Spartans scoring more, playing better on road early

After winning only four games away from Munn Ice Arena last season, the MSU hockey team earned its first road victory on its first attempt.

But it didn’t come easy last weekend.

The Spartans (3-1-0) won Friday’s game 5-3 at Maine, but fell 5-3 to the Black Bears on Saturday night.

MSU freshman forward Anthony Hayes said the long road trip gave the young team — which features 18 underclassmen — time to bond.

“It was a good experience,” Hayes said. “A lot of us hadn’t been on the road to that extent for a while. It was good to get that first one under our belt. To go into a hostile environment like that, I think it was good to get something like that under our belts so we know what’s in store for the rest of the season.”

MSU head coach Rick Comley described the environment inside Alfond Arena as being “as good of a college crowd I’ve been around” — even if it was tough for his team.

During pregame warm-ups, fans threw foam pucks onto MSU’s side of the ice, causing confusion for the Spartans as the real and fake pucks mixed together. The crowd also was tough on MSU sophomore goaltender Drew Palmisano, who was hounded throughout both games.

But Comley said he was pleased with the way his team responded.

“They did great,” Comley said. “They handled the atmosphere very well.”

Junior forward Corey Tropp said having a tough road trip will help the team this weekend, as the Spartans travel to No. 1 Miami (Ohio) for a two-game road series.

“Going to Maine, it was a tough atmosphere,” Tropp said. “Both nights the building was rocking, and with a young team it’s always good to get the first road game jitters out.”

Goals, goals, goals

The Spartans average 4.5 goals per game, putting them in a tie for first place in the CCHA with Western Michigan, a team that only has played two games.

This is a drastic change from last season, when the Spartans ended the year averaging a measly 1.61 goals a game.

The offensive production was dispersed, with nine players recording three or more points.

Tropp (nine points) leads the offensive categories for the Spartans, largely because of his hat trick on Friday night.

“So far, we’ve had pretty good success,” Tropp said of the Spartans’ offense. “Ideally, we all want to keep that up. For that to happen, we are going to have to keep working hard in practice. There are definitely aspects where we can get a lot better.”