Spartans Tie Ohio State, 1-1; Win Shootout  

The Michigan State hockey team played to a 1-1 tie with Ohio State on Saturday night in Columbus, Ohio, but wound up taking the shootout, 3-2, to earn the extra point in the Big Ten standings. The Spartans are now 0-2-2-2 (W-L-T-SW) in the Big Ten and 6-10-3 overall. Ohio State is 11-5-1 overall and 1-2-1 in the conference.

Jake Hildebrand finished with 28 stops, while Matt Berry ran his scoring streak to four consecutive games, picking up his fifth goal of the season.

It looked like Berry's goal might be the difference in the game, but Darik Angeli capitalized on a turnover in the Spartan zone just over eight minutes into the third, knotting the game at one.

"I thought our performance was good, I was happy - with the exception of the series of turnovers that led to their goal," said Spartan head coach Tom Anastos. "I thought our guys competed hard and it was a hard-fought game by both teams. I liked our team a lot better tonight in so many different ways."

After finding the back of the net twice on Friday night, Berry picked up where he left off, scoring just 2:49 into the first period. The goal came on what initially looked like a routine zone entry after Mike Ferrantino and Jake Chelios got the puck to Berry. Berry crossed the OSU blue line on the left side and fired a shot near the top of the circle that beat Matt Tomkins.

The Spartans generated several more scoring chances as the period went on, as did the Buckeyes, who finished with a 14-11 edge in shots on goal in the frame.

The Spartans had a pair of failed power-play attempts early in the second and the Buckeyes followed with a prime opportunity to get on the board, getting a 5-on-3 for 1:03 with both Brent Darnell and RJ Boyd in the penalty box. The three-man penalty killing unit of Lee Reimer, Travis Walsh and Chelios limited the Buckeyes to just one shot on goal during the two-man advantage and combined to block four shots.

"The blocks are huge," said Spartan goaltender Jake Hildebrand. "The puck got trapped in our zone a few times and we didn't scramble or panic. We packed it in and the guys did a great job of keeping them on the perimeter."

OSU's one shot on the 5-on-3 that managed to find its way toward the net was stopped by an off-balance Hildebrand, who kept the puck out as he was falling back.

"We went over some 5-on-3 situations before the game and the guys really executed the plan well," said Hildebrand.

The Spartans got several quality chances in the third, including a point-blank opportunity on the doorstep by Reimer. Less than a minute after Reimer's attempt, the Buckeyes tied it up on Angeli's shot from the slot with 11:50 to play. Anthony Greco collected the puck off a turnover on half boards on the right side and fed it to Angeli in front, who was all alone.

Both teams traded scoring opportunities in the final minutes of regulation and then overtime. MSU's best chance came in the final 1:30 of the third when Dean Chelios nearly tucked in a rebound from the left side of the crease, but the puck banged off the post.

Ferrantino opened the shootout with a goal and it looked like it would hold up until Tanner Fritz slipped one past Hildebrand in the third round to extend the shootout. Joe Cox and Nick Schilkey traded goals in the fourth round and neither shooter scored in the fifth round.

Tanner Sorenson beat Tomkins to start the sixth round and Hildebrand then denied Angeli to give MSU the shootout win, 3-2.

Ohio State finished the game with a 29-27 advantage in shots on goal.