MSU swept out of playoffs

EAST LANSING - After a solid, feel-good regular season and second-place finish in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, Michigan State was looking forward to a good run the postseason.

The main targets were playing in the CCHA final four in Detroit and in the NCAA Tournament.

But it didn't happen. Instead, arch-rival Michigan squashed the Spartans' hopes for a memorable March.

MSU on Saturday was swept out of the CCHA playoffs as the Wolverines pulled off a second straight upset, winning 5-3 in front of 4,166 fans at Munn Arena.

In Game 1 on Friday, Michigan dominated MSU, 5-1.

Although not official, the Spartans' season is likely over. It's doubtful that MSU could still finish among the top 14 in the PairWise Rankings after next week's conference tournaments.

The Spartans (19-13-6 overall) are missing the CCHA Championship at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for the third consecutive season.

The Wolverines (23-17-1), however, are making their 21st consecutive trip to the CCHA final four and need to win the title to earn the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

The Spartans played Saturday without top scorer Corey Tropp, who apparently twisted his ankle when he stepped on a puck in warmups.

"We worked harder (tonight) and battled right to the end,'' MSU coach Rick Comley said. "Michigan is playing its best hockey of the year, so congratulations to them.

"In the third period, it was tough to give up the (go-ahead) goal like that. We really missed not having Corey Tropp.

"Overall, I thought we made a lot of improvement this year, and with so many freshmen and sophomores, I think we can get bigger and better next year. We won't know for a while if we'll lose anybody early, but I think the future is bright.''

In a win-or-else scenario on Saturday, the Spartans fell behind 2-0 early in a crazy first period, then rallied in the last four minutes for three power-play goals within 3 minutes and 4 seconds to take a 3-2 lead.

But Michigan scored the only goal of the second period and took the lead for good on freshman Chris Brown's goal from the side of the net at 2:40 of the third period. David Wolhberg added an empty-net goal with 32 seconds left to seal it for the Wolverines.

Despite the closeness of the score, Michigan was quick and elusive on offense and controlled the play most of the night, outshooting MSU 16-9 in the first period and 16-1 in the second. Overall, Michigan held a 44-21 edge in shots.

Andrew Rowe scored MSU's first two goals - at 16:55 of the opening period on a 5-on-3 power play and again on a wrap-around shot at 17:31 on another power play.

Rowe now has seven goals in his last seven games against the Wolverines.

Senior captain Nick Sucharski managed to nudge the puck just over the goal line on a power play with 00.7 seconds left in the opening period for a 3-2 Spartan lead.

But Winnett's power-play goal at 3:54 of the second period tied it 3-3, setting up the deciding third.

Brown tapped in a loose puck at the side of the net, past MSU goalie Bobby Jarosz at 2:40 of the third period. Jarosz took over for starter Drew Palmisano after U-M's second goal at 8:46 of the first period. Jarosz made 33 saves.

MSU went on the power play with 8:58 left in the game and had some good chances but couldn't get the puck past junior backup goalie Shawn Hunwick. He finished with 18 saves, including 11 in the third period.

In other CCHA quarterfinal series on Saturday, Ohio State defeated Miami, 5-4 in overtime to tie their series 1-1; Ferris State defeated Nebraska-Omaha 3-2 in overtime to sweep their series 2-0 and Northern Michigan eliminated Alaska with a 5-1 victory, winning the series 2-0.

Quinnipiac 3, Union 2 (5 overtimes)

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - It took five overtimes and nearly six hours, but Quinnipiac managed to edge out Union College 3-2 early Saturday in the longest hockey game in college history.

Greg Holt of the Bobcats scored with 10:22 remaining in the fifth overtime to give Quinnipiac the win in the ECAC best-of-three quarterfinal series.

At 150 minutes and 22 seconds, it was the longest game in college hockey history. The previous record was set in 2006, when Yale beat Union College 3-2 in a game that was 141 minutes and 35 seconds long.

Union scored two goals in the first period, while Quinnipiac scored a goal each in the first and second periods.

Third-seeded Union and the fifth-seeded Bobcats continued their series Saturday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.