In the next few weeks, hockey recruit Shane Hynes plans to decide where to continue his career - with the two finalists being Cornell and Denver.

The bad news for the Spartans is they were originally the third team on Hynes’ short list of schools, but he crossed them off when 23-year MSU head coach Ron Mason announced he was stepping down after this season to become athletics director.

“I didn’t want to go into a school where they weren’t going to have a coach until the summer and the new coach had never even seen me play,” Hynes said. “I couldn’t go into an organization like that.”

Hynes has 31 goals and 33 assists in 45 games this season for the Nanaimo Clippers of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League. He said Mason’s departure wasn’t the only reason he eliminated MSU from contention, but when asked, he couldn’t come up with other reasons.

“I couldn’t really tell you why right now,” Hynes said. “Michigan State has a great reputation and great coaches, but they’ve been out of the running for a while.”

Hynes said the only way he would reconsider MSU would be if Spartan assistant coach Dave McAuliffe, Hynes’ chief recruiter, gets the MSU head coaching job. That certainly won’t happen in the next few weeks, considering Mason has said he won’t name a successor until after the Spartans’ season is over in April.

“McAuliffe is a great guy and he would have been a great coach under different circumstances,” Hynes said.

The Clippers’ Web site says Hynes has committed to Cornell, but the player said Denver is back in the race now that Pioneer head coach George Gwozdecky signed a long-term contract extension.

Talk of Gwozdecky leaving Denver for either the MSU or Wisconsin coaching posts temporarily scared Hynes away from the Pioneers a few weeks ago.

“I’m leaning toward Cornell over Denver, but I’m not really sure right now,” Hynes said.

“It’s a good position for me to be in. I really can’t go wrong.”