MSU won't find out who its second-round CCHA playoff opponent is until Saturday at the earliest, but it's counting on playing Nebraska-Omaha anyway.
The Mavericks host last-place Bowling Green this weekend. Should the Mavericks win, they will travel to East Lansing for a three-game series beginning March 9. If Nebraska-Omaha loses, however, the Mavericks will be out of the playoffs and the Spartans would face the next closest highest remaining seed.
"They're a very talented team, a much better offensive team than we are," MSU head coach Rick Comley said of the Mavericks. "Maybe that's a good team for us to play."
The Spartans played two games in Omaha, Neb., this season, winning 5-1 on Feb. 2 and tying 3-3 on Feb. 3. The five goals on Feb. 2 are the most MSU has tallied since Dec. 29, when it beat Harvard, 5-2.
The Spartans are attempting to put their recent scoring troubles behind them.
The playoffs are just two weeks away, and the regular season is over. The players feel the regular season is a nonissue now.
"We're just going to keep on going on for the playoffs here," sophomore goaltender Jeff Lerg said. "That's all we're really worried about now. We don't really care about anything that happened here.
"Now all we're worried about is Nebraska-Omaha, most likely, and playing our best hockey ahead of us."
In the end, though, it may not matter who MSU plays in two weeks.
"All four home teams that are getting a bye are going to have a tough second round," Comley said.
Home sweet home?
The Spartans fought until the last regular-season series to earn a first-round bye and home-ice advantage. How much home ice makes a difference is uncertain to the Spartans.
"You're always better off at home than you are on the road," Comley said. "But I don't think it's a great advantage.
"Hockey players get in playoff mode, and they don't really care where they're playing."
MSU lost its last two games of the season at Munn Ice Arena to Bowling Green and Western Michigan.
Before that, the team was 11-1-1 at home.
"We've been trying to put people back in this building, and they've responded in a very positive way," Comley said.
"When you fill your building and lose back-to-back games, I think that's very damaging."
Last Saturday against Bowling Green, the attendance was 6,462.
The Feb. 17 game against Western Michigan recorded an attendance of 7,116.
Defense wins championships
Although the team's scoring problems have received all the attention lately, MSU's defense kept up its play and finished the season second in the CCHA in terms of goals against.
Much of the team's defensive success is owed to Jeff Lerg.
"Jeff doesn't give up much, we know that," Comley said. "If we can get the poor guy three (goals), then he'll win a game for us. But we've had trouble getting two, let alone three."
The team's offensive struggles haven't bothered Lerg, who Comley says has a "team first" mind-set.
"During the year, they've bailed me out at times, and at times I have to bail them out," Lerg said. "Sometimes, you have to win games 1-0."
Comley said there's nobody better to get those 1-0 wins for the team.
"The one nice thing is when you go into the game knowing you have Jeff Lerg, you know you have a real good chance," he said.
On the season, Lerg has started all 34 games for the Spartans, accumulating almost 2,000 minutes of playing time, and owns a 2.54 goals-against average and .912 save percentage.
