Drew Palmisano stopped all three Michigan shooters to help the Spartans win in the shootout Saturday night. (Michael Caples/Michigan Hockey)

By Michael Caples –

EAST LANSING – During his time as commissioner of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, Tom Anastos was one of the driving forces for shootouts in college hockey.

One has to wonder if he would have pushed for the series of breakaways to decide a game if he knew that one day he would be in the midst of one during a high-stakes rivalry game.

Fortunately for the Spartans’ head coach, his team prevailed 4-3 over the University of Michigan in the first shootout between the in-state rivals.

“I was thinking, ‘who was the crazy guy who came up with this shootout thing in college hockey’,” Anastos said. “[Assistant coach Tom Newton] came up to me and he said, ‘who the heck’s goofy idea was this’.

Senior goaltender Drew Palmisano, who did not play in Friday’s game, stopped all three Michigan shooters. Freshman Matt Berry scored the lone goal in the shootout to earn the extra point in the standings for No. 14 Michigan State.

“It was fun to be in the building where it was nice and packed – good energy this series brings that,” Anastos said. “We want that as part of our program, and we expect that’s how it’s going to be here. I was real proud of how hard our guys competed. And I was real happy for Palmy in particular, for shutting them down in the shootout.”

After losing in Ann Arbor last night, the Spartans rebounded for a virtual split between the two Michigan schools (UM earned one more point in the standings for their regulation win Friday). The two teams could meet again in the Great Lakes Invitational at the end of December before their next conference match-up Feb. 10.

Michigan opened the scoring in Saturday night’s match-up when Chris Brown beat Palmisano at the 6:35 mark of the first period.

Later in the first, a shot from the point by MSU captain Torey Krug hit a skate and drastically changed direction to fool Michigan goaltender Shawn Hunwick and tie the game. Two minutes later, MSU assistant captain Anthony Hayes intercepted a clearing attempt by Hunwick and set up Chris Forfar for the Spartans’ second goal.

Michigan forward Luke Moffatt had the lone goal of the second period, when a scramble along the boards in the Spartans’ end led to him getting free for a backhand strike.

Michigan assistant captain David Wohlberg gave the Wolverines the lead in the third period, burying a rebound on a two-on-one rush.

But the Spartans were able to even the score on a rare power-play opportunity late in the third, when Lee Reimer beat Hunwick with a shot from the slot at the 16:07 mark.

It appeared that the Wolverines would have a power play in the final minute of regulation, as Hayes was getting whistled for interference. But UM’s Brown also got a two-minute minor for cross-checking, which negated a huge man-advantage chance for the visitors.

“From our perspective, I thought we played a really good game, we had a good chance to win that game,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said. “Unfortunate that we took a penalty. Can’t tell you if it was a good call or not, that penalty really let them back in the game. I thought we had our chances in overtime, and it wasn’t going in, and then the shootout, it came down to anybody scoring.

“It’s too bad it comes down to that. It was a good effort by our team, it was a good game, and not a good finish.”

The Spartans are now 6-5-1-1 in the CCHA (10-6-2 overall), while the Wolverines are 5-6-3-1 (9-8-3 overall).

MSU’s Krug said the win was a great way for the Spartans to enter their break before the GLI.

“First things first, I thought our crowd was unbelievable tonight,” Krug said. “They were definitely electric, the student section was awesome;, a lot of fun to play in a building like that. I thought we did a good job of containing Michigan, it was a lot of fun to playing them, obviously with it being a rivalry game there’s a lot of emotions flowing around. It was good to get that extra point in the shootout, and a good first half.”