Toledo, Ohio — Holy Toledo.
There was a lot of pressure on Michigan State entering the NCAA Tournament at the Toledo Regional Thursday evening, maybe too much.
The Spartans were the No. 1 seed in the country and the No. 1 seed in the region, and were facing the Ivy League’s Cornell Big Red, ranked 16th in the country and the fourth seed in the region.
At 18:21 of the third, MSU’s Matt Basgall was called for tripping and Cornell’s Sullivan Mack scored with 10 seconds remaining, giving the Big Red their first lead at 4-3.
The Spartans lost the ensuing faceoff and could not get the puck back before time expired.
Final score: Cornell 4, Michigan State 3.
The Big Red will face Boston University on Saturday.
Michigan State has one of the best players in the country in Isaac Howard, a top-10 Hobey Baker finalist and Big Ten Player of the Year, plus one of the top goaltenders in Trey Augustine, Big Ten Goaltender of the Year, a finalist for the AAU Sullivan Award (top amateur athlete) and one of the four finalists for the Mike Richter Award.
That pressure ratcheted up when Cornell’s Ryan Walsh scored his second goal of the game at 12:39 of the third period, tying the game at 3-3.
After just three shots in the second period, the Big Red came out energized in the third period, keeping the puck in the Spartans’ defensive zone and firing away at Augustine.
The Spartans took the lead at 7:20 of the first period when Joey Larson passed the puck to Gavin O’Connell, who beat Big Red goaltender Ian Shane with a shot from the left circle.
Cornell tied the game at 15:02 of the first when Walsh beat Augustine with a top-shelf shot from the right circle.
With Cornell’s Dalton Bancroft in the box for cross-checking, Michigan State capitalized at 19:30 of the first when junior forward Daniel Russell beat Shane for a 2-1 lead.
It was Russell’s 13th goal of the season, tying his career best from last season.
The Spartans’ power play has recorded 24 goals on 95 chances this season.
Howard had the second assist on Russell’s goal and has 52 points (26-26-52) in 37 games.
The Spartans outshot the Big Red, 12-5, in the opening period.
On Cornell’s second shot of the second period, Charlie Major tied the game at 16:30.
But 17 seconds later, Shane went behind his net to play the puck and Karsen Dorwart took advantage, wrapping the puck around into the net while Shane was out of position.
Mike Schafer, who graduated from Cornell in 1986, is retiring after serving as his alma mater’s head coach for 30 years.
Dana Wakiji is a freelance writer.
