Unbeaten streak comes to a close

IU came into Saturday's game looking to rebound after a pair of losses dealt by Illinois last weekend. But instead, the Hoosiers ended a 27-game home unbeaten streak dating back to January 2001.\nIt looked like the Hoosiers were back on track early in the first period. Less than four minutes into the period, senior defenseman Joe Rogers took the face-off pass from junior forward Frank Harrison and sent a shot over the glove of Michigan State goalie Sean Huberty.\nBut instead of carrying that momentum, the Hoosiers were weighed down by a tough Michigan State team that forced IU to play its physical brand of hockey.\n"We had talked about playing the body and how it was critical to our success," coach Rich Holdeman said. "And we did pretty well early on, we got a goal early, but it seemed like after we scored, we thought it was going to be a cakewalk or something."\nWhat resulted was a rough-and-tumble first period with 79 total penalty minutes. Junior forward Matt Howard and MSU junior defenseman Chris Pletkovic were given game misconduct penalties for fighting in the first. \nSophomore forward Brandon Schnurr responded for Michigan State halfway through the first with a one-time slapshot past senior goalie Charlie Pulley on the powerplay.\nMichigan State added goals early in the second and early in the third before sophomore forward Matt Ritz pulled the Hoosiers within a goal.\nShortly after, Michigan State capitalized on IU's increased offensive pressure, taking a turnover at the blue line the length of the ice and sliding the puck around Pulley to go ahead 4-2. Senior forward Clint Heiber brought IU back within one, but it would not be enough as IU fell, 4-3.\nHoldeman said his team played much better under pressure than they did early on.\n"It seemed like until we went down 3-1, we really weren't that interested in the game. But at that point we played with some sense of urgency and made a game out of it," Holdeman said. "But you just can't wait that long in the game to start playing hard if you want to beat teams like this."\nIU also got its first taste of a new rule installed by the NHL and NCAA designed to speed up the game. The time between play stoppage and the ensuing face-off was shortened, so each team has about five seconds to place or match lines put on the ice.\nIU assistant coach Scott Nolting said this was the second time IU had played with the rule, the first being last weekend at Illinois.\n"It took us a while to adjust to that," Nolting said.\nIU General Manager Adam Schuchman said it was more difficult at home because the visiting team puts its line on the ice first, and the home team matches that line. He said having to react to the line changes at home was more difficult than having to put lines on the ice.\n"You could tell we weren't used to it," Schuchman said.