EAST LANSING – Despite the noise from a sold-out crowd filtering down to the ice, Patrick Geary recognized a familiar voice amid the chaos.
As the Michigan State freshman defenseman took a pass at the blue line just a few feet from his bench, he heard reserve goalie Jon Mor tell him to shoot.
“I just put my head down, ripped it and looked up last second just to see it go in,” Geary recalled.
Mor’s assist doesn’t appear in the box score but the execution that followed will live in program lore. Geary threaded a shot through traffic for the game-winning goal in overtime as No. 1 seed Michigan State topped No. 4 seed Michigan 5-4 in the Big Ten tournament championship game on Saturday night in East Lansing.
What’s the instant reaction after netting a trophy-winning goal against a bitter rival? Once the clang off the back iron sounded, throw everything in the air. The stick and gloves came first and then the helmet as Geary charged down the ice to celebrate first with goalie Trey Augustine as the home crowd at Munn Ice Arena went bonkers.
“You could argue that might have been the biggest game at Munn in the history when you look at where we’re trying to get to and we still have work to go,” Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale said. “That crowd was awesome.”
For a storied program with a trio of national championships, that’s quite a statement for Nightingale but it comes from a position of experience trying to turn around a supertanker on ice. He played for the Spartans two decades ago and took over a program in disarray but has quickly returned it to being the toughest ticket in town. Nightingale’s squad has the receipts to prove it.
First regular-season title since Big Ten hockey’s inception a decade ago and first time capturing a pair of conference championships since playing in the CCHA in 2001. Not bad for a program Nightingale inherited just two years ago after it endured a 13-game losing streak.
“It’s just unreal and honestly you never know if we’re going to get these opportunities ever again,” Augustine said.
Augustine, who was picked by the Red Wings in the second round of the draft last year and is the youngest goalie in the nation, was named the Big Ten tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. The freshman is part of a highly-talented youth movement that meshed with veterans to restore pride to a proud program.
The final game at Munn in a fiercely resurgent season ended with players hoisting a trophy on the ice and…
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