Michigan State won its third NCAA National Championship with a 3-1 come-from-behind win over heavily-favored Boston College. Trailing 1-0 in the third period, Tim Kennedy tied the game at 9:53. Then with just 18.9 seconds left, Justin Abdelkader scored the game-winning goal for MSU. Chris Mueller added an empty-net goal with 1.7 seconds left. MSU goalie Jeff Lerg made 29 saves.
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March 23 & 24 |
March 24 & 25 |
April 5 |
April 7 |
| Minnesota beat Air Force, 4-3 |
North Dakota beat Minnesota, 3-2 (OT) |
Boston College beat North Dakota, 6-4 |
Michigan State beat Boston College, 3-1 |
| North Dakota beat Michigan, 8-5 | |||
| Boston College beat St. Lawrence, 4-1 |
Boston College beat Miami of Ohio, 4-0 |
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| Miami of Ohio beat New Hampshire, 2-1 | |||
| Massachusetts beat Clarkson, 1-0 (OT) |
Maine beat Massachusetts, 3-1 |
Michigan State beat Maine, 4-2 |
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| Maine beat St. Cloud, 4-1 | |||
| Michigan State beat Boston Univ, 5-1 |
Michigan State beat Notre Dame, 2-1 |
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| Notre Dame beat Alabama-Huntsville, 3-2 (2OT) | |||
First Period
No scoring
Second Period
1. BC - Brian Boyle (19th) - Power Play goal at 6:50 from Bradford
Third Period
2. MSU - Tim Kennedy (18th) - Power Play goal at 9:53 from Abdelkader
3. MSU - Justin Abdelkader (15th) - Even strength goal at 19:41 from Kennedy
and Howells (latest regulation game-winning goal in NCAA championship game history)
4. MSU - Chris Mueller (16th) - Empty Net goal at 19:58 from McKenzie and
Vukovic
Goaltending
MSU: Jeff Lerg, 60:00, 29 saves, 1 Goal Against
BC: Cory Schneider, 59:41, 26 saves, 2 Goals Against (1 Empty Net goal)
Penalties
MSU: 6 for 12 minutes
BC: 8 for 16 minutes
Power Plays
MSU: 1-6
BC: 1-4
Attendance
19,432 (record for Frozen Four championship)
ST. LOUIS, MO (April 7, 2007)--- Michigan State defeated Boston College, 3-1, in the championship game of the 2007 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four at Scottrade Center. It was the largest crowd to ever attend an NCAA Frozen Four championship (19,432).The first goal of the game was scored in the second period by Boston College defensemen Brian Boyle. Boyle tipped in a shot from the blueline by Brock Bradford and propelled the puck into the top right corner of the net. In the third period, with Boston College already leading 1-0 and Michigan State on the powerplay, Joe Rooney skated the puck toward Michigan State goaltender Jeff Lerg. Rooney passed the puck to Brian Boyle who was open on the left side of the net. Boyle took a shot that appeared to be destined for the back of the net. Lerg was able to slide over on his stomach and throw his catching glove up to rob Boyle of a goal, keeping the score 1-0. Halfway through the third period, Tim Kennedy of Michigan State grabbed the puck off the face-off, broke in on Boston College goaltender Corey Schneider and scored to tie the game at one. With just 18.9 seconds left, Kennedy passed the puck from behind the net to Justin Abdelkader, who tipped the puck into the net to make it 2-1, in favor of Michigan State. Chris Mueller added an insurance goal with 1.2 seconds left to clinch the title for the Spartans.
This was the second year in a row Boston College was beaten in the final (they lost to Wisconsin in 2006). This was the third national title for Michigan State (1966, 1986 and 2007).
In their semifinal, Michigan State played Maine. The Black Bears scored two goals in the first four minutes of play, and it looked like 2006 all over again (Maine eliminated MSU in a regional final in 2006). Michigan State was able to come back and tie the game at two after two periods of play. In the third period, Michigan State took a 3-2 lead when Nick Sucharski banged in a rebound shot off Maine goaltender Ben Bishop. The Spartans added an insurance goal when Jim McKenzie tipped in a Chris Mueller pass at the far post to make it a 4-2 final score.
It was the first Frozen Four held in St. Louis since 1975. The participants were Boston College, Michigan State, University of Maine, and University of North Dakota. Boston College and the University of Maine made their third appearances in four years, while North Dakota appeared for the third straight time. Michigan State had not been in the Frozen Four since 2001, the only team that did not also appear in the 2006 Frozen Four.
- Excerpted from NCAA news release
"It was a year where we didn't know what to expect," said head coach
Rick Comley about the 2007 National Champions.
After losing the likes of Drew Miller, David Booth and Colton Fretter,
all of whom had 10-plus goals in 2005-06, the number one concern was who
was going to replace them? How about four players with 15-plus goals
including Tim Kennedy and Justin Abdelkader, the heroes of the National
Championship game against Boston College.
The season started off slow in October and November as the Spartans had
a record of 6-6-1. This included a three-game losing streak to the hands
of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin in the end of November where the
Spartans were outscored 9-5.
The next two months, much better. The Spartans only lost two games in
December and January. During this span, Michigan State won the Great
Lakes Invitational.
However, the end of the regular season saw the team struggle again as
MSU lost four of its last five games including losses to Ferris
State, Western Michigan, and Bowling Green. Going into the CCHA
tournament, the Spartans came in as the fourth seed. The Spartans went
3-1 in the tournament helping them get away from the bubble and moving
up in the Pairwise rankings.
"We struggled in the first half," said Comley. "We had a real good
second half and then exploded in the NCAA tournament."
The big key to Michigan State's title run was the play of Jeff Lerg in
net and the defense surrounding him.
"You can put any adjective you want to describe Lerg," Comley said
about his 5-foot-6 goaltender. "He
is always prepared and I think he is one of the best goaltenders in the
country."
Jeff Lerg took over his freshman year and
almost took them to the Frozen Four in 2005-06.
As far as the defense goes, Comley said, "We have an overall team
defense. A lot of players take responsibility, and the forwards
compliment the defensemen. It is a group of kids who believe in one
another."
- Excerpted from article by Tim Rosenthal, College Hockey News
MSU Captain Chris Lawrence savored every moment of the championship celebration.
The win gave Michigan State (26-13-3) its third national title (1966,
1986) and made coach Rick Comley only the third coach (Ned Harkness,
Jerry York) to win national titles at two different schools.
It also gave Lawrence the greatest going away present of all time.
You see, there isn't much interest from the NHL in a fourth-line
winger with five goals in 106 career games. So Saturday night was a curtain call for the Spartan senior.
"I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it, but I was in tears before the
game because I knew it was my last game," Lawrence said. "When we got to
the rink I sat down at my stall, it hit me and I started bawling. You
never quite know for sure when you're going to play your last game but I
knew tonight, no matter what, was my last game of hockey. What a way to go out."
In addition to the pregame tears, Lawrence also vomited and nearly
forgot to tape his stick before taking the ice. But somehow he got
himself together and helped lead his team to a most improbable victory.
Boston College (29-12-1) came in flying.
The Eagles had won 13 straight games (the last loss coming way back on
Feb. 12), and had little trouble doing so. During that stretch, BC had
outscored its opponents 61-23 and nine of the 13 victories were by three
or more goals.
The power play came in hitting at a ridiculous rate (35.6%), while
the penalty kill had only given up seven goals in 69 attempts.
So with an offense that seemed to invent new cylinders and a goaltender
in Cory Schneider who was only giving up 1.79 goals with a .940 save
percentage, it wasn't a question of whether BC would win, but rather by
how many goals.
Until Sparty spoiled the party.
The Eagles, back for a return trip to the Frozen Four and trying to
avenge last year's title-game loss to Wisconsin, found themselves in a
tighter game than they would have liked.
Michigan State needed to control the tempo and physicality of the game.
Other than the first period, when BC outshot the Spartans 13-6, they did
so.
Boyle and Lerg would meet again early in the third, but the result
would be very different.
With Michigan State on the power play, BC found itself with a 2-on-1
breakaway. Joe Rooney skated up the left side, waited for Boyle to join
him on the right and then sent a pass across the slot for a one-timer by
Boyle.
Lerg, who more than makes up for his lack of height (5' 6") with
quickness, anticipated the pass and went to his left in time to snare
the puck out of the air from a prone position.
"If that goes in, it would have been 2-0," BC coach Jerry York said.
"That was a key to the game. It was a terrific save by Lerg."
And it changed the momentum of the game.
"I was pretty fired up when I made it," Lerg said. "I usually don't
show that much emotion when I make a save, but I thought that we'd come
back and win after that."
And the rest of the way, the ice seemed to tilt ever-so-slightly in
Michigan State's favor.
The Spartans got the tying goal when Tim Kennedy, who missed some time
in the first period after he was kneed in the head, cheated a little on a
faceoff just outside the BC blue line. The puck took a funny bounce and
found its way to Kennedy, who walked around Boyle and beat Schneider
high to the stick side with a little help from the left post.
The right post played a role in the game-winner.
Justin Abdelkader found himself on a 3-on-1 break as he carried the
puck down the right side. His wrister hit the right post behind
Schneider and bounced back around the right boards, where Tyler Howells
collected it and sent it back behind the net.
From there, Kennedy gathered it just ahead of Dan Bertram and found
Abdelkader making his way down the slot.
"Timmy made an unbelievable play," Abdelkader said. "He is so shifty
down low and he can cut back and find me in the slot. I knew once he
made the first cut and got by the defenseman that I just had to find the
open spot in the slot. He made a perfect pass and I was fortunate it went it."
At 19:41 of the third, it was the latest regulation game-winning goal
in NCAA championship game history.
Justin Abdelkader came up with the game-winning goal on a pass from Tim
Kennedy with just seconds remaining in regulation.
And to think the new national champs were a team that couldn't get out
of its way down the stretch.
After a stinging 2-1 home loss to Bowling Green to end the regular
season on a 1-4-1 swoon, Lawrence penned a handwritten letter to each
teammate.
"I was thinking of ways to turn things around because we were kind of
down," Lawrence said. "I wrote a page to each guy saying what they meant
to the team and what they could do going in [to the playoffs]."
Whatever he wrote, it worked.
From that point, Michigan State went 7-1 down the stretch, the lone
loss coming against Michigan in the CCHA semifinals. But the Spartans
will gladly trade that game for the national championship, the first
from the CCHA since the Wolverines beat BC in 1998.
"The word I've used all year is resilient," Comley said. "It's not the
parts, but the sum of the parts."
"We're a target at times because maybe we haven't been as good as
people wanted us to be, but I know we're going home with a pretty nice
trophy."
If the captain will ever let it go.
- Excerpted from article by David Albright, ESPN.com
The Spartans defied the odds, for better than a month in the
postseason, and continued to play their game against all comers and
amid all criticism. The No. 3 seed and unlikeliest team from this year's
Frozen Four finished it off with a 3-1 win over Boston College in front
of an NCAA record crowd of 19,432 at the Scottrade Center.
After a scoreless first period, the Spartans got themselves into some trouble
with back-to-back penalties. The second created 35 seconds of 5-on-3 for
BC, but the Eagles couldn't convert with the two-man advantage.
But with just 10 seconds left on the second penalty, BC's Nathan Gerbe
kept the puck alive along the boards. Brock Bradford picked up the
loose puck and sent a shot on Spartan goalie Jeff Lerg from the left
circle. It deflected off Brian Boyle's stick and beat Lerg high to the
glove side to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Chris Mueller added an empty-netter at 19:58 that started a glove- and
stick-flying premature celebration.
Rather than collect the equipment and play the final 1.7 seconds, York
conceded and the celebration continued from St. Louis all the way back
to East Lansing.
"That's what happens when you play sports," York said. "There is going
to be a winner and there is going to be a loser. You try as hard as you
can, but there is no guarantee in this business."