The No. 4 MSU hockey team will look to win seven straight games for the first time under Rick Comley when it hosts Mercyhurst for a two-game series this weekend at Munn Ice Arena.
Both games will face-off at 7:05 p.m.
Scoring, consistency goals for MSU
Justin Abdelkader takes a shot on goal during the two game series against Colgate. Abdelkader had two goals during the series.
—The Spartans last won seven in a row late in the 2000-01 season, when the team won nine in a row before falling to North Dakota in the Frozen Four.
This series is crucial for the Spartans to make positive strides with consistent play as the series against No. 1 Miami (Ohio) lies ahead next week and traditional powerhouses Minnesota and Wisconsin after that.
“We have to get through this weekend, do our best to get two wins and then start to worry about that next stretch,” Comley said.
“And certainly, we have a tough stretch coming up.”
But one thing does concern Comley — a lack of goal scoring. Even though the Spartans are third in the CCHA at 3.14 goals per game, Comley still wants his team to score more.
“Our kids work hard, we play well as a team, and so I just have to have confidence that the scoring will come,” Comley said. “Fortunately we’re winning without scoring a lot of goals.
“You’ve got to score between four and five per game on a consistent basis. It’s too much pressure on our goaltender and everything else to only give up one. We have enough talent to score more.”
While MSU’s power play has been rocking this season — it’s first in the CCHA at 31.4 percent — the Spartans have almost relied on it too much, as the 11 power play goals the Spartans have scored have accounted for half the team’s goals.
“We’re lucky we’re doing so well on special teams because that’s helping us out a lot right now,” junior forward Tim Kennedy said.
Kennedy has scored six goals this season, but only one has been at even strength.
At the same time, junior forward Tim Crowder and senior forward Chris Mueller, both expected to be major contributors this season, have yet to find the back of the net. Senior defenseman Daniel Vukovic currently leads the team in scoring with two goals and seven assists.
“(Crowder)‘s the type of guy, even if he starts slow, you know he’s going to pick it up and be a threat,” Vukovic said.
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“Every goalie and team knows that he’s a guy that can score and score in bunches.”
On the back end, Comley said that junior goaltender Jeff Lerg’s school record of 62 straight games started will “most likely” come to an end this weekend and that sophomore Bobby Jarosz could start his first career game.
“Part of the responsibility is to develop this team depth-wise so that if you do get injuries, the bottom doesn’t fall out,” Comley said.
The last game Lerg wasn’t in-between the pipes for the Spartans was Feb. 3, 2006 — a 3-2 win at Notre Dame.
Mercyhurst comes into Munn with a 1-6-1 record and is fresh off its first win of the season against Air Force on Friday. This will be the first ever meeting between the two teams.
“We don’t want to give up a game this season,” Vukovic said.
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“This weekend coming up will be a huge test. Maybe in the past, people have said that we would’ve not played our best. I know a few players on the team because I played juniors against them and that’s a team that I know if we don’t come to play, they’re going to beat us.”
