Men's Hockey Ties No. 2 CC
Friday: CC 7, MSU 1 Saturday: CC 2, MSU 2
by Brad Wheeler
February 08, 2005
It was a tale of two different teams this weekend for MSU men's hockey. The first team received its worst beating of the season from Colorado College. The second team gave the best team in the WCHA all it could handle.
Coming into Friday night's contest at the Midwest Wireless Civic Center, Colorado College was 11-0-1 in Friday games this season. With MSU having last weekend off, the No. 2 ranked Tigers would be a tough test for the Mavericks to get back into game action.
The loud crowd of 3,635 was excited and the first period was evenly played until the nations' leading scorer, Marty Sertich, scored on a backhand for the Tigers to beat Jon Volp.
"It was a tight period, so it was huge to score that first one," Sertich said. Sertich now has 54 points on the season. The crowd silenced after the score, and less than two minutes later, the Tigers notched goal to go up 2-0.
In the second period, the Tigers added two more goals to add to their lead. MSU forward David Backes scored the only goal of the night for the Mavericks when he tipped in Travis Morin's shot on the power play. Colorado College went on to score three more goals in the third period as they beat MSU 7-1.
"I was extremely disappointed in our effort in the third period. That's the one thing this team hasn't done all year is quit," MSU head coach Troy Jutting said. "Tonight we didn't finish the game."
Sterling tallied two goals and three assists for a five-point night. Sterling is second in national scoring behind his teammate Sertich with 48 points.
"I don't care," Sertich said with a smile. "He's on my team so that's fine with me."
MSU honored the 1980 Mavericks team that won the National Championship Saturday night as the current Mavericks looked for a better effort against the WCHA's top team.
Chris Clark started in goal and played a terrific game, totaling 40 saves and just two goals against.
"We had a much better defensive effort. I wouldn't expect myself to save 40 shots straight up without help," Clark said.
Ryan Carter scored off of his own rebound in the first 1:36 into the first period. Backes got the puck to Carter who originally fanned on the shot but recovered to give the Mavericks the 1-0 lead going into the second period.
"It was very important to come out and jump on them early after last night," MSU captain Brad Thompson said.
Colorado College tied it but with eight seconds left in the second period, but Thompson scored giving MSU a 2-1 lead. Gerlach got it to Thompson in front and the senior tipped in the goal.
The Tigers tied it again halfway through the third period. With about 45 seconds left, Thompson had a rebound chance but Tigers goalie Matt Zaba made an amazing save.
"I take the blame. I had an empty net and I should have scored," Thompson said. "I think we ... I know we should've won tonight."
The two teams went to overtime where the Tigers fired six more shots at Clark, who didn't flinch, ensuring the tie 2-2.
"I was more nervous tonight than usual," Clark said, "But if you can't get a little nervous against the No. 2 team in the nation, something's wrong."
Clark made key saves down the stretch and was vital in helping kill over four minutes of penalties at the start of the third period, including the Tigers five-on-three power play.
"I think we got embarrassed last night and our fans deserve better than that. We felt like we owed it to our fans tonight," Clark says.