The Spartans already have bucked history by just getting to Colorado Springs.

The previous two titlists, Denver and Wisconsin, failed to even make the field the year after winning the title.

“We’ve always played well as an underdog, we’ve always played well with a chip on our shoulder,” head coach Rick Comley said. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. All I know is that that championship trophy looks pretty good in my office.”

The underdog role goes past the team as a whole. MSU’s best player, 5-foot-6 junior goaltender Jeff Lerg, is continually overlooked at the national tournament.

Like last year’s NCAA Tournament, the focus might not be on Lerg. Instead, the focus could shift to Colorado College freshman goaltender Richard Bachman, the WCHA Player of the Year.

Bachman was outstanding in his freshman campaign, compiling a 25-8-1 record with a 1.82 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage.

“I think (Lerg) does (take it as a personal challenge) for sure,” Comley said.

“He did last year. Every game we played in the tournament last year, the other goalie was the better goalie, and I think Jeff really likes that. I don’t doubt that he’ll play well.”

Lerg said he likes to approach every game as a one-on-one battle with the other goalie.

“I figure if I can outplay the goaltender on the other end, then my team will do the rest and put enough offense on the table,” Lerg said. “There are definitely three other great goaltenders in this region and you never know goaltenders this time of year. They can decide games and tournaments. Hopefully I can get hot again and things will go our way.”

The big ice sheet will more than likely affect MSU’s game plan. Normally, the Spartans like to cycle the puck down low. But now that strategy could be rendered mostly ineffective.

“It’s easy to cycle, but it’s harder to get anything out of it,” Comley said. “When you watch (Colorado College) play, they don’t cycle much. They bump it once and bring it to the scoring area. You can keep the puck in bad areas for a long time and not gain anything. The adjustment on the big ice is more us.”

Defensively, Vukovic said the team’s blue liners will have to play within themselves.

“We’re not going to be, as a corps, putting up tons of points and tons of offense, but I think we can really step up defensively,” he said. “Play more inside the dots and play them tight, play them strong and we have to finish all the checks we can. We know Jeff’s gonna stop the puck for us, so we have to let him see all those shots.”

Comley said his team will do well if it makes it a tight game and plays well defensively.

“Scoring has been so difficult for us this year at times, we tried to force that, and I don’t think that this is the game to try and do that,” Comley said.

“The tighter it stays for a longer period, the better it is for us. I think our kids understand that and that’s what I’ve been preaching this week.”

Game time is set for 10 p.m. with the winner moving to the regional final to face the winner of the game between New Hampshire and Notre Dame. That game will start at 10 p.m. Saturday.