No. 5 Michigan State outlasts Ohio State, 2-1, advances to Big Ten Championship game vs Michigan

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale might have imagined that some day his team could make Munn Ice Arena jump like it did on Saturday night. And it would have been purely imagination, because he had never witnessed it like this.

The Michigan State hockey coaches, players, trainers and anyone else in the locker room discussed amongst themselves after Michigan State’s riveting 2-1 victory over Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals when they had heard Munn Ice Arena as loud and energetic as it was on this night.

“Brad Fast has been here the longest and he said flat out (it was) the loudest he’s ever heard Munn,” Nightingale said of Fast, Michigan State’s Director of Player Development, who played at Michigan State for Ron Mason from 1999-2003.

“Amazing atmosphere,” said Michigan State defenseman and captain Nash Nienhuis, who scored the game-winning goal early in the third period. “We talked about it. Probably the craziest it’s ever been. It really does help us and give us extra juice. Amazing to be a part of and get the win.”

Michigan State took leads of 1-0 in the second period and 2-1 in the third period, had two key replay reviews go their way, received excellent goaltending from freshman Trey Augustine, and put this one away as 6,555 rabid Spartan fans whirled white towels in the air in the final seconds. 

WHAT IT MEANS

Michigan State (23-9-3) will play host to Michigan (21-13-3) in the Big Ten Tournament Championship Game on Saturday, March 23. It will be the first time Michigan State has played host to the Big Ten Hockey Tournament Championship Game in the 11-year history of the event. 

Michigan, the No. 4 seed, beat Minnesota 4-3 in Minneapolis on Saturday night. Michigan, ranked No. 10 in the Pairwise, has won the last two Big Ten Hockey Tournament Championships. 

Michigan State, ranked No. 5 in the Pairwise, is 3-1 against Michigan this year, but needs one more victory over the Wolverines to add new hardware to the trophy case. 

MUNN AT ANOTHER LEVEL

Michigan State basketball players Tre Holloman, Jeremy Fears and Coen Carr joined the Munnsters student section, Saturday. Tyson Walker, AJ Hoggard and Gehrig Normand also attended. (Photo by Nick King | USA Today Network).

During Nightingale’s rebuilding process, and a times when his predecessors had brief spats of success, we wrote about crowds at Munn perking up like the old days. But the excitement would wane, and the fervor of previous decades never returned.

Last year, things perked up again at times. This year, there was increased hope and expectation. And the perking grew louder. But not until this night did it overflow with the decibels approaching or surpassing that of yester-decade.

Michigan State fans sing “Victory for MSU!” at home games, during and after victories at many athletic venues across campus. But it’s hard to remember when it’s been sung as loudly and by as high a percentage of fans anywhere as it was on this night. They sang it with the Spartan Brass as the game ended. And then they sang it again, louder this time, during the handshake line, and as the Spartans skated along the glass in front of the Munnsters student section. 

And they sang as the Spartans skated out to the center ice circle for the stick tap and traditional salute to the crowd. It’s a salute they have done even when no one remained in the stands after blowout losses two, three and four years ago, back when Neinhuis was a freshman. 

This time the players stood along the circle with wide smiles on their faces, drinking in the noise and celebration. They waited for the singing to end before they tapped their sticks to the ice and raised them to the fans. After the initial celebration, the handshakes, the skating of the student section, a couple of minutes had passed since the game ended. No one had left their seats. 

“It’s really special,” Nightingale said. “I go back to November a year and a half ago and I don’t know if anybody remembers the crowd but I’ve got pictures of it and there was maybe 2,000 people here. Our marketing department does a great job but we needed to do a better job on the ice. Once we won those games and then we had a chance to play Michigan and beat Michigan at home, it’s been sold out ever since.”

And it will be sold out, and louder, next week against Michigan.

“It will be fun,” Nightingale said. “Two really good programs. For us, we’re just excited about playing whoever we get and we have to make sure we’re ready to go. The rest of the way it’s win or go home.”

Well, that’s not entirely true. Win or lose next week, the Spartans will be in the NCAA Tournament the following week. But Saturday marks a chance to hoist a major trophy in front of the home fans.

“It’s been great,” Nightingale said. “I give our guys credit because I think they’ve earned some respect here in town. That was one of our goals two years ago, to try to earn it, and not expect people to come and watch just because we are Michgian State hockey. You have to play hard. 

“We are not perfect but you have to play team hockey. I think that’s what our fans respect about our guys. You come and watch us play, we’re going to play like a team, we’re going to act like a team and our fans can leave – win or lose – proud of our effort.”

TURNING POINT

Just :13 seconds after Ohio State had tied the game at 1-1, 2:03 into the third period, Michigan State’s gritty, pesky fourth line answered immediately. They produced what proved to be the game-winner.

Tiernan Shoudy (Soph., C, Marysville, Mich.) won what turned out to be a crucial face off. Veteran Tanner Kelly (Sr., RW, San Diego) sent it along the boards and behind the goal, and then chased after it, won a loose puck in the corner, deked his way around a Buckeye, and trickled a pass out front to Neinhuis.

Neinuis (Sr., D, Sarnia, Ontario) picked a corner and buried a wrist shot.  

“This team has done a good of responding,” Nightingale said. “We got scored on, and it would have been easy to melt – especially with a younger team. And :13 seconds later Nash had a big-time goal for us, got us a lead and we were able to hang on.”

The fourth line has been productive and feisty all year for the Spartans, and emblematic of improved depth. 

“That line was great for us,” Neinhuis said. “They always are. They create a lot of energy for us, hunt their D men and turn pucks over. Kells was doing work down low and fed it up front and it was on my stick and went in. Credit to him. Great play. It was fun.”

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Augustine (Fr., G, South Lyon, Mich.) had 37 saves, one more than Ohio State goalie Logan Terness.

Both teams had 38 shots on goal. Both teams won 36 face offs.

Ohio State blocked 19 shots, compared to 11 by Michigan State. Blocking shots had become a hallmark for the Buckeyes in their late-season hot streak, rallying as a last place team in America’s toughest conference. Ohio State won a best-of-three series at Top 10 Wisconsin last week. In previous weekends, Ohio State swept the Badgers and split with Michigan State, showing they could give fits to the two highest-ranked teams in the Big Ten. And they pushed the Spartans again on this night.

It was Michigan State’s first home playoff win since 2008.

Daniel Russell (Soph., RW, Traverse City, Mich.) gave Michigan State a 1-0 lead 1:23 into the second period when he deflected a pass from Karsen Dorwart past the Ohio State goaltender. 

Russell, Dorwart and Isaac Howard – making up Michigan State’s No. 1 line – each made excellent plays in an instant in creating the 1-0 lead. 

Dorwart deflected a pass on the forecheck, creating a turnover. Russell quickly chipped it ahead to Howard.

Howard, a first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, rushed in and put a no-look pass right on Dorwart’s tape at the right circle.

Dorwart wristed a pass to Russell, who by that time had positioned himself on the doorstep, one of the “hard areas,” as Nightingale calls it.

One mistake by Ohio State, and Michigan State had the skill, quickness and finishing ability to capitalize with all three members of that line making swift plays to ring the bell. 

UPON FURTHER REVIEW

Ohio State looked like it had tied the game at 2-2 with 15:38 remaining when Max Montes’s shot deflected off the leg of a Michigan State defenseman and into the net. But Michigan State challenged the goal, claiming that Ohio State had come across the blue line off-sides. Replay verified the claim and the goal was waived off. 

Dan Sturges, Michigan State’s director of hockey video and analytics, is tasked with watching for things like that, from the press box. 

“Dan Sturges does a great job,” Nightingale said. “It’s a thankless job. Sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don’t. He caught it right away and he called down. Obviously, a big moment. The game is getting so fast, it’s hard for the officials to see that stuff live. That’s why we have review. That was a big-time call.”

Earlier, Michigan State had a goal disallowed by review due to goalie interference. 

“That would be a first for me with that many (challenges), and at critical times,” Nightingale said. “That’s definitely a game you will never forget.”

And later, Neinhuis’s goal was challenged by Ohio State, claiming that Shoudy had interfered with the Buckeye goalie. That challenge was turned down and the goal stood, giving the Munn crowd a chance to go crazy for a second time in celebrating Neinhuis’s goal.

(Photo by Nick King | USA Today Network)

MESSAGE FROM A HOCKEY GOD

Neinhuis received a little motivational message from family friend Mark Messier prior to the game. 

“He’s one of my dad’s good friends,” Neinhuis said of Messier, a Hall of Fame player who played for the great Edmonton Oiler teams of the Wayne Gretzky era and captained the New York Rangers to the Stanley Cup in 1994. “My dad played with his brother in Germany and Mark would go skate with them because they start training camp a lot earlier. So that’s kind of how they met and they kept in touch.

“It’s cool to have his support and for him to take the time out of his day to do that.”

Messier kept tabs on the Michigan State program from afar, in years past. His cousins, Mitch and Joby Messier, were standouts for the Spartans in the mid-to-late 1980s. And now, in Neinhuis, he has a family friend with the program.

What did the message say?

“They first part of it, there was writing on the wall that said ‘Conquer,’ and he just kind of applied that to us, and thinking about some of the big games that he’s played in, it’s bigger than just a game. The amount of work that we’ve put in and the people that have helped us get to where we are, you have to sit back and appreciate that and use that as an extra edge for energy.

“He’s one of the greatest players to ever do it and a great leader was well. It was really cool to get that from him and he wanted to send it along to the team. It’s great to have his support.”

QUOTABLE NIGHTINGALE

“I think we’ve learned how to win different ways. We’ve won high-scoring games, low-scoring games, tight games. We have come back; we have hung on to leads. Those are all valuable things to have in our back pocket. I think it speaks to the leadership on our team and the poise. To be a great team, you have to have some poise. 

“You’re playing good teams now, so they’re going to push. If you want to win a fight, you’ve got to be able to take some punches. There were some times for sure when they leaned on us but we did a good job of sticking with it.”

Freshman winger Gavin O’Connell enters the Ohio State zone during the Spartans’ 2-1 victory over Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals, Saturday at Munn Ice Arena. (Photo by Nick King | USA Today Sports Network).