It has been a season of ups-and-downs for the MSU hockey team and it has only played five games.

The ups have been aplenty, with the team starting the season 3-1-1 and getting wins against top teams North Dakota and Cornell.

"Our confidence is very good because we are getting such great efforts from all players," MSU assistant coach Tom Newton said. "We have guys moving into positions that maybe they didn't expect to be put into and they are responding."

All the bad news has come off the ice, with injuries to key players at seemingly every position.

The Spartans have had seven players go down with injuries this year. And last weekend, freshman forward Justin Abdelkader was given a game misconduct penalty against Cornell, which results in a one-game suspension. He will have to sit out Friday's game against Northern Michigan.

But Newton said despite the injuries, other players have been stepping up to fill the void.

"We are a strong team right now," Newton said. "We are short-handed, but our team unity is great."

The Spartans return home this week to face Northern Michigan.

The big question for the Spartans is whether or not they can stay afloat until they get fully healthy again.

With all of the injuries, players have been getting shifted around to fill holes that are present. No adjustment was bigger than moving junior defenseman Brandon Warner from defense to forward for last Saturday's game, as he scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal.

"It wasn't really too much of a shift because I have played forward before," Warner said. "The key is not trying to do too much and just keeping things simple."

The Spartans are hoping to have some of their walking wounded back this weekend as sophomore forward Jim McKenzie is expected to return to the lineup along with a pair of defensemen, junior Chris Snavely and freshman Brandon Gentile.

Moving up

In the latest www.USCHO.com/CSTV Division I Men's poll, the Spartans jumped two spots and are now ranked No. 8 overall.

MSU's last opponent, Cornell, dropped from No. 2 to No. 4 after splitting with the Spartans.

Northern Michigan, MSU's opponent this weekend, stayed put at No. 14.

Early exit

Sophomore forward Peder Skinner left the team Sunday, citing a lack of playing time.

He will start playing for Kingston in the Ontario Hockey League.

Skinner played 23 games for the Spartans over his career with no goals and four assists. He did not have any regular season action this year, but did have one goal and four assists in the team's three exhibition games.