For any regular bystander, it looked like a normal Sunday afternoon at a local bar - small tables of people watching the basketball games and a few shooting pool or throwing darts.
But in the back area of Reno's East Side Sportsbar & Grill, 1310 Abbott Road, members of the MSU hockey team and their families waited anxiously to hear the Spartans' NCAA Tournament fate.
Toward the end of the half-hour selection show, MSU finally was announced, prompting the fight song to break out - with "ball" replaced by "hockey."
No. 3 seed MSU faces No. 2 seed Minnesota-Duluth in the Midwest Regional at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.
The Spartans' chances of earning an NCAA bid for the 10th time in 11 seasons became slim after losing to Northern Michigan in the CCHA quarterfinals.
But the Spartans got hope after Massachusetts-Amherst lost in triple overtime to Maine in the early minutes of Sunday morning. Had UMass won, its automatic bid likely would have knocked MSU out of the 16 schools invited.
"It's been one of those years - up and down," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "We've had some hiccups and some good stretches. We came up flat again against Northern Michigan, but now we have new light."
The Spartans and the Bulldogs, from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, only faced each other once this season, on Oct. 11. After MSU fell behind, 2-0, junior forward Jim Slater's hat trick paced the Spartans to a 5-4 victory.
"It was a great game if you remember - back and forth - we won with just over a minute left," said Slater, who captains the MSU squad. "But that was early in the season, and it's kind of ironic we should meet up again.
"They're just a fast, up-tempo type team."
Minnesota-Duluth is led by senior forward Junior Lessard, who leads the nation in scoring and is one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, given to college hockey's top player.
"We like where we're seeded; I like who we're playing," Comley said. "They're an outstanding team, but we have beaten them, so there's a confidence factor going into it."
The other two schools in the Midwest Regional are No. 1 seed Minnesota and No. 4 seed Notre Dame. The Golden Gophers and the Fighting Irish face off at noon on Saturday. Michigan, a No. 2 seed, was placed in the Northeast Regional and plays a 3:30 p.m. Saturday contest against New Hampshire.
In total, five schools from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association will be represented in the tournament: MSU, U-M, Notre Dame, Miami (Ohio) and Ohio State, which earned an automatic bid for capturing the CCHA Tournament title.
Three-game ticket packages at $60 are available for the Midwest Regional through TicketMaster at (616) 456-3333.
Esther Gim can be reached at gimesthe@msu.edu.
