State drops Blue, 3-1; wins CCHA

DETROIT - For one weekend, it was good to be a Spartan.

After the Michigan State basketball team clinched a share of the Big Ten title with a victory over Michigan on Thursday, its hockey team followed suit, wrapping up the CCHA title with a 3-1 victory over the Wolverines on Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena.

With the victory, the third-ranked Spartans extended their school-record unbeaten streak to 20 games, while the seventh-ranked Wolverines saw their winless streak grow to eight.

"Ironically, I think this is the best game we've played in a month," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "We had our chances to score but the puck just wasn't going in."

MARGARET MYERS/Daily Michigan forward Andrew Merrick wonders what went wrong against the Spartans on Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena. The Wolverines haven't won a game in their past eight attempts.

Michigan State goaltender Joe Blackburn was the main reason that the puck wasn't going in, stopping 26 of the Wolverines' 27 shots. Only a Scott Matzka goal with 2:56 left in the game prevented Blackburn's first-ever win against Michigan from being a shutout.

"I'm happy because I hadn't beaten Michigan before," Blackburn said. "I was also frustrated because I wasn't sure if I'd ever get to beat Michigan."

Blackburn beat the Wolverines all right, but he didn't snuff Michigan alone. While he saw more shots than his namesake, Michigan goaltender Josh Blackburn, most of the shots were relatively easy saves.

"The defense helped out a lot," Joe Blackburn said. "They didn't allow any rebounds in front of the net, which made for a pretty easy night for me."

The Michigan State defenders also foiled the Wolverines in the open ice as well. A great example came with two minutes left in the first period with the Spartans holding a 1-0 lead.

Michigan center Mike Comrie stripped Michigan State's Mike York at the blue line and was streaking in for a breakaway on Joe Blackburn. Comrie went to the left, forced Joe Blackburn to sprawl to the ice, and was about to flip in the game-tying goal. But Mike Weaver dove to the ice and knocked the puck from Comrie's stick, perserving the Spartans' lead.

"The defenseman had a bit of a jump on me and I tried to outskate him," Comrie said. "The defenseman just caught my stick. It was an unlucky bounce, just like the whole night."

Adam Hall had a little bit of lady luck on his side, as he scored two of

the Spartans' three goals. The first came off of a great feed from York on a two-on-one to put the Spartans up 2-0 in the third period.

"It was one of our only breakdowns and it cost us the game," Michigan captain Bubba Berenzweig - the one in the two-on-one - said. "Van Ryn stepped up, they got the puck, and York made a great play."

Berenzweig was also the victim in Hall's second goal, as the puck went through his legs into an empty net in the last period of the game.

But instances like that have been typical for the Wolverines as of late.

Friday night was a good example, as Michigan blew a three-goal lead in the final period to finish in a 5-5 tie with Western Michigan.

Two of those goals were a result of a five-minute power play stemming from a penalty by Geoff Koch, who was thrown out of the game and suspended for the Michigan State contest.

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02-22-99