“I thought it was our best offseason,” Anastos said. “We challenged the guys when our season was done to go home. We didn’t have guys come back early given the renovations at Munn. We also wanted to give them a nice fresh mindset before the season started. I held my breath to see how they would come back, and based on our physical testing it’s been the best in three years.”

Anastos is encouraged by the commitment being put forth by college kids who aren’t necessarily being forced or overseen. Players were on the same page as Anastos after his press conference, reiterating that the preparation going into the season is greater than in previous years. 

The Spartans finished 11-18-7 last year and regularly displayed an inability to finish close games. Though MSU took care of business at home with a 9-6-3 record, playing away from Munn Ice Arena was a struggle. The Spartans were 1-10-3 on the road. 

“Coming into this year versus last year, I think our team’s a lot more prepared,” sophomore forward Mackenzie MacEachern said. “This year, everyone worked hard in the offseason. Everyone wants to be there."

“You can tell everyone’s more hungry this year. Coming into it, everybody was ready to go right off the start, everyone’s in better conditioning, everyone’s focused, and everyone’s ready to shoot for the moon.”

After losing in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament and missing the NCAA tournament last year, MSU players went home for the offseason with a bitter taste in their mouth. 

With all of that being said, conditioning only goes so far. The Spartans have a lot of areas in their game that need to be improved, with one of the most obvious aspect that need to be upgraded is goal-scoring. The Spartans were the worst-scoring team in the conference last season, averaging just 2.19 goals per game. 

All-Big Ten honorable mention Jake Hildebrand will be back in net for his junior season, and MSU knows it can’t waste his best performances. Hildebrand registered the most losses last year in the Big Ten despite having a .923 save percentage, which was fifth-best in the conference.

“We’ve got to improve our goal scoring,” Anastos said. “We think that as our team’s evolving, that’s going to take place. There are going to be players who will emerge to do that.”

Anastos also pointed his special teams units and the ability to execute at a fast pace. It seems like a lot of areas that need improvement, but this is all part of the process that Anastos set in place when he took over in 2011. 

For now, Anastos has to stay true to his system and get his players to believe in every aspect of it. Anastos is playing the long game for his program, and if the team maintains the mentality it presented at media day, 2014-15 could be a step in the right direction.