Spartans Shock Top Ranked RedHawks in Overtime

After letting a 2-0 third period lead slip away, Michigan State regrouped to net the game-winning goal in overtime and hand the nation’s top team their first loss of the season.

Junior Andrew Rowe scored the goal for the Spartans in overtime and Drew Palmisano made 33 saves to give the Spartans their first CCHA win of the season. Jarod Palmer earned his 100th career point for the RedHawks, who fall to 4-1-1 overall.

Michigan State opened the scoring early in the first period on a power play when junior winger Corey Tropp scored on a pass from freshman Torey Krug. The Spartans, who were 1-for-7 on the man advantage last night, converted on their first power play of the contest at 8:14 of the first period.

Tropp fired a wrist shot over the shoulder of Miami goalie Connor Knapp and into the net after Krug found an unmarked Tropp to the left of the RedHawk goal. The tally gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead — their first of the series.

Miami had three power plays in the period, only managing four shots. RedHawks netminder Connor Knapp made three saves in the first period, while his counterpart Drew Palmisano made seven in net for the Spartans to keep the RedHawks off of the scoresheet.

Michigan State went for 1-for-2 on their power play in the first period and finished the stanza up a goal.

Michigan State doubled their tally early in the second on the power play when Nick Sucharski found freshman winger Derek Grant in front of the Miami goal. Grant, who scored the Spartans’ lone goal last night, beat Miami goalie Connor Knapp over the right shoulder at 0:38 of the second period to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead.

Miami had a great chance to cut the Spartan lead in half seven minutes into the second period, when a rebound shot from Miami’s Matt Tomassoni found Trent Vogelhuber’s stick. With Spartan goalie Palmisano on the ice, Vogelhuber took a shot but wristed it over the net, keeping the 2-0 lead in tact for the Spartans.

At 12:02 of the second, Miami went on the power play for the fifth time of the game, but were unable to put the puck past Michigan State goaltender Drew Palmisano. Through two periods, Palmisano stood strong, saving all 23 shots.

The beginning of the third period saw Miami keep the pressure on the Michigan State net, with Palmisano making five early saves to keep Miami from scoring. But with under 10 minutes left in regulation, the RedHawks were able to cut the deficit to one on the man advantage when sophomore defenseman Matt Tomassoni ripped a slapshot from the blue line past the Michigan State goalie.

Tomassoni received the pass from Miami senior Jarod Palmer, who earned his 99th career point on the assist.

Palmer soon hit the century mark for his Miami career less than three minutes later, scoring on a shot to the left of Palmisano to tie the game at two. Vincent LoVerde found Andy Miele who wrapped the puck around the net to find an open Palmer, who beat Palmisano on a wrist shot glove side.

The overtime period saw both teams play an early 4-on-4 after penalites to Michigan State’s Dustin Gazley and Miami’s Jarod Palmer. Miami put two shots on net early on, but Michigan State capitalized on a Miami turnover and scored the winning goal with 1:41 left in overtime on a great individual effort by junior winger Andrew Rowe.

Rowe picked up the puck off after a Miami turnover at the blue line, avoided two Miami defenders, and put the puck past Knapp to give the Spartans the win.

Miami senior Jarod Palmer scored his 100th point in the loss for the RedHawks.

“Getting a hundred points in your career is something that is pretty special,” said Miami head coach Enrico Blasi. “Obviously he has done a great job to get to this point, and hopefully he can add a few more this season to his total.”

The Spartans improved to 4-2-0 on the season, and 1-1-0-0 in the CCHA.

“I thought we had a pretty good game,” said Spartan coach Rick Comley. “We scored a couple of power-play goals early and we had a nice goal in overtime for the win. Our goalie had a great game against a powerful Miami team, and I am please with the way we played. Hopefully we can take some of this momentum into next weekend.”

“They played great,” Blasi said of Michigan State. “They really shut us down and they held our top guys down all series. We were able to solve them in the third period, but their goalie made some great saves down the stretch. Their kid made a nice play in overtime to score the goal after I thought we had taken the momentum back in the third period. Give them credit, they bounced back and won the game.”

Both teams stay in CCHA play next weekend when Michigan State has a home-and-home series with Western Michigan, while Miami travels to Northern Michigan.