Now that hockey head coach Rick Comley has moved from Marquette to East Lansing, he’s looking at ways to loosen up the rickety offense that plagued the Spartans’ 2-0 loss to Colorado College in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament.
Offensive ineffectiveness caused several other headaches for MSU last year. The Spartans averaged 3.15 goals per game - which placed them sixth in the CCHA, despite their league-leading 21.9 percent success rate on power plays.
On the other hand, MSU boasted the nation’s best defense at 1.78 goals per game and the NCAA’s top penalty-killing unit at 90.5 percent. Knowing that, Comley said his top priority is to balance the team’s strengths.
“The one thing I will try to do here is to pick up the tempo a little bit, and not sacrifice the defensive part of the game,” Comley said. “I like up-tempo hockey, players like playing up-tempo hockey, and that’s what we’ll try to do.”
Even under the new leadership, MSU’s strengths should continue to be on the defensive side of the puck. Senior goaltender Ryan Miller, a two-time All-American, is widely considered the best collegiate goalie in the nation. He won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s outstanding player in 2001.
But Miller is the draft property of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and could skip his senior season in favor of professional hockey. As of the spring, he had not yet made a decision. If he leaves, the goaltending chores would be handled by sophomore Matt Migliaccio and freshman Justin Tobe.
The rest of the defensive corps is led by a pair of exceptional seniors - Brad Fast and John-Michael Liles. Liles was the team’s leading scorer with 13 goals and 22 assists last season, while Fast is one of the most versatile defensemen in the nation.
“I think we’re going to be somewhere in between where we were (last year) and where Northern was with their offensive style,” Fast said.
“We have some very good leaders on our team. We’re going to be expecting some people to step up a little more than they have in the past, but I don’t think that will be a problem at all.”
Offensively, MSU has loads of young talent to go along with solid senior leadership. Senior left wing Brian Maloney is the Spartans’ top returning goal-scorer after netting 17 goals and 16 assists last year.
Centers Jim Slater (11 goals, 21 assists) and Ash Goldie (9, 18) lead a pack of six skilled sophomore forwards, and newcomer Colton Fretter is expected to add even more offensive spark.
“I think it’s going to be an exciting year,” Maloney said. “We’re going to be more well-rounded, we’re going to be more exciting, we’re going to have the puck more, we’re going to be scoring some goals.
“It’s worth it for (freshmen) to at least come down and check us out.”
