If defense truly wins championships, the NCAA should strongly consider giving MSU the 2001-02 national championship trophy right now.

The Spartans, who dominated the nation defensively this season, probably look downright scary to next year’s opponents.

Not only does MSU head coach Ron Mason return his five starting defensemen from the unit that led the nation by only allowing 1.36 goals per game in 2000-01, but he also welcomes back Hobey Baker Award-winning sophomore goaltender Ryan Miller.

To put MSU’s defensive accomplishments in perspective, Cornell owned the second-best defense in the NCAA at 2.18 goals per game.

So, with another year of experience under the belts of Miller, junior defensemen Andrew Hutchinson and Jon Insana, sophomores John-Michael Liles and Brad Fast and freshman Joe Markusen, will anyone score on MSU at all next season?

“Obviously, you can’t go a whole year shutting everybody out,” said Miller, who led the nation with 10 shutouts this season. “But I’m excited already for next year. Our recruiting class is considered by some to be one of the top ones in the nation and they’re going to get whipped into Michigan State shape right away.

“We just want to be there at playoff time next year, whether we’re ranked No. 1 all year or not.”

The Spartans (33-5-4) were ranked No. 1 for most of this season until a loss to North Dakota in the Frozen Four.

In addition to the five defensive starters, Mason will have the luxury of depth next season with freshman defensemen Aaron Hundt and Mike Porter, who both saw limited action this season, and prized recruit Duncan Keith, who could step right into the MSU starting lineup.

MSU assistant coach Tom Newton said next year’s team will build on the defense’s experience.

“We have a real strong nucleus coming back,” Newton said. “Having all five of your defensemen and your goaltender is just a great place to start. And then adding a player like Duncan Keith, who is a highly, highly skilled , is going to be a great learning situation for him.”

MSU could face a potential problem offensively, though, with a rather young group of forwards next season.

The departures of left wings Damon Whitten and Sean Patchell, right wings Rustyn Dolyny and John Nail and center Andrew Bogle leave Mason with only two senior forwards on next year’s roster - right wing Adam Hall and center Joe Goodenow.

Hall and Goodenow played together on a line with sophomore left wing Brian Maloney this season and the idea of the entire line returning excites Newton.

“That line works, we know that and it’s great to have in your back pocket,” Newton said. “For that reason, we may not want to start with it and see if one of those guys can make another line go and keep maybe two of them together.”

Newton said the experience of Hall, Goodenow and Maloney could mesh well with the raw talents of incoming recruits like Jim Slater and Kevin Estrada.

Another option Mason could consider would be reuniting sophomore center Troy Ferguson with sophomore left wing Steve Clark and sophomore right wing Steve Jackson. The trio played together as freshmen two years ago, but Ferguson moved up to play with Dolyny and Whitten this season.

“We scored by committee this season and I think enough of the committee is coming back that we should be fine offensively,” Newton said. “The people we’re bringing in have the reputation of scoring more goals than the people we lost.”

Mason said the combination of youth and experience could be just what the team needs next year.

“Every team develops its own personality,” Mason said. “I think we’re going to have a good team again next year. We’ll be a lot younger up front, but we should also be pretty darn stable behind the blue line.

“Hopefully that combination can get us to where we need to be and we can take another shot at (the title).”

Miller played all but two games this season and will see most of the action in goal again next year. But if Miller were to get hurt, Mason won’t be able to turn to former All-American Joe Blackburn, who was a senior this season.

Blackburn will be a volunteer goalie coach with MSU next season, leaving junior netminder Nathan Shopbell as the only other returning goalie.

Newton said MSU is currently recruiting a “very short list” of goaltenders to compete with Shopbell for the backup job.