If you analyzed the MSU hockey team's schedule before the season started, you probably wouldn't have singled out tonight's game at Bowling Green as a pivotal matchup.
But that's what it has become, thanks to MSU's rocky .500 start (5-5-0 overall, 3-3-0 CCHA).
The Falcons (2-8-1, 0-7-1) don't look very daunting on paper, but the Spartans can't take them lightly - MSU desperately needs a win at 7:05 p.m. today in BGSU Ice Arena.
"When you're winning, you don't have the sick feeling in your stomach like I do right now," MSU assistant coach Tom Newton said. "We have to get more out of people. We have to get them to play harder, smarter, within themselves and to our systems."
Bowling Green is under the direction of first-year head coach Scott Paluch, a former Boston College assistant. Paluch's head coaching career started strong with a 5-2 exhibition win over Windsor and a 4-1 regular-season-opening win over Niagara - a team that split with MSU at Munn Ice Arena earlier this month.
But then the Falcons lost five in a row, stopped the skid by beating intrastate weakling Findlay, and then dropped three more.
The Falcons looked destined to be one of the worst teams in the CCHA, but although their record doesn't show it, they have played better in the last couple of weeks. They fell to No. 5 Michigan, 6-4, on Nov. 8 and then battled the Wolverines to a 1-1 tie the next night.
Last weekend, they smoked the Under-18 U.S. National Development Team, 7-1, in an exhibition contest. MSU squeaked by the Nationals, 4-3, last month.
So, based on records against common opponents, Bowling Green won't be a pushover tonight. And with only one game on the docket this weekend - MSU is off Saturday - senior defenseman John-Michael Liles expects nothing less than an all-out effort.
"We've got to be ready to play as soon as we get in there," Liles said. "They've had kind of a rough stretch and I'm sure they're thinking that there's no team better than us to get out of it against. And the same for us, we've had a rough stretch, so it's going to be a battle for two points."
In net, Paluch has been splitting time between Tyler Masters and Jordan Sigalet. Masters was considered one of the best netminders in the league last year, but he has struggled this fall. Sigalet has played well in his stead, including a 48-save effort in the tie with U-M.
Meanwhile, MSU sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio, who missed a game and some practice time with a knee injury, is expected to start for the Spartans.
In front of Migliaccio, MSU head coach Rick Comley says his team needs to improve its work ethic - digging for pucks in the corner, sliding to block shots, finishing body checks, etc. - to start winning again.
"The kids are loose and they laugh and they're giddy," Comley said. "Kids live day-to-day. It's the media and the coaches who try to analyze and forecast everything.
"I'm always frustrated by losing, we all are. But I'm not frustrated by the path we're taking. We're in transition."
