MSU head coach Rick Comley said Saturday’s game was as good as the team has played in a while.

“It was important to get something positive,” Comley said.

“Those four games were as tough as advertised. Miami certainly lived up to their billing and, in retrospect, I thought we let the Wisconsin game get away from us, so we could be a game better, but I think we were a better team this weekend because of facing those four games we did prior to that.”

More importantly, the Spartans completely shut down and dominated the Lakers in the third period. MSU went into the period with a 3-2 lead and scored two goals to seal the game.

“We came out with the mentality that we wanted to take it to them,” junior goaltender Jeff Lerg said.

“They had maybe four or five shots the whole period, none of them really good scoring chances. We really played great, and that was a good sign for us to be up by a goal and close a team out and not even let them have a good chance against.”

With two games left before finals week and winter break, Comley said he thinks he has a handle on the team.

“I know what they’re capable of, but I think they’re still sorting out a little bit how they have to play to be effective,” Comley said. “That’s the read I make on them and not only how hard they have to play but the kind of game they can play and the kind of game they’re good at.”

Staying in the Soo

MSU was supposed to come back to East Lansing after Saturday’s game in Sault Ste. Marie.

In the end, it just didn’t add up.

First, it took 45 minutes for the team’s bus to start and then, with a winter storm in full progress, Comley pulled the plug on the trip shortly after the team departed.

Comley, who played at Lake Superior, said he knew what exit he was going to get off at in case things didn’t work out — because if you go past that, he said, “you’re going for a while.”

“We figured we were going to be staying there,” Comley said. “My biggest concern was whether the bus was going to stall or not … I wanted to go out and try it, and it wasn’t safe, so we turned back.”

On the bus, there was a sense of relief.

“I think we wanted to go back there instead of having to deal with a long bus ride home, and who knows what it could’ve turned into,” senior captain Bryan Lerg said.

Weekly honors

Both Bryan Lerg and Jeff Lerg were honored by the CCHA. Bryan was named the league’s Offensive Player of the Week, while Jeff was named the Goaltender of the Week.