Hockey falls 4-3 in deciding game three to Michigan State

March 12, 2013

University Relations

Jamie Foland
907-474-6807

Despite a gutsy rally by sixth-seeded Alaska late in the third with a pair of goals in the final two and a half minutes, it wasn't enough as 11th-seeded Michigan State won 4-3 to claim the decisive third game 4-3 in the opening round of Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs Sunday night at the Carlson Center.

The Spartans (13-23-3) advance to next week's CCHA quarterfinals at top-seeded Miami while the Nanooks (17-16-4) saw their season likely come to an end.

After falling behind 1-0, MSU reeled off four straight goals as Greg Wolfe, Jake Chelios, Matt Berry and Anthony Hayes each lit the lamp for the visitors. Kevin Walrod notched a pair of assists while Berry and Hayes both recorded two-point nights by adding one helper each.

Jake Hildebrand got the win in net for the Spartans and improved to 8-15-2 after making 28 saves in the win while Nanook rookie goaltender John Keeney (Twin Peaks, Calif./Business administration) took the loss between the pipes with his 22 stops to fall to 13-11-3.

Seniors Andy Taranto (Woodridge, Ill./Communication), Jarret Granberg (Foremost, Alberta/Business administration) and Adam Henderson (Whitehorse, Yukon Territories/Business administration) scored Alaska's three goals while fellow senior Nik Yaremchuk (St. Albert, Alberta/Business management) added two assists and Granberg and freshman Colton Parayko (St. Albert, Alberta/Business administration) each added one helper apiece. The Nanooks outshot the Spartans 31-26 on goal but MSU dominated the face offs by a 30-19 count.

Taranto opened the scoring at 5:36 of the first period. With MSU's Walrod serving a two-minute minor for boarding, the Nanooks capitalized on their second power-play chance of the game. Parayko controlled the puck at the right point and fed it to Yaremchuk in the slot. He sent it to Taranto in the left face-off circle, where he wristed a perfect shot past Hildebrand to make it 1-0.

The Spartans responded with the equalizer at 9:41, just as the Nanooks killed off a tripping minor to freshman Richard Coyne (Cave Creek, Ariz./Business Administration), Wolfe fired a backhanded shot from the bottom of the right circle over Keeney's glove hand.

MSU scored the go-ahead goal at 3:19 of the second period, when Chelios beat Keeney with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle high on his stick-side to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. Only 33 seconds later the Spartans doubled the lead to 3-1 when the Nanooks failed to clear the puck and Ryan Keller picked off the pass, dished it off to Berry, who buried it in the net for the two-goal advantage.

MSU's advantage stretched to 4-1 34 ticks into the final stanza when Hayes scored the eventual game-winner with the assist being credited to Walrod.

The Spartans maintained the three-goal lead until late in the third. Following an Alaska shot, a MSU defender possessed the puck with his glove and dropped the puck but Granberg was there to blast it past Hildebrand's glove hand.

The Nanooks went empty net trailing 4-2 and cycled the puck out in front of the MSU net. Eventually, Henderson had possession and put the puck on net and it slid past Hildebrand to bring Alaska to within one.

In the closing seconds, Alaska had a pair of good opportunities to square the game at 4-4 but Hildebrand came up with the series-clinching saves and time ran out on the Nanooks