With the MSU hockey team enjoying a bye this week, it seems like an appropriate time to mention Adam Nightingale.

After all, Nightingale is in the midst of an entire bye season with the Spartans.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior forward decided this summer to transfer to MSU after playing two years at Lake Superior State.

To satisfy NCAA rules, Nightingale can’t play this season. He’ll have two years of eligibility remaining when he joins the Spartans’ active roster in fall 2003.

The Cheboygan native is allowed to practice and train with the team, but there are no games to reward him at the end of the week.

“I’ve got my days when I’m thinking it’s going to be a long year,” Nightingale said. “But I think it’s probably the best thing that could have happened to me, to have the opportunity to play here.

“You just have to turn it into a positive. I’ve actually been playing a little on defense in practice because they’re a little short back there, so it’s kinda fun to work on some other stuff like that.”

That’s exactly the attitude that has endeared Nightingale to the Spartan coaching staff. Assistant coach Dave McAuliffe called him one of the team’s leaders, despite not playing any games.

“Most guys in practice are busting their ass for a lineup spot, but he’s just busting his ass because that’s the kind of guy he is,” McAuliffe said.

“He can play any type of game, and we expect good things from him next year.”

Before Nightingale left Sault Ste. Marie, there was quite a family lineage developing at Lake Superior. Adam and his older brother, Jason Nightingale, were teammates on the Lakers, and younger sibling Jared Nightingale had signed a National Letter of Intent to join them this fall.

But the family had a falling out with new head coach Frank Anzalone and, one-by-one, the Nightingales left the program. Jared reneged on his NLI and chose to sign with MSU, Adam transferred and then Anzalone cut Jason, a senior.

The Nightingales weren’t happy with the way they were treated, and their sour relationship with Anzalone hasn’t improved much in the last few months.

According to Adam Nightingale, Anzalone forbade the Lakers from speaking to him when Lake Superior was in town to play MSU this weekend.

Laker center Jeremy Bachusz and right wing Aaron Davis, Nightingale’s former roommates, weren’t even allowed to say hello to their old buddy.

But that raises the question, how did Nightingale find out about the speech embargo if Davis and Bachusz weren’t allowed to contact him?

“Actually, they called me right after and told me they weren’t allowed to talk to me, so that was the funny part,” Nightingale said.

“But it’s over now and I think the best thing is just to move on and forget about it. It’s just another team and another coach, I guess.”

Nightingale struggled last year with the Lakers, registering just six goals and nine assists in 34 games. He also rated a dismal minus-22 in the plus/minus statistic, which helps measure a player’s effectiveness on the ice.

Nevertheless, he thinks his future will be brighter in East Lansing. He played in MSU’s Green and White intrasquad scrimmage earlier this month and recorded a goal, an assist and a minor penalty.

On his goal, he beat his brother Jared, a freshman defenseman, around the outside before cutting across the crease and stuffing the puck past freshman goaltender Justin Tobe. It was a move Jared Nightingale said MSU can look forward to seeing next season.

“Adam’s a big-time player, he can develop plays when nobody else can see them,” Jared said. “I’m really excited to be his teammate next year.

“He loves coming to the rink every day - it’s not like he hates practice. Sure, he wants to play in games, but it’s just going to fuel his fire.”