EAST LANSING – For the first time this season, the irritation of a losing season was made incredibly evident in the Michigan State Spartans’ locker room.
Playing a team with 21 highly-touted college hockey recruits across the country, the Spartans – currently last in the CCHA at 5-12-1-0 – were not able to find any offense, a struggle that persisted all season.
But more importantly, Michigan State couldn’t find any sort of rhythm whatsoever, as the U-18 U.S. National Team Development Program defeated MSU 3-0 Tuesday night in East Lansing on goals from Kevin Labanc, Will Butcher and Anthony Louis.
“I thought it was a really sporadic performance,” MSU captain Greg Wolfe said after the game. “They outplayed us, they buried their chances, they outworked us tonight.
“Tonight, I don’t think we were ready to go. I don’t know if guys were prepared for the game. I think, at points, guys were working hard, but it wasn’t a 60-minute performance.”
Coach Tom Anastos gave credit to the U.S. team’s skill and poise with the puck, and then went on to say that the Spartans’ confidence is not at a point it needs to be to consistently be successful.
“I think we’ve been trying to fight through finding some offense and going through periods of frustrating play,” Anastos said. “You look at our team tonight, our confidence is fragile. You can’t play that way. So, we’ve got a lot of hockey left. We know that we’re capable of competing real hard and we have to find, within our team as it is today, how we can play real hard for 60 minutes every single night we play. That’s kind of what we’re searching for right now.”
Butcher started things off for the U.S. squad. Breaking into the Spartans zone, Butcher took a nifty pass from Evan Allen (Sterling Heights) – a University of Michigan commit – at the top of the circle and buried a rocket of a wrister high over freshman Jake Hildebrand’s blocker 6:26 into the second period. The secondary assist on the goal went to Western Michigan commit Mike McCarron (Macomb).
Later in the frame, Labanc, coming down on a 2-on-1, scored a pretty goal of his own, as he ripped one high over Hildebrand’s glove from the left side to make it 2-0.
One of the bigger highlights of the game came late in the second period, however, as 6-foot-1, 199-pound RJ Boyd stepped up at center ice to lay a punishing hit on the 6-foot-5, 227-pound McCarron. The impact broke McCarron’s stick right in half.
The NTDP added a third goal at 13:15 of the third period, as Louis found the back of the net from the high slot.
The rest of the work was cleaned up by Demko, as the Boston College commit steadied the ship for Team USA.
A frustrated Anthony Hayes (Canton) said after the game that the Spartans just didn’t show up for the game.
“The compete level wasn’t there, the dedication wasn’t there, the commitment wasn’t there,” Hayes said. “We just turned over and we just let them take the play to us. It’s something we can’t let happen.”
Hayes’ head coach echoed those thoughts, saying that the team has had discussions about fully devoting themselves to their goals.
“We talked a lot about being all in, having a full commitment all the time, not just when you come to the rink.” Anastos said. “You can’t just turn things on and off; you have to be all in all the time. When you’re away from the rink, you’ve got to take care of yourself in preparation for when it’s time to play.”
The three team captains – Wolfe, Hayes, and Chris Forfar – all said after the game that a team meeting may be necessary to address the team’s current funk.
“Yeah, I think that would be beneficial for us,” Wolfe said. “We’re kind of at a low point here, in all honesty. I think it’s time that we throw out everything that has been holding us back and just regroup, restart and come together… We need to really bear down and be selfless, be good teammates to each other and work toward the goal, not work toward our own goals or personal goals. We need to start winning games and that’s the only way to do it.”
Notes: The U.S. NTDP is now 9-5-4 against NCAA D-1 and D-3 schools this season…The NTDP has players from 11 different states, with five from Michigan: Allen (Sterling Heights), McCarron (Macomb), Motte (St. Clair), Cook (Cadillac) and Hamilton (Grosse Pte. Farms)…Michigan State forward Matt Berry (Canton) will miss Friday’s game against Ferris State for a checking-from-behind major and game ejection he received during the contest.