Michigan State University took on the University Michigan this weekend at the Coyote Hockey City Classic in Chicago, Illinois! This would be the second meeting between the teams in the past week, and the 3rd meeting of the season. The two have split the season-series so far as the Wolverines came out victorious in their first meeting back on December 29th, followed by a Spartan victory on January 30th. Michigan State came into the game victorious in 3 straight and winners of 4 out of 6 games in the new calendar year. As the season approaches its final stretch before the Big Ten tournament, the Spartans still look to find the final missing pieces to the puzzle. The team has been playing much better hockey than they were in the early stages of the season, much of this success being credited to goaltender, Jake Hildebrand, who leads the Big Ten in save percentage at .920% and a goals-against average of 2.35 goals. Would he be enough to help the Spartans prevail over the rival Wolverines? Grounds crew at Soldier Field faced some pre-game ice maintenance issues, pushing the games 7 p.m. start back to 8:40 p.m. to prevent any hazardous ice conditions for the players and referees.
Finding the back of the net didn’t take too long for the University of Michigan as defenseman, Michael Downing, beat a Hildebrand stick side to put the Wolverines up 1-0 only a minute and 43 seconds into the contest. As expected, it also didn’t take long before the chippy behavior became a factor between the two teams. Michigan State found their funk in the second half of the period producing some key opportunities in front of the net. Joe Cox and Matt Berry both saw solid chances develop for the Spartans; however, neither could get their shots to go. The period would end just like that with the Wolverines taking a 1-0 lead into the locker room. Michigan State outshot its opponent 11-10 in the first period.
Michigan State began the second period with more momentum than they displayed in the first. However, that would quickly diminish as Wolverine defenseman, Cutler Martin, capitalized on a Spartan failed clearing attempt. Center, Andrew Copp, would soon add a tally of his own, squeezing the puck between Hildebrand’s legs extending the University of Michigan’s lead to 3-0. That score would stand for the rest of the period and Michigan State headed to the locker room appearing a bit deflated. The shot total at the end of two was in favor of the Wolverines, 25-20.
Michigan State was able to find the back of the net for the first time as center, Matt DeBlouw, fired a juicy rebound past Nagelvoort to make the score 3-1. Michigan State was able to generate some offense after gaining a mid-period momentum swing. Presented some decent scoring chances, the Spartans were unable to find the back of the net again. The Wolverines added an empty net goal to secure their 4-1 victory of the Spartans. The two teams will meet again for a back-to-back Ann Arbor and East Lansing showdown in mid-March.
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