Michigan State beats Lake Superior State 5-2 on Ron Mason Rink dedication night

East Lansing, Mich. – On a night in which the playing surface at Munn Ice Arena was dedicated in the name of Ron Mason, Michigan State delivered a fitting outcome: a victory.

No. 9-ranked Michigan State dominated the early stages, stumbled a bit midway through the game, and then rallied to secure a 5-2 win against Lake Superior State on Saturday night. A sellout crowd of 6,555 witnessed the dedication of Ron Mason Rink, in honor of the former Spartan coach who ended his career in 2012 as the winningest coach in college hockey history with 924 wins.

Mason’s record was eventually eclipsed by Boston College’s Jerry York, but the Spartans never trailed in this game, building a 3-0 lead in the second period. Lake Superior State closed it to 3-2 on a penalty shot with 4:10 left in the second period.

But Michigan State’s Red Savage (5-11, 185, Jr., Scottsdale, Ariz./Miami transfer) scored on a wrister from a tight angle with 9:12 left in the third period to make it 4-2 and sophomore defenseman Viktor Hurtig (6-6, 197, Soph., Avesta, Sweden) put the game out of reach with a goal with 4:14 remaining.

The two teams will play again at 4 p.m. on Sunday at Munn Ice Arena.

“It was a pretty special night to honor Coach Mason,” said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. “You look at what he has done for our university, our community, our hockey program, the rest of college hockey, and it was a special night to do it against Lake Superior. He started that program. It’s a proud program. For his family to be able to come back and to look at the faces of a lot of people here for Coach Mason, I’m sure he’s looking down pretty proud of it. And the crowd to show up the way they did, that’s the way it should be when you’re honoring Coach Mason.”

Lake Superior State is far from a powerhouse, finishing 9-25-2 last season, however Michigan State has to play who is in front of them, and taking care of business against them is a step in the right direction for a program seeking its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2012.

“We have some things to get better at, but overall I’m pretty happy with how we took care of business tonight,” Nightingale said. “I liked the way our guys responded in the third period after a chippy end to the second.”

“It’s so great having the excitement back,” said senior center Nicolas Müller. “The fans have always been great since I’ve been here but now we’re giving them a reason to cheer.”

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Five different Spartans got in on the scoring, with Müller, Isaac Howard, Nash Nienhuis, Red Savage and Hurtig recording goals. Howard, a first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, is a sophomore from Hudwon, Wis., who transferred this year from Minnesota-Duluth. Howard and Savage are first-year players for the Spartans.

Assists were credited to Müller, Savage and Nienhuis for multi-point games. Jeremy Davidson, David Gucciardi, Tommi Mannisto, Joey Larson and Matt Basgall each had one assist.

Larson (6-1, 200, Brighton, Mich.) is a transfer from Northern Michigan. Mannisto is a freshman from Riihimäki, Finland.

Goaltender Trey Augustine, a freshman from South Lyon and a second round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings, made 29 saves for the Spartans and allowed two goals.

“I thought he did a good job,” Nightingale said. “He made some timely saves. He has big-time poise. One of the things we have talked to him about is getting out of the net and playing the puck. Last year we had Dylan St. Cyr, who was a magician with it. But I thought Trey got back there and stopped some rims and did a good job there. I thought he had a good game.”

Michigan State held a 45-20 advantage in face offs won, with sophomore center Karsen Dorwart (6-1, 191, Sherwood, Ore.) dominating with 18 face off wins against only three defeats.

Michigan State was clearly the faster team through the first 30 minutes, which allowed the Spartans to build a 26-8 edge in shots on goal while taking a 3-0 lead. But Lake Superior tightened things up considerably while climbing back into the game. Michigan State finished the game out-shooting LSSU 37-31.

QUOTEBOOK

“They (our players) know how we want to play. And sometimes when you get a lead, you can get away from it. For us to be a great team, we have to play as a team, we have to play team hockey. That goes from making good decisions with the puck, that goes for extending shifts offensively and trying to chase offense, but that’s not a recipe to be a great program, long-term. So that’s an area that got away. But I liked how our guys responded in the third.” – Nightingale.

HOW IT WENT DOWN

The Spartans got on the scoreboard 18:25 into the first period on a goal by Müller after a breakout pass from Gucciardi to Davidson. Davidson set up Müller in front of the net.

“I thought Nico had a really good game at both ends of the rink,” Nightingale said of the senior second-line center from Arisdorf, Switzerland. “He really played hard and got rewarded with a really nice goal. He really stepped up that way.”

Michigan State took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play with Müller winning a faceoff setting up a 2-on-1 rush for the Spartans with Howard finishing at the 1:44 mark in the second period.

Michigan State took it 3-2 lead into the third period and as the game became more chippy, the Spartans ultimately pulled away on a goal by Savage from a sharp angle below the dot in the left circle at the 10:48 mark in the third.

“I kind of just threw the puck at the net,” Savage said. “It was one of those you either score or it goes all the other way to the other side of the ice.”

Savage set up Hurtig’s late goal with a rush through the neutral zone and then O’Connell fed Hurtig as the late man at the right point. Defensemen were aggressive in joining the play all night for Michigan State, and Hurtig made this one count.

“It always feels good when you can step up and get a goal as a defenseman, I thought we all played well for our first time together in a real game,” Hurtig said.

(Jim Comparoni contributed to this report.)