For Brian Maloney, tonight's CCHA Tournament game against Alaska-Fairbanks can't come soon enough.
Maloney, a senior left wing on the MSU hockey team, has been itching for some playoff action for almost two years now. He only got a brief taste of it last year before suffering a debilitating injury about halfway through MSU's first postseason contest.
He missed the rest of the season, which means that his last sustained playoff endeavor was two years ago as a sophomore when MSU advanced to the Frozen Four.
Maloney wouldn't mind a similar run this postseason.
"It's the kind of hockey I strive for," said Maloney, who broke two ribs and lacerated a kidney against Bowling Green last March. "It's emotional and you don't see that fancy kind of play everywhere. It's crash-and-bang and working your butt off every shift.
"Hopefully, it will take my game to the next level."
Maloney has been one of MSU's most dangerous offensive weapons during the last two months, amassing 13 goals in 15 games. Thus, the 15th-ranked Spartans (21-13-2 overall, 17-10-1 CCHA) figure to rely on him heavily when they play Fairbanks tonight, Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday in the best-of-three first round at Munn Ice Arena.
MSU swept the Nanooks (15-12-7, 10-11-7) in the teams' only regular-season series. But Fairbanks is far different now than it was during the 5-2 and 6-2 losses to the Spartans in mid-January at Munn.
Former walk-on goaltender Keith Bartusch has starred for the Nanooks since taking over starting duties on Feb. 1. He is 6-0-3 in nine starts with a 2.49 goals against average and .919 saves percentage.
He didn't play in the series against MSU, so the Spartans don't know exactly what to expect.
"I haven't had a chance to see him, but it's obvious he's playing with a lot of confidence right now," freshman right wing Nenad Gajic said. "We have to get to him early and try to expose his inexperience.
"He's going to have quite a bit of pressure on himself. We just want to get him off his hot streak - it's got to stop sometime."
MSU's league-leading power play has the firepower to crack Bartusch. That is, if the Spartans can get on the power play at all.
The Nanooks are the least-penalized team in the CCHA, averaging 10.03 penalty minutes a game. MSU is the second-best adherent to the rules - registering 13.44 minutes a game - so continuing to stay out of the sin bin could prove critical to both teams this weekend.
Offensively, Fairbanks tends to play an up-tempo style, much like MSU. Spartan head coach Rick Comley said he noticed the Nanooks' wings often released up the ice to try to create fast-break-type rushes during the series in January.
"They're built for the big ice," said Comley, who is 14-0-2 in his career against Fairbanks. "It's based on speed and good puck movement. It should be an up-and-down series. I respect them, but I think we're ready.
"We just need to tighten up in some game situations in our zone and keep attacking people. I think teams have started to fear us coming at them, and that's exactly what we want."
When the puck drops tonight, Gajic and the rest of MSU's freshman class will get its first dose of college hockey playoffs. It's evident they are fired up.
"I'm really excited," Gajic said. "Especially playing Alaska, they recruited me. I'm just looking to have a good series against them."
On the other end of the spectrum, there's a sense of urgency among MSU's seniors. As a team on the NCAA Tournament bubble, a misstep this weekend would dash the Spartans' hopes of an at-large bid and serves as a bitter end to the seniors' decorated careers.
"We've dug ourselves a hole," Maloney said. "But we're starting to get out of it, and I think we've got the guys here who can put a run together. We're peaking at the right time, it's just a matter of everyone knowing it's do-or-die."
If the Spartans prevail this weekend, they will advance to the CCHA Super Six finals at Joe Louis Arena on March 20-22. The six first-round winners will be re-seeded, and the top two remaining seeds will receive byes into the semifinals.
