This series could be similar to MSU’s series against Northern Michigan. Both the Wildcats and Lakers have inexperienced teams and play a defensive brand of hockey.

“With Lake Superior being a young team also and trying to find their way, they’ll probably play pretty tight,” Comley said.

“They’re well-coached, their kids are older, they buy into how they need to play to be successful.”

In prior seasons, Lake Superior played either MSU or Michigan at Joe Louis Arena as a home game. Now, with that contract expired, two games will be played at Taffy Abel Arena in Sault Ste. Marie.

This will be the first time the Spartans have played a set there since the 2002-03 season.

“Their fans love these games, especially now getting two in a weekend,” senior defenseman Daniel Vukovic said.

“They’re going to love that, and they’re going to be ready for us, and if I had to guess, their players are going to feed off that energy.”

Lake Superior is led offensively by Nathan Perkovich, who has a team-leading seven goals (with no assists) this season.

Perkovich left an impression on the Spartans in the CCHA Tournament last season, netting a hat trick in MSU’s wild 7-6 overtime win.

“He’s really hard to cover,” Vukovic said.

“He’s shifty even though he’s big, and he can put the puck in the net. He’s a guy that you have to watch, and he’ll make plays happen. It doesn’t matter who he’s playing with.”

After making it to Joe Louis Arena for the CCHA Tournament last season, the Lakers have stumbled to a 2-9-1 record. One of those wins, though, came against then-No. 8 Clarkson. The other was against lowly Wayne State.

“We have to take the intensity of playing Miami (Ohio), Minnesota and Wisconsin and go north with it and make sure we have the same quality of play,” Comley said. “And that’s not the easiest thing to do.”

It’ll be important for senior captain Bryan Lerg to have a productive series. Prior to last weekend, Lerg had struggled to find the back of the net.

Comley said Lerg probably had his best game of the season last Saturday. He has a good chance to follow that up with another solid weekend. He has seven goals in seven career games against Lake Superior, with three being game winners.

Against Wisconsin, Lerg was moved from center to left wing and paired with senior Chris Mueller and freshman Dustin Gazley.

The line provided both energy and goal scoring and seemed to jump-start both Lerg and Mueller.

“I think we both wanted to get each other going, and the best way was to put us together and try to do the job for the team,” Mueller said.

“We were really excited for that game, and I think it showed.”

If that line stays together and is combined with the always potent trio of Tim Crowder, Justin Abdelkader and Tim Kennedy, the Spartans could create a lot of offense.

“We’ve got to get to the point where we have legitimate 1-A and 1-B lines,” Comley said.

“And that can rotate each night.”

The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. tonight and Saturday at Taffy Abel Arena in Sault Ste. Marie.