There was ice. There was fire. There were 74,554 fans. And in the middle of the gridiron in Spartan Stadium, No. 1 Michigan State and No. 5 Michigan played an impassioned game that ended, fittingly, in a 3-3 tie.
Mike Cammalleri had a hand in all three Michigan goals, assisting on the first and scoring the final two, while his linemate Jason Ryznar notched the first and assisted on the third. For the Spartans, Adam Hall, Jim Slater, and Brad Fast earned two points each.
“When you come from behind twice, you’ve got to be happy with a tie,” said Michigan State coach Ron Mason. “When you’ve got the number-one team playing the [number-five] team in the country, it’s going to be a close game.”
Michigan coach Red Berenson said that before the contest there was some speculation about how the Wolverine rookie class would perform in such an unusual setting, but there were none of the usual first-game, feeling-it-out jitters. Each team played as though this were December rather than October.
“This game told us a lot about our team,” said Berenson. “We didn’t know really how we would stand up in this situation. It’s an awesome environment in which to put eight freshmen and a team that’s really rebuilding, but I thought our team stacked up pretty well and our freshmen in particular.”
Michigan State took its only lead at 3:25 in the first on Hall’s tip-in of Slater’s cross-crease feed. At the opposite end moments before the goal, the Spartan defense gave up the puck to Jed Ortmeyer directly in front of the Michigan State crease, forcing Ryan Miller to make a quick poke save, which set up the drive for the goal.
Joe Goodenow passed long to Slater, who skated to the top of the left circle from the neutral zone and fired between the legs of a Wolverine defender to Hall, who waiting at the right post. Hall’s tip beat Blackburn through the five-hole.
Ryznar’s first collegiate goal tied the game at 17:13, right after Cammalleri won a faceoff in the right Spartan circle. Cammalleri pushed the puck up to Ryznar, who slid the puck under Miller’s legs, and the opening stanza ended in a 1-1 tie.
“You’re always a little worried about putting a freshman with two of your top players,” said Berenson of Ryznar, “but obviously he fit in really well and made a couple of great plays and certainly got a lot of confidence from this game. He’s going to be a good player — already is a good player.”
The Wolverines took their first lead at 3:08 in the second, on a solo effort by Cammalleri. The Michigan junior stole the puck in the neutral zone and wove it in and out of the Spartan defense through the slot, going left at the last moment to draw Miller way out into the crease and out of position. Cammalleri’s backhander caught the opposite top corner to make it a 2-1 game.
In the third period, the Wolverines played an active role in Michigan State’s tying goal. At 4:05, Michigan freshman winger Michael Woodford was sent to the box for charging after flattening Spartan rookie Mike Lalonde along the boards in the neutral zone. One minute and one second later, Michigan defenseman Andy Burnes joined Woodford on a slashing penalty, giving the Spartans a five-on-three advantage for nearly a minute.
At 5:43, the Spartans capitalized on that gift of a power play when freshman defender Duncan Keith blasted one in from the top of the right circle to tie the game 2-2.
When Cammalleri struck again from Ryznar and Jay Vancik at 11:13 — on Ryznar’s perfect cross-crease pass, close to the ice — it appeared as though the Wolverines would earn their first two points of the season. But something rare happened late in the game, something that had a direct bearing on the outcome: the Spartans pulled Ryan Miller in favor of the extra skater, and Slater popped one in for Michigan State with 47 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.
Neither team had quality chances in the back-and-forth OT, but each played for the win, and the fans stayed until the final whistle — a whistle which curtailed some last-minute extracurricular activities, something not unheard of in Spartan-Wolverine battles.
After the Spartans came from behind twice to earn the point, Mason said he was “impressed” with his players’ “resiliency.”
“There was a little more pressure on us…maybe a little more than Michigan had,” said Mason. “I think a lot of our upperclass players put a lot of pressure on themselves.”
Josh Blackburn made 21 saves on 24 shots for Michigan, while Miller stopped 19 of 22. The Wolverines were 0-for-3 on the power play, the Spartans 2-for-6.
Both coaches were happy not only with the outcome of the game, but with the success of the event. Both said the ice was good, and each was a bit surprised by the level of fan enthusiasm.
“This is so unique in the way it happened,” said Mason. “It carried an emotion to it and an interest to it. The stands were full. I assume that because it was cold and windy the hockey fans would stay and everyone else would leave. That’s a credit to the players.”
Berenson added, “I don’t think there’s any question from the bench level that [the fans] were into the game, that they knew what was going on right until the end.
“It was pretty awesome. I thought I’d seen everything in hockey, but this couldn’t have turned out better. For all the people who worked on it, they did a great job.”
Each team is now 0-0-1 in CCHA and overall play. The Spartans and Wolverines may meet up again in the Great Lakes Invitational in December, but their next and only remaining scheduled game of the 2001-02 season is Jan. 19.
Next up for Michigan is a home exhibition game Tuesday, Oct. 9 against the U.S. National Developmental Program Under-18 Team, followed by a trip to Omaha for the Maverick Stampede Oct. 12-13. Michigan State hosts Lake Superior State Oct. 11-12.
