Forward Tim Crowder signed a National Letter of Intent and will make his debut as a Spartan in the fall for the 2005-06 season, head coach Rick Comley announced Friday.

"He's the final piece to our recruiting," Comley said. "He compliments the other forwards here very well.

"He brings size, he skates well. He's another player that has shown an ability to score in the past."

Crowder joins six others - Justin Abdelkader, Tim Kennedy, Nick Sucharski, Ryan Turek, Brandon Gentile and Jeff Lerg - that inked to letters of intent last fall.

Crowder, a 6-foot-2 180-pounder from British Columbia, played in the BCHL for the past three years.

Crowder and other incoming forwards - Abdelkader, Kennedy and Sucharski - are all expected to do good things in the MSU program.

"We've added four forwards," Comley said. "They'll all be drafted. They increase our depth and they increase our offensive ability."

All of the signed players will be entering the program as next year's freshman class except for defenseman Turek, who is staying with the USHL's Omaha Lancers to play another year of junior hockey.