No. 14 Michigan State cruised past 11th ranked Michigan, 4-1, to take the 42nd annual Great Lakes Invitational title on Saturday night.
The victory marked the second GLI crown in the last three years for the Spartans, who have now won the tournament 11 times in 32 appearances.
“The day we came back from break, I never thought in a million years that we could pull it together this quickly and play this well,” said MSU coach Rick Comley. “This is the premier holiday tournament in the nation.”
The Wolverines are now winless in their last six appearances in the championship game with five of those losses coming to their bitter rival. The two teams have played for all the marbles ten times with Michigan taking the first five and Michigan State taking the last five, a streak that dates back to 1997.
“We’ve got some very good players, but I can’t tell you that our best players played well enough,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “We knew we had to have a better effort than last night but it wasn’t there. We had a lot of players play hard, but our team never got going.”
Special teams play was the deciding factor in a game that pitted Michigan State against Michigan in the GLI title game for the tenth time (5-5). The Spartans struck for three power play goals and added a shorthanded goal that really swung the momentum in favor of the Green and White.
“Our power play is struggling to score and to give up a shorthanded goal like that is a game breaker,” said Berenson. “When you give up three power play goals and one shorthanded goal, it’s obvious our special teams didn’t match up.”
Bryan Lerg tallied the back-breaking shorthanded goal at 16:47 of the second period.
“I saw Matt Hunwick bobble the puck, so I just tipped it to his right and I was away on a breakaway,” said Lerg. “I faked the shot and deked to the backhand… I guess that’s my signature move, so it might be time to change that up.”
Lerg was named tournament MVP, tallying three goals and three assists in two games. Lerg had a hand in three goals to lead MSU past Harvard in the opening round and added two assists to his shorthanded tally tonight to capture the honors.
“It’s a great feeling but it’s not just about me. We had 27 guys contribute both games and it’s definitely not a one-player thing,” said Lerg.
Bryan became the eighth Spartan MVP; the last was current Atlanta Thrasher and former MSU captain Jim Slater in 2004.
Tim Crowder had a pair of nearly identical power play goals – both one-timers from the left circle on a cross ice feed from Lerg – to pace MSU.
“It was something that we wanted to start doing, finding me on the far side. I was open every time and it just worked out perfectly,” said Crowder.
Prior to tonight, the sophomore winger from British Columbia was scoreless in his last nine games.
“We set up that power play to feed Crowder from Lerg and Tim Kennedy. It’s more of an umbrella style (to limit the defensive liability) with him starting high and moving toward the slot,” said Comley.
Freshman Mike Ratchuk added a third power play goal at the 7:14 mark of the third period to squash any hopes of a Michigan comeback.
In order to use the GLI as a springboard to second-half success, MSU will need to continue to improve on the power play, a sore spot for the Spartans during the first half.
“When I look at the league rankings, we’re seventh in both special teams categories. If you look at Miami, they are at the top of the league, and it’s the same thing with Notre Dame,” said Comley. “It’s critical to be up there in special teams.”
They are hot on the man advantage as of late, clicking on 8 of their last 16 power plays dating back to the last game of the second half – December 9^th at Northern Michigan.
Michigan’s lone goal came early in the second period on the power play off of Spartan defenseman Brandon Gentile’s knee. Travis Turnbull, who was looking for Brandon Naurato at the far post, was credited with his fourth goal of the season.
Save for that funny bounce, MSU goaltender Jeff Lerg was spotless on the evening. He finished with 21 saves on 22 shots (66-for-69 in the tournament) and was named to the tournament team.
“Tonight was our best defensive effort of the season,” said Lerg. “Other than a few shots from the outside and a few scrambles we didn’t give them much of anything.”
Billy Sauer made 31 stops in the loss and could not, for the most part, be faulted on any goals he surrendered this weekend.
Michigan will have the coming week off to regroup and get reacquainted with stars Jack Johnson and Andrew Cogliano, who missed the tournament due to the World Junior Championship.
Michigan State will try to keep the momentum building as it travels to Miami this weekend in a pivotal league matchup.
