Even with a few old faces, this is a new MSU defense on the ice.
Junior Jeff Dunne and sophomore Brandon Gentile are finally healthy. Senior Ethan Graham, the human example of consistency, is back from a knee injury. Junior Daniel Vukovic has increased his minutes and, surprisingly, his goal total. Throw in two electric, offensively minded freshmen in Ryan Turek and Michael Ratchuk, and this defense is almost entirely unrecognizable compared with last year.
While MSU head coach Rick Comley would rate the corps as "average," the six starters have made great strides this year and have time to mold their game even more.
"I still think it's a group that has to get better," Comley said. "There's a lot of things that have gone into their development.
"It's not quite there: It's not quite where I want it to be. But I think, defensively, as a team, we're second in the league right now behind Notre Dame in goals against, and I'd like to lead the league in goals against."
Five goals certainly are tough to get in one game. MSU has only hit that mark once since its 6-0 victory over Ferris State on Nov. 10 — a 5-2 win over Harvard in the first round of the Great Lakes Invitational, or GLI, on Dec. 29, 2006.
Although Comley hopes the defense can step up its performance, since the beginning of December, MSU has allowed 25 goals in 12 games. That's an average of just more than two goals per game.
One of the reasons for the stellar defensive numbers has been Graham's return during the GLI.
"Ethan comes off a knee injury and puts some experience, steadiness and stability back there," Comley said. "Before, it was a group where you were kind of holding your breath a little bit about how they're going to do defensively."
One of the reasons for Comley's wariness concerning the defense during Graham's absence was watching explosive freshmen Ratchuk and Turek work together. The freshman blueliners at times can put coaches and fans on edge with their propensity to join the rush. But everyone is already aware of that.
"Coach (Brian) Renfrew and Coach Comley both kind of laughed, saying that every time we would have the puck on one of our sticks they would close their eyes and put their heads down and hope for the best," Ratchuk said.
"Now it's gotten to the point where we're getting better defensively together, but once in a while, we'll still get that thing where we both jump and kind of look and realize we're both going and one of us has to stop."
MSU has employed a tandem meant to counter the offensively minded defensive pair of Ratchuk and Turek by throwing Gentile and Vukovic on the ice together. And while Gentile and Vukovic could possibly induce even more heart attacks whenever they join the rush, both players play a physical game and prefer to stay in the defensive zone.
"God, I'd take three more of them," Comley said. "We could play those two against anybody. They neutralize, and they're physical. They kill penalties very, very well. They've both become very valuable players for us."
Vukovic has arguably made the largest impact on the ice in the second half of the season. His goal in the third period against Miami (Ohio) on Jan. 6 ignited a four-goal tear that allowed MSU to win, 4-1. His minutes have increased, he has sparked the team with his physical presence and he earned honors as CCHA Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Miami series. Vukovic's improvement is credited to rigorous offseason training.
"If you look at (Vukovic's) minutes played, he's been our best defenseman since Christmas," Comley said. "I think that because of a combination of factors, he'll pick his spots now and not be afraid to make mistakes.
"He's really created some toughness back there and (is) punishing some forwards."
Just like Vukovic, the younger Spartans blueliners know they have room and time for improvement. It's all a learning process.
"Every team has four good lines, so you can't take a night off and you can't take a shift off," Turek said. "It's definitely a higher competition in every step. You know, they say it gets harder with every step, and that's for sure."
