Spartans preparing for CCHA tournament

After a week off, the MSU hockey team is ready to go.

Standing in the way of a trip to Joe Louis Arena is one of the hottest teams in the nation, Northern Michigan, which knocked off Ohio State 6-1 on Sunday night to move into the quarterfinals.

MSU head coach Rick Comley said the team was healthy, and after having the weekend off, was back at it Monday.

“We have a very experienced group,” Comley said.

“We have a lot of guys who have been through big games and big playoff rounds, and they understand. I don’t sense any problems being ready to go.”

Comley said it is his “firm belief,” after a 23-9-5 regular season, that his team had a good season.

“There’s always that ability to go back and look at the games that you could’ve won and ties maybe you shouldn’t have had,” he said.

“We could easily have another five or six points, and that might be the difference between third and first, but I’m sure Michigan can say the same thing.”

Senior defenseman Daniel Vukovic said while it was nice to have an off weekend, he can’t wait for Friday.

“You always want to be in a game situation,” Vukovic said.

“It’s always nice at first having time off — you don’t have to worry about going through a game and the pressure but then you feel like you want to be in that situation. At this point in the season, you don’t want time off.”

Production line

Comley said that while his top two lines have stabilized, the team needs to get more out of the third line, which should include forwards junior Nick Sucharski and freshman Dustin Gazley and a mystery winger — either freshman Corey Tropp or junior Matt Schepke.

“If we could get some scoring out of our third line, whatever that turns out to be, that would help us a lot,” Comley said. “That’s a concern for me.”

On the flip side, the top line of forwards, senior Chris Mueller with juniors Justin Abdelkader and Tim Kennedy, has been on a roll as of late.

Abdelkader and Kennedy each have a six-game point streak, while Mueller scored twice in the team’s March 1 win against Bowling Green.

Honored

Freshman defenseman Jeff Petry, fresh off a solid second half, was named to the CCHA All-Rookie Team on Monday, the first Spartan to make the team since junior goaltender Jeff Lerg in 2006.

Petry recorded three goals and 17 assists and was plus-6 in 37 games this season.

Moving on

The CCHA quarterfinal matchups were set Sunday night, as Bowling Green moved past Lake Superior to face Miami (Ohio) and Northern Michigan knocked off Ohio State to meet MSU.

Nebraska-Omaha topped Alaska, 2-1, in triple-overtime Sunday in the longest game in Nebraska-Omaha history

The game lasted 104 minutes and 22 seconds, making it the ninth-longest in NCAA history.

Nebraska-Omaha will face U-M in the second round of the tournament.

Only Ferris State took care of business in two games by sweeping Western Michigan.

Published on Tuesday, March 11, 2008