MSU head coach Rick Comley was caught in an unfamiliar situation during the weekend — he actually got to toy with a healthy lineup.
Comley moved sophomore forward Nick Sucharski to left wing on a line with junior center Bryan Lerg and junior right wing Jim McKenzie in Saturday night's 4-3 win against Alaska. Sucharski scored the game-tying goal late in the second period to give the Spartans momentum heading into intermission and added an assist on McKenzie's power-play goal.
"I was just happy to play with Lerg and McKenzie," Sucharski said Saturday. "Those guys put you in places and make you look good.
"When you're playing with guys like that, it's a lot easier to score."
Comley tried something different with Sucharski, who had been struggling, and the experiment paid off.
"Nick is a guy where we've just still been trying to find the right answer and the right situation to get him to take that next step," Comley said. "Obviously, he has really good skills. Putting him with Lerg and McKenzie has worked very, very well, and I see great potential in that group."
Sucharski wasn't the only player on the move in Saturday's game. Senior forward Tyler Howells continued to play left wing instead of his usual defenseman position and played on a line with junior forward Chris Mueller and sophomore forward Daniel Sturges.
The result was a more diverse score sheet than usual.
"Saturday night we won a game, and Mueller, Lerg and (sophomore forward Tim) Kennedy didn't get a point," Comley said. "And I bet you that's the first time that's happened all year."
Fight night
No new information has surfaced about the fight that occurred following Friday's game.
After a physical game that produced an ample amount of post-whistle scrums, the post game handshake between the two teams went awry. Both teams fought for several minutes near the MSU bench, and Comley and Alaska head coach Tavis MacMillan engaged in a verbal battle.
The altercation started when MacMillan accused Comley of running players into Alaska goaltender Wylie Rogers and threatened to do the same to sophomore goaltender Jeff Lerg the next night.
"It wasn't that goalies were run," Comley said after Friday's game. "There was just too much traffic around them.
"The referees have to step in early and eliminate that, and I thought the referees didn't (Friday)."
Eventually, players joined the scuffle, resulting in suspensions and 72 minutes' worth of post-game penalties.
Sophomore defenseman Brandon Gentile and senior captain Chris Lawrence were suspended for Saturday's contest because of their involvement in the fight. Alaska defenseman T.J. Campbell and forward Justin Binab also were disqualified.
MacMillan allegedly accused Howells of laying his hands on him, but video showed that Howells only bumped into him.
"Coaches don't need to start going after each other after the game," Comley said. "It was an unfortunate incident. It's not good for college hockey, it shouldn't be in college hockey, and it has to be handled properly."
Back in the Green and White
Sophomore forward Justin Abdelkader returned to the Spartans lineup during the weekend games after his stint in Sweden with Team USA in the World Junior Hockey Championships. Abdelkader rejoined fellow linemen sophomore forward Tim Crowder and Kennedy and scored a goal in Friday's 3-2 overtime win against Alaska.
The transition was not as smooth on Friday as Comley had hoped, but Abdelkader experienced a return to form Saturday.
"He really struggled on Friday, but then he got a big goal, and that seemed to take the burden off of him," Comley said.
Comley noted that the entire sophomore trio was back to form in the series finale.
"I thought that line returned and played with talent on Saturday," Comley said. "It was the first time I think we've seen them play like last year in quite a while."
