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Champion hockey team to return several key players

By Zack Colman (Last updated: 08/28/09 6:31pm) The MSU hockey team knows it will be hard to top last season's national championship victory over Boston College. It just wasn't supposed to happen.

The Spartans embarked on an improbable run to capture the NCAA championship. With a senior class full of leadership and character, a young core of offensive weapons and a patient, defensive game, MSU won its third national title in school history and its first since 1986.

The Spartans went 7-1 in their last eight games during their title run. Just before that eight-game stretch, MSU had won just once in five games, putting their playoff hopes in jeopardy.

When the Spartans got into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed, they were considered a long shot at best to win the national championship. But the Spartans prevailed, scoring the championship-clinching goal with just 18.9 seconds left in the game.

"I've been dreaming about winning this championship ever since my dad laced on my first pair of skates," junior forward Bryan Lerg said.

The championship was the second of MSU head coach Rick Comley's career. He won one with Northern Michigan in 1991.

And it might not be Comley's last championship.

With a strong incoming recruiting class and many of the Spartans' core players returning this season, MSU is a favorite to repeat as national champion.

"I said before the year started, we'll be a better team in the fall of '07 than we were in the fall of '06 as far as talent," Comley said. "Now, will it all come together? Who knows? But we have a shot."

Forward Justin Abdelkader will be back this season. Comley expects leading scorer Tim Kennedy to return, along with fellow forward and linemate Tim Crowder.

Goaltender Jeff Lerg also will be back in the green and white this season, along with five defensemen to play in front of him.

"There's a lot of guys coming back and a lot of good guys coming in," Abdelkader said. "We have a chance to have a really, really special season."

Originally Published: 06/07/07 12:00am