Bye weeks on the MSU hockey schedule haven’t been very common in recent years, so it’s tough to guess how the Spartans will perform against Niagara at 7:05 p.m. today and Saturday at Munn Ice Arena.
The team hasn’t played since beating Lake Superior State with a late goal on Oct. 25. First-year head coach Rick Comley originally scheduled the open week under the assumption that the team would benefit from more practice time before a tough stretch of road games later this month.
But now that the week is over, he hopes the layoff didn’t cool down his team.
“We started to show progress, so you obviously don’t want to go backward,” Comley said. “What you hope is that it helped them mentally. They came back a little sluggish, so we have to get that sharpness of work ethic back.”
No. 13 MSU (4-2-0 overall, 3-1-0 CCHA) won its last three games before the break with stingy defense and solid goaltending from sophomore Matt Migliaccio.
To keep sharp during the off week, the team held informal “captains’ practices” and then returned to its regular game-week schedule Monday.
“It was kind of a work week instead of an off week,” freshman left wing David Booth said. “We skated for 30 minutes every day with no pucks, so that was kind of tough, getting us in shape.
“But I think it worked out good. We need to get four points out of this series.”
Niagara (3-7-0) is part of the six-team College Hockey America conference, which formed three years ago. For the first time, the CHA league champion will get an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament this season.
And despite belonging to a second-tier conference, the Purple Eagles haven’t shied away from big-time competition this season. Last month, they lost 3-0 to No. 6 Michigan in the first round of the Xerox College Hockey Showcase, and then they were swept by scores of 6-4 and 5-3 at No. 5 North Dakota.
Tonight’s game will be the first time they have faced MSU.
Niagara’s three wins this year came against Air Force (2) and Canisius. But the fact that the Purple Eagles kept the score close against two of the top teams in the country impressed Comley more.
“Everybody that’s ever played them says they play hard and their talent level is very good,” Comley said. “If they were in the CCHA, they’d probably be somewhere in the middle of the pack. It’s still a relatively young program that’s trying to make its mark on college hockey.
“Against good teams, they’ve been in the games, but they’ve been outshot. Getting good goaltending is extremely important to them.”
Niagara’s netminders, Rob Bonk and Jeff VanNynatten, have pretty much split time this season.
Bonk has been slightly better, registering a 3.22 goals against average and .881 saves percentage. VanNynatten, a freshman, posts a 4.36 goals against average and .855 saves percentage.
In goal for MSU, Migliaccio has been red hot, only allowing three goals in the last three games. But Comley said Thursday that he also plans to get freshman Justin Tobe, who was MSU’s starter at the beginning of the year, some playing time this weekend.
