Spartans’ Anastos Out-Coaches UM’s Berenson While Spartan Players Out-Hustle Wolverines for 2-1 Upset

Joe Louis Arena Detroit, MI Tonight’s Duel in the D here at historic Joe Louis Arena between MSU and UM was billed as it should be when these two bitter

Joe Louis Arena

Detroit, MI

Tonight’s Duel in the D here at historic Joe Louis Arena between MSU and UM was billed as it should be when these two bitter rivals meet. Michigan came in sitting in first place in the B1G with 21 points and ranked #13 in the nation. The improving Spartans were 4-1 in their last five games and gaining momentum.

This game was simple. The Spartans are anemic on offense, but tough on defense as the 2013 Spartan football team. On offense, the Wolverines looked more like the Magic Johnson show time Lakers and although respectable on D, not formidable. So Anastos and staff went to work on a mad scientist game plan that would have made Bill Belichick envious and their team executed it flawlessly.

Rather than sitting back on D and hoping for something while the Wolverines blitzkrieg their team, MSU took chances. Trusting the nation’s best goalie in Jake Hildebrand to get saves, they came in waves after the Wolverines. Yes, they weakened their defense, but when they are as good as they are they could afford to. Anastos knew one goal wouldn’t win it. He sent a message. He told his young and rebuilding Spartans that he trusted them. Did they trust him? They did.

Anastos said of his brilliant game plan to me after the game, “A good defense is possessing the puck and staying on the attack. Even after we scored that go ahead goal we told guys to don’t sit back, stay on the attack. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job making their defense go back.”

All night the Wolverines frustration was palatable as the Spartans pressure continued. Earlier in the first period MSU drew first blood on a pretty goal by Mr. Reliable Villiam Haag. It came at the 3:39 point and took the bigger UM crowd out of the game. Go Green Go White began to echo off the Red Wing championship banners as the Spartan Nation let their voice be heard by their heroes on the ice.

The Wolverines tied it up at 16:08 on a power play goal, but from that point forward Spartan stud goalie Jake “Hildy” Hildebrand played more like an iron curtain than a B1G goalie. Channeling visions of 1980 Olympic goalie Jim Craig, Hildy deflected Wolverine shots and sent frustration through the veins of Berenson. He was simply what people have come to expect: Amazing. On this night, in the season’s biggest contest, Hildebrand flashed why his name most be looked at with the immortals of Spartan goalie greatness of Scott, Gilmore, Miller, and Lerg.

The humble Hildy didn’t want any glory for delivering the Spartan Nation this win. As usual, it wasn’t about him, the Pennsylvania star just wanted to talk about his teammates. Hildy would prefer we forget that it is his stellar play that allowed his coach to create a masterful game plan. “I think they have a lot of trust in me, but I have a lot of trust in my teammates. When I can trust my defense to take away the pass and I can take the extra step out and get more depth on a shot it makes my life so easy.”

In the second period no one scored. Hildy held true and the Spartans refused to get rattled. A lack of success was not reasoned away by a lack of effort. This was a battle and the Spartans were relentless.

At the start of the third period, the crowd which was far bigger for the Wolverines came alive. The energy pulsed through the arena as Spartan Nation could smell Wolverine blood in the water. The Spartan icers turned to sharks as with each shift emotion and energy flew through their veins. Normally in the third period of a physical and close rivalry game you see fatigue, on the Spartans all you saw was hunger.

As Joe Louis got louder and louder, the Spartans fought more valiant with each shift. Emotion ran high and when the pride of Chesterfield, MI, Matt DeBlouw sent a rocket to the back of the Wolverine net you could feel an eruption at the Joe.

The youngster is blessed with a cannon for a shot, but at times doesn’t trust himself enough. On this shot, at this point, he did and against his team’s biggest rival, on the biggest game of the season, the state of Michigan native found pay dirt and his coaches found credibility.

Anastos has implored his young star to take shots and the mild-mannered DeBlouw hasn’t done it. This time he stood strong and played strong and with one shot he gathered the understanding of what he can actually be to his team. He got it. Countless stares, conversations, and shall we say motivational sessions with the coaching staff sent the message home.

Anastos said of his young star’s listening paying off, “We talk ad nauseam about going to the net. Ad nauseam. To score goals you have to go to the net. He has a tendency at times to just stand away from it. Earlier in the game we moved the puck around and had a great blast and I look and he is standing on the other side of the dot and I gave him a pretty good stare. In that situation he goes to the net (the goal) and it goes in. I want to acknowledge he did the right thing and got rewarded for it.”

DeBlouw’s smile was contagious afterwards and he told me, “Over the past several weeks I have had plenty of times to shoot the puck and coach just keeps getting on me and on me. Trying to put it on the net and get to the net and Rhett had a good shot, hit my stick and went it. It’s good to hear my coach wants me to shoot the puck instead of pass it more.”

The Spartans found their signature win of the season. This team which has now won five of their last six games is peaking. Far from the most talented team in the Big Ten, they do have superior coaching and now they have a system in place they can trust. It is not like they didn’t trust the coaches before, but now they know they can trust it because it has worked on the biggest stage.

UM head coach Red Berenson said, “They’ve got a certain level of confidence that maybe they didn’t have at the GLI. We played with the desperation (at the GLI) tonight they had the desperation and we didn’t. We didn’t play well enough.”

The Senator, MSU head Coach Tom Anastos, was glowing after the game. “I thought we played real hard. I thought we played hard from the start of the game to the end of the game. We made them earn every bit of space and that was what we needed to do.”

Like Izzo’s cagers, there margin for error is slim on any night, but now they know they can beat anyone on any night. A raucous post game locker room only echoed the crowd from earlier as they took their showers. The one and a half hour bus ride back to East Lansing was carrying the tougher team, the winning team, and a group of young men who have helped Anastos repair a hockey program decimated prior to their arrival.

The last time these two teams met was back in December right here at the Joe for the Great Lakes invitational. The Wolverines won that tilt 2-1. Red Berenson the head coach of Michigan said of the difference between the Spartans of tonight and the Spartans back in December, “Everyone builds this game up as offense vs. defense and you know what happens: defense wins. They are playing harder and they are playing better.”

Both teams are off until their next game on February 7, one week from tomorrow, when they face each other again. The caveat is that they will be playing outside at Soldier Field in Chicago in what is being called the Hockey City Classic. Faceoff for that game is at 8PM and can be seen on BTN. There are also plenty of good seats available for what should be a memorable contest.