COLLEGE HOCKEY

• Michigan State moves into final

  
  

  St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Chris Mueller had a goal and an assist to help the Michigan State Spartans advance to their first championship game since 1987 with a 4-2 win over the Maine Black Bears in the Frozen Four.

  Nick Sucharski, Chris Snavely and Kim McKenzie all lit the lamp for the Spartans (25-14-3), who will play the winner of the North Dakota/Boston College game later on Thursday.

  "The biggest thing today was the penalty kill," said Mueller. "We knew Maine had the top power play, but we played with patience and stayed out of the box, which was the key to winning the game."

  Jeff Lerg finished with 29 saves for Michigan State, which last won a national title in 1986.

  "We expected Maine to come out flying," said Lerg. "We didn't match them for the first two period, but we got our game going and the late goal in the second period gave us momentum for the third to carry on for the win."

  Josh Soares and Keith Johnson each had a goal and an assist and Ben Bishop finished with 29 saves for the Black Bears (23-15-2), who defeated Michigan State in last season's East Regional final, 5-4.

  "We played a great game," said Bishop. "But their goalie got off to a tough start, giving up a goal on the first shot, but he played well at the end and made some key saves in the third period."

  The championship game will be played on Saturday.

  Maine initially grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first when Johnson scored just 23 seconds in and a little over three minutes later Soares scored on a shot from the slot through traffic.

  However, the Spartans scored four unanswered goals to win the game.

  Mueller got his team on the board when he banged the puck out of mid-air into the net to make it a 2-1 game at the 7:25 mark of the first.

  Michigan State tied the game with the only goal of the second period when Snavely scored to make it a 2-2 game.

  The Spartans grabbed their first lead of the game as Sucharski jammed the puck into the net during a jam in front for a 3-2 advantage 5:11 into the third.

  "There was traffic in front and the rebound popped out in front and I went to dive on it but somehow they slipped it underneath me into the net," said Bishop.

  McKenzie sealed the win for the Spartans when he snapped a wrister on the fly from the left circle that Bishop stopped, but the rebound went right back to McKenzie and he buried it in the back of the net with 10:14 to play.

  It is the fifth time in school history that Michigan State will appear in the championship game.

  04/05 19:56:44 ET