There's a saying that goes "You're only as good as your seniors."

Well this weekend, the four regularly dressed MSU seniors were about as good as you can be on and off the ice.

Defensemen Corey Potter and Jared Nightingale and forwards Colton Fretter and David Booth have been through the downs of the program and have helped return the Spartans to a status of national superiority.

It took them four years, but finally each of these well-deserving seniors will leave with a sense of satisfaction. After all, they are at last CCHA champions.

Following the Spartans' 2-1 victory over Miami (Ohio) to capture the title, an out-of-breath Fretter explained his message to the team prior to entering the third period of the game.

"I just told them this is my fourth year and it's the first time I've gotten to play for this," he said.

"(I said), 'You guys don't know if you're ever going to have a chance for that. We're up 2-1 and you know if you don't go out there and give it everything you got, you're going to regret it for the whole summer.'"

Answering Fretter's call, the Spartans decided to use their last 20 minutes of this season's CCHA play to win a championship.

Mission accomplished.

Booth scored the game-winning goal in Saturday's championship game. Just a week before he had hardly practiced and was on crutches last week because of an injury to his foot suffered in a game against Alaska Fairbanks the week before.

MSU head coach Rick Comely said that Booth wasn't 100 percent this weekend, but I'd take that version of Booth, however healthy he was, over just about every other player in the country at full health.

It's these things, accompanied with the defensive play from Nightingale and Potter, that make this team tick and it's been a rewarding feeling to watch these guys, after going through so much in their careers, come away with a championship in their final season.

"That thing's not leaving my side all night," Fretter said, referring to the Mason Cup.

And it shouldn't.

Putting a stamp on the program

My mom told me last year that she was involved in multiple conversations with MSU alumni and MSU hockey fans pertaining to my coverage of the team.

She told me that almost every one of them said that Ron Mason had made a mistake in hiring Comley and that he was destroying the program.

I've gotten e-mails from disgruntled fans over the past year calling for Comley's firing.

With this season's success and CCHA playoff championship, all those naysayers were proven wrong.

"It's a reward for me, it's a reward for those faithful group of fans that were patient enough," Comley said following the championship victory.

It should be rewarding.

Just like the seniors, Comley has been with the Spartans for the past four years and has gone through the ups and downs of not living up to the community's expectations, while being ridiculously criticized by the public.

Comley won't be one to vent around town saying, "I told you so," but there's no question now that Mason's chosen replacement is the right guy for the job, regardless of the transition period that the program went through.

"Coach Comley is one of the greatest coaches I've played for," Booth said. "It's just great to see him finally get the win. We've been struggling the past couple of years but finally things are going our way.

"I'm so happy for him. He's a great guy, a great person to play for."

And he won't be going anywhere else anytime soon.

"I don't think anyone can doubt him now," Fretter said.

And nobody should.

Eric Fish is the State News hockey reporter. Reach him at fisheric@msu.edu.