Although Ron Mason’s fingerprints are all over the MSU hockey team, new head coach Rick Comley appears to have a more hands-on approach than his predecessor.
With one week of practice already in the books - and another underway - both the MSU players and assistant coaches are raving about Comley’s interpersonal skills.
“Coach Comley has really gone out of his way to break down the communication barriers,” assistant coach Tom Newton said.
“It’s just not talking to players on the ice, it’s talking to players off the ice, talking to players in the offices. And that’s not something that started on Tuesday, that’s been instituted since the day he took the job.”
Not to say that Mason didn’t communicate with his team before Comley took over the program in April, but Spartan players sometimes seemed blindsided by Mason’s personnel decisions on game days.
Conversely, Comley is letting the players know exactly where they stand in his eyes, at least in the early going this season.
If something isn’t going according to plan or someone isn’t in the right spot at practice, Comley is quick to stop the proceedings to let everyone see what’s wrong.
And sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio said the players are responding.
“It seems like Coach Comley is getting the best out of his players every time they touch the ice,” Migliaccio said.
“He really makes it fun and interesting to learn, and the team’s really buying into the systems.
“You can see it out there, there’s a lot of talking going on and the team’s just been fired up for practice every day. I’ve never seen it like this.”
Comley met with every player individually during the offseason, which allowed him to get to know his new charges personally. After that, Comley started discussing his hockey strategies and ideologies, which differ slightly from the way things were done under Mason.
“What I want the players to do is certainly foreign to them in terms of the amount of movement that’s going on,” Comley said.
“They’re very regimented in the way they play, and there’s a lot of good in that, but it’s going to take some time for them to believe that they can do certain things.”
Comley was ubiquitous at Munn Ice Arena as he learned the ropes of his new job during the offseason. He often dropped by his team’s informal scrimmages or chatted with his returning veterans about the upcoming season.
His highly visible approach was in stark contrast to Mason, who usually was away on vacation during the summer.
“I have a tendency to be around them a lot, and they’re not used to that,” Comley said. “I think sometimes they look and wonder why I’m there.
“But my philosophy has been, and will always be, take the best of Ron Mason and then add a few wrinkles to it. I’ve done things the way I think they need to be done.”
