Yanakeff Backstops MSU to 1-0 Victory in Alaska

Game Recaps:

MSU Recap // Alaska Recap  // Final Stats // Daily News Miner Recap (Fairbanks)


Game Thoughts:

It wasn't pretty, and the offense didn't exactly explode for a bunch of goals, but they did enough to steal a rare Friday night victory last night in Fairbanks. Greg Wolfe scored the only goal 7:53 into the opening period, and Will Yanakeff was spectacular making 37 stops to earn his first shutout of the season.

Alaska out-shot the Spartans 34-14 for the game.

The Spartans had a lot of jump early, which eventually created the goal, but Alaska pretty much took over from that point though they couldn't solve Yanakeff. MSU only had 1 power play on the evening, and it lasted 11 seconds, because it was the back end of a 4 on 4 situation. Alaska had a power play over the final 1:19 as Jake Chelios took a cross-checking penalty late. The Nanooks pulled their goalie for a two-man advantage, but the Spartans held strong to preserve the 1-0 victory.

With the win, this is the first time all season Michigan State has won back to back games. Tonight, they'll go for their first series sweep of the season.

Around the CCHA:

Miami, Michigan, and Northern Michigan all won tonight. Western Michigan beat ND in a shoot-out. So the standings over the bottom half of the CCHA look like this:


6th - Alaska 37 pts (1 game left)
7th - LSSU  32 pts (3 games left)
8th - BGSU 31 pts (3 games left)
9th - Northern 29 pts (3 games left)
10th - Michigan 28 pts (3 games left)
11th - MSU  25 pts (3 games left)

Alaska has been eliminated from a top 5 spot now. The Spartans drew to within six points of 8th place. They still need help to move up - a loss tonight by MSU would make a second trip out to Fairbanks a very high probability.

The two teams face-off at 11:05 pm Eastern tonight.