MSU gains split with top-ranked Miami

By Matt Mackinder/Michigan State Beat Writer

On the road against the nation's top-ranked team, Michigan State found a way to see past the rankings and gain a stunning split with Miami in Oxford, Ohio.

Both games were nail-biters, with Andrew Rowe being the hero last night in scoring the overtime winner as MSU took a 3-2 win.

“I thought we had a pretty good game,” said Michigan State head 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 pleased with the way we played. Hopefully, we can take some of this momentum into next weekend.”

Derek Grant and Corey Tropp netted the power-play goals for MSU (4-2-0, 1-1-0 CCHA) and Drew Palmisano made 35 saves to earn the win in goal.

Friday evening, MU captain Tommy Wingels tallied the game-winner and second of the game for the RedHawks with 1:58 left in the third period when he batted in a puck out of mid-air past Bobby Jarosz.

"I thought we went toe-to-toe with a very good, experienced, physical team tonight," said Comley. "I thought Bobby was outstanding and we lost on a tough goal. Overall, I think we're getting a feel for how we're going to stack up with some good teams, and we're encouraged - now our next step is to put it all together and win games like this."

Grant scored the Spartans' only goal on a power play at 15:17 of the middle period.

Jarosz finished with 26 stops for MSU, who had a chance to get on the board early in the second period.

Less than a minute into the period, Rowe was awarded a penalty shot after Chris Wideman hooked him on a breakaway. Rowe was then stopped by Miami goalie Cody Reichard.

It was MSU's first penalty shot since March 16, 2007, when Justin Abdelkader had one against Michigan in the CCHA semifinals, only to have Billy Sauer made the save. MSU's last successful penalty shot came on Dec. 9, 2006, when Chris Mueller scored against Western Michigan.

Michigan State has a home-and-home set with WMU next weekend starting Friday night in East Lansing and concluding Saturday night in Kalamazoo.