Spartans, Alaska face off in weekend series

After an emotional weekend split against Michigan and a long voyage up to Alaska, the No. 12 MSU hockey team is ready to empty its tank this weekend against the Nanooks.

Playing two games on Olympic-sized ice will have the Spartans tuckered out, and the long journey to and from Fairbanks is anything but relaxing.

But MSU has a bye next weekend to recuperate, and the Spartans plan on leaving it all on the ice this weekend.

“(Head coach Rick Comley) said in the locker room (Monday) we aren’t just making the trip to make the trip,” freshman defenseman Torey Krug said. “We have a job to do up there. Coming into the last three weekends, we have to start getting wins and points to stay up in the standings.”

The Spartans (17-9-4 overall, 12-6-4-1 CCHA) currently sit in second place in the CCHA standings, but have two games in hand on eight of the 12 teams in the CCHA. Alaska is in a tie with U-M for sixth place.

With the standings tightening and the race for a top-four finish — and first-round bye — heating up, junior forward Dustin Gazley said the Spartans can’t afford to keep dropping close games.

“The league is so close right now. We just have to battle as hard as we can,” Gazley said. “We have to play the full 60 minutes and keep our emotions in check.”

MSU is 37-11-1 all-time against Alaska.

Alaska started the season hot, but has fizzled of late. The Nanooks haven’t won a game in seven attempts (0-4-3), spanning back to a Jan. 8 game at Nebraska-Omaha.

Scoring goals also has been a challenge for Alaska. In the Nanooks’ last eight games, the team has recorded only 12 goals.

“Obviously I think they’ve gone a little cold,” MSU head coach Rick Comley said. “They’ve had a very good year, and they are a very good team. They play tight defensive hockey, and they are in all games they play.”

For only the second time this season, the Spartans will play on Olympic-sized ice, which is 15 feet wider than the usual NHL-sized rink MSU has played 26 games on.

The Spartans posted a 1-1-0 record at Northern Michigan on the bigger sheet earlier this season.

After Alaska, MSU only has two series left in the regular season. The Spartans will play a home-and-home series against third-place Ferris State and 11th place Bowling Green.

Comley said he thinks the Spartans have “as good a chance as any other team” to finish in the top four of the conference standings. But he said the Spartans still have a lot of work to do if they are going to qualify for the 16-team NCAA Tournament.

“We need to win games,” Comley said of his team’s prospects to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. “It looks to me like we need to win four of six games and the first round of the playoffs. If you don’t do that, then you really become a bubble team.”