 minutes.
Five minutes into the second period, freshman forward Derek Grant had a breakaway on Nagle, but Grant fired his shot wide of the net.
Then, the Bulldogs took the lead with goals from Aaron Lewicki, Mike Fillinger and Kyle Bonis at 6:51, 11:41, and 15:48, respectively.
At 2:47 of the third period, Grant deflected a shot from MSU freshman defenseman Torey Krug past Nagle to make the score 3-1.
Grant’s goal brought life into the Spartans for the next five minutes. Ferris State was on its heels, forced to ice the puck to relieve MSU’s pressure on several occasions.
But eventually, the Bulldogs got their legs back.
With six minutes remaining in the third period, Lewicki fired a hard pass to the slot that perfectly was deflected by forward Justin Menke over the shoulder of MSU sophomore goaltender Drew Palmisano.
Comley wasn’t happy with the Spartans’ work ethic in the loss.
“It wasn’t bad in the third, but the first two periods were,” Comley said. “I thought we had some young kids really struggle and hurt us. But the building, it’s a tough, tough environment. It’s not so much the crowd, just the feeling that you are in a closet. Whether we got comfortable or just played better in the third, I don’t know. We will have to play a lot better (Saturday).”
The two teams will faceoff again at 5:05 p.m. Saturday at Munn Ice Arena.
With a win, the Spartans again could tie Ferris State for second place in the conference.
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Regardless, the Spartans know they have to come out with a better performance at home.
“This game, we just want to put it behind us,” Sucharski said. “Even that third period, where we played better, it’s something that we want to put behind us right now. We have to hang on for a better effort (Saturday).”
