There is no shortage of intriguing matches as the Spartan hockey team readies for its last eight regular-season games of the year.
Fourth-place MSU plays archrival Michigan four times in the next three weeks, starting with this weekend's home-and-home series.
Sandwiched between those rivalry tussles is a series against Northern Michigan at Munn Ice Arena on Feb. 21-22.
While the Wildcats might seem like time-fillers between battles with the third-place Wolverines, MSU head coach Rick Comley said Northern is just as important - at least to him.
"Now we play our archrival and then my archrival and then our archrival again," said Comley, who coached Northern for 26 years before coming to MSU. "They're both very good, but I think we can play with both of them."
After finishing off things with U-M on Feb. 28-March 1, the Spartans close the season with a home-and-home series against fifth-place Western Michigan. The Broncos' raucous Lawson Arena is rarely rowdier than when MSU is in town, which makes a visit to Kalamazoo one of the toughest dates on the schedule every year.
But Comley is glad just to have something on the line during the stretch run.
"We've worked so hard to get in a decent position - it's been an uphill battle," Comley said. "We're in a fight now for an upward spot in the league, and that's what we've wanted all along and everybody's expected.
"I've thought for a while now that we can play with anyone, and it's starting to show."
Prospect-us
Heading into this weekend's tilts with U-M, the Spartans are undoubtedly looking at how they stack up with the Wolverines in various categories.
One spot in which they have the edge is number of players on the roster who have been drafted by the NHL. MSU has the most draft picks in the CCHA with eight, followed by U-M with seven and then Ohio State and Notre Dame with five apiece.
The only league team without an NHL draft pick is Ferris State, which, coincidentally, is in first place.
Liles dials in
Senior defenseman John-Michael Liles is the reigning CCHA Defensive Player of the Week after registering a goal, an assist and a plus-5 rating in Saturday's 6-3 win over Bowling Green.
Liles, who is riding a career-best nine-game points streak, is the first Spartan to win the defensive honor this season. He was CCHA Offensive Player of the Week during the week of Jan. 13.
In the mix
Liles and senior defenseman Brad Fast both rank in the top 12 in online fan voting for the Hobey Baker Award.
Liles, who shares the MSU team-lead of 32 points with sophomore center Jim Slater, was eighth in the voting Tuesday afternoon.
But his 12,272-vote total is way behind leader Chris Kunitz's 26,953. Kunitz leads the CCHA with 57 points.
Fast is 12th in the voting with 7,289 points.
"Fast and Liles are as good as anyone in the country, obviously," Comley said. "But unfortunately, I can't play them all 60 minutes."
The winner of the Hobey fan balloting gets one of 61 total votes for the award.
Fans can vote for their top three candidates once a day at www.voteforhobey.com through March 9.
Can't get in
MSU (16-10-2 overall, 12-7-1 CCHA) is still stuck on the outside looking into the USCHO.com national poll. With 26 votes, the Spartans are one spot out of the top 15.
In the Pairwise Rankings, which mimics the selection process for the 16-team NCAA Tournament, the Spartans moved up to No. 17 this week.
Last chance to get in
Friday's game at Yost Ice Arena is completely sold out, according to a representative at the U-M Athletic Ticket Office.
Likewise, there are no seats left for Saturday's game at Munn. But a very small number of standing-room only passes to that game are still available for $10.
Call (517)355-1610 or (800)GO-STATE for information.
