The MSU hockey team will get a better feel for where it will wind up in the final CCHA standings after this weekend.

Miami (Ohio) and Alaska-Fairbanks, which are currently ahead of the Spartans in the conference and the race for home ice in the playoffs, will be finished with CCHA play after Saturday night.

The Spartans will have two more CCHA games after this weekend, giving them an advantage over other vying teams.

The RedHawks meet Ohio State in a home-and-home series, and the Nanooks close out their CCHA season on the road against Nebraska-Omaha.

Although there are still many questions left to be answered in the division, the Spartans are still in good position to end up at home in the first-round CCHA playoffs.

"(Winning) three of four gives you a real good chance to be home in the playoffs," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "Three of four is, I think, a realistic goal, but at the same time you're trying to win all four."

The tiebreaker for CCHA positioning is success that teams have had against the top team in the conference.

The Spartans hold an advantage over Alaska-Fairbanks and Miami (Ohio), because of the two ties they recorded against first-place Michigan.

"We want to win all four and just get on a good roll going into playoffs," senior captain Jim Slater said. "You play to win every game, and that's what we're going to try to do."

Working on the power play

Against Ohio State this past weekend, the Spartans combined for four goals with the man advantage, scoring three in Friday's win and one in Saturday's loss.

Friday marked MSU's first power-play goal since Jan. 22 against Lake Superior, and its first multiple power-play goal game since Jan. 7 at Miami (Ohio).

The Spartans now are operating at 16.9 percent on the power play and hope they can keep producing as the season winds down.

Volunteer assistant coach Jason Woolley, who worked with the team on the power play, recently signed with the Flint Generals of the United Hockey League.

Hats off

Freshman forward Jim McKenzie scored his first career collegiate hat trick in MSU's 6-3 win over Ohio State on Friday and celebrated to a scattering of hats rewarding his feat. "I think he's really come on, I think since Christmas," Comley said. "His quality of play has gone up now. He's started to show now what we thought he would do when he came in."

McKenzie now has five goals in the past five games to add to a point total of 11 on the season.

Manning the point

Sophomore defenseman Ethan Graham has put up eight points in his last 14 games, giving him a total of 11 on the season, and a team-leading plus-18 rating.

"To tell you the truth, I hadn't realized I had this many points after Christmas until about a weekend ago," Graham said.

"As a defenseman, you always want to try and contribute a little more offensively.

"And I've just been kind of lucky to get some things to fall for me and have some teammates put some of my passes in the net."

Graham, who totaled 11 points all of last year, already has matched his output from his freshman campaign.

Injury update

The Spartans were hampered by injuries this past weekend, especially for Saturday's game, and Comley said he hopes the injured players will be back in action this weekend against Bowling Green.

Junior forward David Booth (strained ribs), junior defenseman Corey Potter (hip pointer) and McKenzie (ankle) all were injured following the series.

"Booth and Potter, if we were playing today, wouldn't play," Comley said.

"You just have to hope that they'll get better every day and be OK by Friday, but certainly I think that's still questionable."

Booth played limited time Friday before leaving the game, and McKenzie and Potter left Friday's game in the third period with injuries.

McKenzie and Potter dressed for Saturday, but McKenzie played sparingly, and Potter left in the first period.