Maple leaf pride was burning within the 10 Canadians on the MSU hockey team after Canada beat the United States 5-2 for the Olympic ice hockey gold medal Sunday.
All eight freshmen on MSU’s team - five Canadians and three Americans - watched the contest in the Wonders Hall dorm room shared by freshman left wing Kevin Estrada and freshman center Ash Goldie.
The game was a tense, close battle until a decisive third period lifted the Canadians to victory - much to the delight of rookie left wing Brock Radunske, who’s from New Hamburg, Ontario. He said he “let the (American) guys have it a little when Canada won.”
“I was sporting all my Canada gear - sweatshirt, tuque, everything,” Radunske said. “We were going at it pretty good and it just turned out that Canada had a better game that night.”
Locker room bragging rights were on the line more than anything else Sunday, but some good-natured bets surfaced as well. Freshman forward Mike Lalonde, a native of Chetwynd, British Columbia, and senior right wing Adam Hall, of Kalamazoo, kiddingly bet permanent body decorations on Sunday’s outcome.
“Me and Hallsy were joking around in the shower there one time about one of my Canadian tattoos,” said Lalonde, who has the Canadian National Team’s logo on his shoulder. “He said that if Canada won, he’d get a Canada tattoo, and if the U.S. won, I’d get a U.S. one. But we never went through with it.
“I got my tattoo because hockey is a big part of my life and so is Canada. I’m proud to be a Canadian.”
Steady at the top
MSU (23-6-5 overall, 17-5-4 CCHA) remained No. 5 in this week’s USCHO.com poll, behind No. 1 Denver, No. 2 St. Cloud State, No. 3 New Hampshire and No. 4 Minnesota. The Spartans also received one of 40 first-place votes.
In the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll, MSU stayed No. 4 - behind the same top three teams as USCHO.
In the Pairwise Rankings, which mimics the selection and seeding process of the NCAA Tournament, MSU climbed two spots to No. 5.
Mason’s farewell tour
Longtime MSU head coach Ron Mason will coach his last regular-season game at Munn Ice Arena on Saturday, and the university is preparing a postgame celebration of his career.
Mason, who has coached the Spartans for 23 years, is stepping down after this season to become MSU athletics director. He will be honored Saturday with a video highlight reel and some “special surprises,” associate athletics director Mark Hollis said.
The events will not interfere with the team’s annual Senior Night festivities, which will take place before Saturday’s game against Ferris State.
“Coach Mason and the university think we’ve put together a pretty good tradition with Senior Night, and we don’t want to dilute that in any way this year,” Hollis said. “The celebration will be similar to (former men’s basketball head coach) Jud Heathcote’s last game.”
M&M honored
The CCHA honored two Spartans for their achievements at Miami (Ohio) during the weekend. Junior left wing Brian Maloney is the league’s Offensive Player of the Week after amassing four assists and a game-winning goal against the RedHawks.
Junior goaltender Ryan Miller is the CCHA Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season after turning away 63 of 67 shots in MSU’s sweep of Miami.
Beware of gridlock
The university is asking fans to arrive early Saturday because the MSU men’s basketball team plays Iowa at Breslin Center at 4:37 p.m. - which could put a premium on parking around the arenas.
Event parking opens at 3 p.m. Saturday for $5. Shuttle service will be provided between the parking structure south of the Communication Arts and Sciences Building and the arenas for $2 round trip.
Weather permitting, fans will also be allowed to park on Munn field.
Candidate Bob?
Ferris head coach Bob Daniels, a 1982 MSU graduate, said there has been no contact between he and Mason about the soon-to-be-open MSU coaching job.
“That’s something that will be taken care of after the season,” Daniels said. “It’s not something I’m pursuing, let’s put it that way. And my hands are kind of tied here right now with trying to get our team on the right track.”
