Hockey: Michigan Shuts Out Michigan State

Hockey: Michigan Shuts Out Michigan State

On Thanksgiving weekend against Ohio State, Michigan was struggling to get on the scoresheet and got swept by Ohio State. This week, it was a different game and a different outcome as Michigan put a on a great performance against Michigan State by getting a shutout of their rivals from East Lansing with a score of 4-0.

Michigan State just could not get anything going and head coach Danton Cole thought they got outplayed by Michigan. “I thought for five minutes we were ok and then I didn’t really like much of the game. Michigan outplayed us in most areas especially skating. If we don’t skate better than what we did, we don’t have a chance against Anyone,” Cole said.

Danton Cole also explained about how Michigan played very well defensively and also explained how tough it was on offense. “They did a great job,” Cole said. “Give credit to Michigan.  We did not do a great job breaking out or coming through the neutral zone so that made it hard for us,” Cole said.

John Lethemon had 25 saves with four goals against. The Spartans had 21 shots on net.

Michigan came out strong against Michigan State. The Run DMC line bounced back with a hat trick from team captain Tony Calderone. Tonight, the line of Calderone, Dexter Dancs and Cooper Marody combined to have 3 goals and 5 assists on the night. Head coach Mel Pearson was very happy that the seniors got their last home win against their rivals from East Lansing. “It’s the seniors last home game against Michigan State,” Pearson said. “I was happy that they were able to get the win in the seniors final home game against Michigan State”.

Pearson also talked about possibly splitting up the Run DMC Line and realized you can’t screw up something good. “They’ve got so much going on right now you can’t screw up something good that you have but I was very impressed with that line and they are just going to continue to get better,” Pearson remarked. Josh Norris got the first goal of the game and he got to show his Dad’s old team what they missed out on. “There was a lot of pressure on Josh to perform tonight,” Pearson said. “Both of his parents went to Michigan State. He has the world junior team tryouts coming up and he is a first round draft pick. I think he had his best game of the year and I’m really proud of him,” Pearson commented.

Pearson was also impressed with the team’s defense tonight and gave credit to his goaltender Hayden Lavigne who had a shutout tonight. “We gave up too many grade-A opportunities and we have to cut down on that. Hayden did a great job tonight and the defense is getting better. There were some things I liked but we have to get better.  We are making progress,” Pearson said.

The rivalry between Michigan and Michigan State is very competitive and Pearson talked about the rivalry for the first time as a head coach. “It’s not much different,” Pearson said. “No matter where it’s played, they want to beat us and we want to beat them.  It’s as simple as that and we got the better of them,” Pearson said.

Tony Calderone had a Hat Trick tonight.  Josh Norris got the other goal in the game. Cooper Marody and Dexter Dancs combined for 5 assists on the game. Hayden Lavigne had a shutout and saved 21 shots. Michigan had a total of 29 shots on net.

The series now shifts to East Lansing as Michigan will take on Michigan State at Munn Ice Arena at 7:05 pm.

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