MSU hockey head coach Tom Anastos and senior forward Chris Forfar discuss MSU’s victory last weekend over Alaska and look ahead to the rest of the CCHA playoffs.
—Heading into the CCHA playoffs, Tom Anastos frequently said the postseason means a whole new season.
For the MSU hockey team (13-23-3 overall, 9-18-1-0 CCHA) the head coach’s sentiment meant overcoming the sixth-seeded Alaska in the best-of-three series to advance to the second round. MSU won Friday and Sunday, making it the first time MSU has advanced in the CCHA playoffs since the 2006-07 season.
With No. 1-seed Miami (Ohio) up next, the Spartans are preparing for a tough series ahead but also spending time recovering from a weekend of grueling travel.
MSU’s trip to Alaska was its second in three weeks; the team went there for a series Feb. 22-23 in which the two teams split the games.
The first round of the playoffs went to three games — played on Friday, Saturday and Sunday — followed by a trip back to East Lansing lasting about 18 hours.
Because of the travel and a four-hour time difference to adjust to, MSU is focused on getting their bodies and minds ready for the weekend.
“Lots of fluids, lots of sleep,” senior forward Chris Forfar said. “I can tell you from personal experience that at our apartment, we aren’t doing much but sleeping and drinking water. My internal clock is a little skewed right now — I have no idea what time it is.”
One of Forfar’s roommates, senior forward Anthony Hayes, said he and his teammates are focusing on simplifying things outside of the rink to recover, and making hockey and school the only priorities.
“There doesn’t need to be any extracurricular,” Hayes said. “You don’t have to spend three, four hours at the rink everyday, but you also don’t have to spend three, four hours out on the town, running a ton of errands. You just have to be smart, conserve your energy and just keep yourself mentally fresh.”
Because of the trip, having two Alaska trips in three weeks, playing three-consecutive games — one of them an overtime match — and a few injuries and illnesses, Anastos said he is giving the team a light week to recover.
He said the team took Tuesday off, and will have a light workout Wednesday before taking a bus ride to Oxford, Ohio. Once there, Anastos said the team will have another light workout.
“The majority of our time this week will be spent on getting our brains and our bodies ready to play Friday, more so than getting our strategy ready,” he said. “The truth of the matter is, I’d be fooling you or lying to you if I said we’re spending all kind of time on the ice working on certain things. We’re not.”
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