While many MSU students escaped to sunny beaches, snow-swept ski slopes, or the familiar sights of their hometown during spring break, the fifth-ranked Spartan hockey team kept plugging along in its quest for a national championship.

“Spring break? What’s that?” junior goaltender Ryan Miller deadpanned after a long practice Thursday.

Although the players were on vacation from classes this week, the team didn’t get much of a reprieve in terms of hockey. Without classes cluttering the mornings, MSU head coach Ron Mason moved ahead practice time from 3 p.m. to 11 a.m. all week, as the Spartans prepare for their CCHA Tournament first-round series against Bowling Green.

The Spartans (24-7-5 overall, 18-6-4 CCHA) host the Falcons (9-23-6, 7-18-3) at 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Munn Ice Arena. If a third game is necessary in the best-of-three series, it will be held at 7:05 p.m. Sunday at Munn.

MSU is the No. 2 seed in the playoffs after letting the CCHA regular-season title slip away to Michigan (22-9-5, 19-5-4) last weekend.

“I think we’ve had a really good week of practice,” said junior defenseman Brad Fast, who, along with senior right wing Adam Hall, made the CCHA’s All-Academic Team earlier in the week. “It sort of just comes that way when you only have one thing to worry about, and that’s hockey. I think the guys come to practice a little more focused, thinking about the task at hand.”

Last year, 11th-place Bowling Green wouldn’t even have been included in the CCHA Tournament because only 10 teams used to make the field. This is the first tournament in which all 12 league teams will compete.

The six winners of this weekend’s first-round series will move on to Joe Louis Arena next weekend, where they will be re-seeded.

The re-seeded No. 3 team plays the No. 6 seed and No. 4 plays No. 5 in a single-elimination format on March 15. The winners of those games play the top two seeds the next day, and the CCHA Tournament championship game is on March 17.

“Every team brings their best game in the playoffs,” junior right wing Steve Jackson said. “It’s a whole new season. You come in, win a couple quick games and you’re playing at the Joe.”

Whichever team wins the championship will receive the Mason Cup, named after the longtime MSU head coach. The Spartans, who have won 11 straight first-round contests in the CCHA Tournament, have won the tournament title three out of the last four years.

“We just have to go out there and do what got us here. It’s a cliché, but it’s going to have to work,” said Miller, who, along with junior defenseman John-Michael Liles, was named to the All-CCHA first team earlier in the week. “We have to battle through the playoffs and it has to start right now.

“We can’t start off our playoffs on a bad note and expect to win the national title. That’s the attitude I want to take into it - national title or bust.”

Bowling Green is led by talented forward Greg Day (17 goals, 19 assists) and goaltender Tyler Masters, who has posted a 3.38 goals against average and .906 saves percentage behind a porous defense.

The Spartans swept the two-game season series from Bowling Green by scores of 6-3 and 4-0 on Nov. 1-2 at Munn.

But the Falcons are capable of pulling an upset - as evidenced by their 4-2 win at U-M on Jan. 25. And, after splitting a series against heavy underdog Ferris State last weekend, the Spartans know anything is possible at this stage of the season.

“They’ve got some age and experience on their side and if they decide they want to put it together, they’re a very good team,” Mason said. “We’ve got a formidable opponent here.

“But I think the best-of-three playoff format gives the better team the better chance to advance.”

This weekend’s series will be Mason’s last competitive action at Munn, where he has manned the benches for 23 years. Mason announced in January that he will resign after the season to become MSU’s athletics director.

He was the subject of a video tribute after last weekend’s home win over Ferris and he addressed the Munn crowd afterward. Mason said he has no special emotions heading into this weekend’s Bowling Green series.

“Closure came last Saturday night after the game,” Mason said. “That was good. It gave me the chance to speak to the people and it was pretty neat to be able to do that.

“I haven’t even thought about that kind of stuff this week.”