Dec. 2, 2005

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Sophomore Bryan Lerg (Livonia, Mich.) recorded his second hat trick of his career, lifting Michigan State to a 3-0 win over Bowling Green on Friday night at Munn Ice Arena, ending the Spartans eight-game winless streak. Junior Dominic Vicari (Clinton Twp., Mich.) made 24 saves for his third shutout this season, and 15th of his career.

"It was a very tight game again. Getting that second goal was critical, and we've really needed somebody to step up. We've had a lot of guys working hard, but productively you need somebody to get it done. Tonight it was Bryan Lerg," said head coach Rick Comley.

Bowling Green (3-10-1 Overall, 3-8-1 CCHA) opened the game as the aggressor, recording the contest's first-five shots. Michigan State (6-6-4 Overall, 3-4-3 CCHA) responded by registering 16 of the next 18 shots on goal, and finished the period with an 18-12 advantage in shots.

Sophomore Bryan Lerg (Livonia, Mich.) tallied his first goal of the night at the 10:37 mark of the first period with a great individual effort, giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead. Lerg carried the puck into the zone with speed down the left wing, swinging wide past the BGSU defender. With no defenders covering the middle, Lerg faked a forehand shot and slid a backhand shot past the sprawling Falcon netminder, giving him his third goal of the season. Sophomore Jim McKenzie (Woodbury, Minn.) and junior Tyler Howells (Eden Prairie, Minn.) assisted on the goal.

The Spartans carried a 1-0 lead into the second stanza, and narrowly avoided two fluke goals early. The first came off an errant clearing attempt directed towards netminder Dominic Vicari (Clinton Twp., Mich.), while another puck deflected off Howells on the doorstep and just missed finding the top corner. Not including these two chances, The Falcons' best opportunity to pull even came on a 2-on-1 eight minutes into the period, but the shot hit the post, keeping the Falcons off the scoreboard.

Bowling Green's James Unger skated down the left wing with Bryan Dobek to his right. Junior Ethan Graham (Xenia, Ohio.) defended the pass to Dobek, forcing Unger to fire a shot of his own. The wrister from inside the circle beat Vicari high wide side, but the shot deflected off the post and stayed out of the net, keeping Michigan State's one-goal lead in tact.

Spartan captain Colton Fretter (Harrow, Ont.) tried to extend the Spartan lead on MSU's fourth power-play of the evening, but Horrell snared Fretter's blast from the point with a great glove save, once again keeping the Spartans off the scoreboard. The Spartans finished the game 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

The third period began defensively, with Michigan State nursing its slim lead and Bowling Green working for the equalizer. The turning point came at the 10-minute mark of the period, when Bowling Green turned the puck over at its blue line on a power-play. Lerg forced the turnover and pushed the puck ahead on a clean breakaway, and Michael Hodgson's only hope was to hook him down. Lerg was awarded a penalty shot, the first since Jim Slater was stopped by Bowling Green's Jordan Sigalet, on Dec. 3, 2004.

On the penalty shot, Lerg faked the forehand and Horrell reacted, going down and moving to his right. Lerg made no mistake and quickly switched to his backhand, roofing his second goal of the evening and extending the Spartan lead to 2-0.

Lerg completed the natural hat trick less than three minutes later at 12:46, padding the Spartan lead. McKenzie slipped Lerg the puck off the boards, who skated in cleanly from the wing. On a move similar to his penalty-shot goal, Lerg faked a forehand shot and tried to slip a backhand past Horrell's outstretched pad. Horrell made the initial save this time, but Lerg buried the rebound for his second hat trick of his career.

The Spartans travel to Bowling Green for the second game of the home-and-home series tomorrow night. Faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m.

Spartan Notebook -

** Lerg's goal at 10:37 of the first period was his first goal since Nov. 4, a 5-0 win vs. NMU.

** McKenzie's assist on Lerg's goal was his first assist since Nov. 11 vs. UNO.

** After starting the season with an eight-game scoring streak, Howells' assist tonight was only his third point in the last eight games.

** Michigan State's 18 shots in the first period tied its season high. The Spartans also recorded 18 shots in the third period of their 5-3 loss at Western Michigan (Nov. 19).

** The teams combined for 32 shots in the first period.

** Falcon goalie Jon Horrell has made 87 saves in three career appearances vs. MSU:

-- 27 saves in a 4-3 win for Findlay on Oct. 10, 2003;

-- 24 saves in 40 minutes of relief during a 6-4 MSU win on Dec. 4, 2004

-- 36 saves in a 3-0 loss Friday night.

** Lerg's penalty shot in the third period was the first for Michigan State since Dec. 3, 2004 vs. Bowling Green. Jim Slater took the penalty shot, and Sigalet made the save.

** Prior to tonight, Michigan State's last penalty shot goal came off the stick of Bobby McReynolds in 1989 vs. Michigan.

** Lerg's hat trick was his second of his career. His first came on Jan. 21, 2005 vs. LSSU. In addition, Lerg has netted the last two Spartan hat tricks.

** Sean Berens netted Michigan State's last natural hat trick on Jan. 10, 1998 in a 6-1 win vs. LSSU. He scored four goals in that contest.