“What happened last year was out of character for me,” Tropp said during Media Day at the start of this season. “Obviously, I regret what happened on the ice, but I’m looking forward to getting past that. I don’t want to be remembered for a reason like that.”

MSU Athletic Communications denied media access to Tropp this week.

As much as Tropp wants to move on, all the bad memories will come flooding back tonight when the No. 13 MSU hockey team makes its first trip to Yost Ice Arena since the incident. And there will be a big target on Tropp’s back.

But Tropp’s stellar play so far this season has the potential to silence the crowd.

After reinstating Tropp in the spring, MSU head coach Rick Comley expected the junior forward to post big numbers. But nobody could have expected his immediate impact. Through 10 games this season, Tropp has proven he’s a legitimate scoring threat by leading the nation in goals (eight) and points (15).

“I think he’s learned, he’s grown, he’s matured and he’s a much better player than he was at any point last year,” Comley said. “Sometimes tough lessons are good lessons. I think he’s reacted as positive as any player possibly can.”

In less than a year, Tropp has journeyed from being one of the most despised players in college hockey to one of the most prominent.

The rivalry

The roof could explode off Yost Ice Arena tonight. And that’s why Comley called Tropp into his office Monday, just to prepare for the crazy atmosphere.

Comley expects the fans to hassle Tropp, but he isn’t expecting it to get too ugly.

“I think there will be an awful lot of the verbal directed at him, but not any more than that,” Comley said. “Fans are going to yell. They like to yell at us. Even if this never happened, how much different can it be than what it always is?”

CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos also isn’t expecting things to get out of hand on the ice.

“I expect the game will be well played by both teams and will be a typical rivalry game — filled with all of the emotion and intensity that is always part of this rivalry,” Anastos said.

Junior forward Andrew Rowe is friends with many Wolverines players and has been in recent contact with them.

“They are past it and we are past it,” Rowe said.

“I don’t think they are holding anything against us, and we aren’t holding anything against them.”

The U-M coaches don’t plan on making an announcement to try and keep the “Children of Yost” under control.

“Our administration has done a lot of things over the past few years as well as communicating with the students,” U-M assistant coach Billy Powers said. “Last year was a long time ago and I think our fans are more worried with being swept at home against Miami (Ohio) last weekend.”

But that doesn’t change senior co-captain Nick Sucharski’s, and the team’s view of, “let’s get in and out of there.”

The incident

It happened away from the play.

If you were at Yost Ice Arena, you might not have seen the slash until returning home and reviewing the replay or hopping on YouTube the following morning.

After Kampfer connected on an open-ice check on Tropp in the last two minutes of the final meeting between the two teams Jan. 24, MSU then-freshman forward Andrew Conboy went after Kampfer, punching him in the back of the head and taking him down to the ice.

Then Tropp skated over and slashed Kampfer in the neck while he was down, resulting in Kampfer laying motionless for several minutes.

When Tropp and Conboy returned to the locker room to serve their game misconduct, Kampfer’s father charged in and tried to fight the two Spartans.

Comley didn’t wait for the CCHA to review the play and issue suspensions. He did it himself.

Two days after the incident, Comley announced Tropp and Conboy would be suspended for the remaining 12 games of the season.

“What happened near the end of the game this weekend is not the way in which we want our hockey program represented,” Comley said in a prepared statement released the Monday following the game. “We felt that we had to send a strong message that this behavior will not be tolerated.”

The news rippled across the hockey world.

“When I went into the office and coach told me they were done for the season, I almost fell out of the chair,” said Jeff Lerg, who captained last year’s squad. “It was in the best interest of the team because it was in the public eye and in a nationally televised game. But if that happens in a junior hockey game in the middle of Nebraska, maybe the suspension isn’t as severe.”

Conboy immediately left MSU, signing a contract with the Hamilton Bulldogs, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Montreal Canadians.

But Comley said he was willing to meet with Tropp sometime in the spring to discuss the possibility of his reinstatement — stemming from his belief the incident was a “split-second response that I know that they wish they could have back.”

This put Tropp in a tough spot. Should he stay at MSU and lose a whole season of game experience and run the risk of not being reinstated? Or should he look for an opportunity to play elsewhere?

Lerg and former Spartan Justin Abdelkader advised Tropp to serve the punishment and stay at MSU.

“Like many of us, he grew up hoping to play for MSU,” Lerg said. “So we were telling him not to let one thing ruin his four years here. But as a hockey player, you want to play as much as you can and go where it’s going to most benefit you.”

Tropp eventually decided he could benefit most from leaving MSU.

The journey

So he packed his bags and made the 800-mile journey to Sioux Falls, S.D., the home of the Stampede of the United States Hockey League, where he had played for two seasons prior to coming to MSU.

Tropp realized if he wanted to continue his hockey career and eventually make it into the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres organization — which drafted him in the third round of the 2007 NHL entry draft — he would need to play competitively to stay in shape.

Sioux Falls head coach Kevin Hartzell was ecstatic when he heard of Tropp’s return, especially because Tropp led the team in goals his second season with the Stampede en route to a Clark Cup Championship, awarded to the USHL playoff champion.

But things changed when Hartzell met with Tropp for the first time.

“I looked Corey right in the eye and I knew what he wanted to be,” Hartzell said. “Corey wanted to be a Spartan. We knew he was going to do whatever it took to get back.”

The USHL front office didn’t know how to handle the situation. They had never dealt with disciplining a suspended player from another league who wished to rejoin a USHL team. Because Tropp didn’t sign a contract upon arrival in Sioux Falls, the league had time to thoroughly review the incident.

But Tropp didn’t give the league time to come up with a discipline policy. After practicing with the Stampede for less than two weeks, Tropp decided to try his chances at becoming a Spartan again.

And it was a good thing Tropp didn’t sign a contract or play in a game for the Stampede, because doing so would have violated NCAA regulations.

“The worst thing in the world we could have done would be to have him sign (a contract) and take away his college eligibility, because that might have completely ended his collegiate career or at least caused him to be ineligible for an unknown period of time,” USHL commissioner Skip Prince said. “It would have been harder to undo that mistake than to undo his mistake that happened on the ice. We didn’t want to jeopardize his status if he went back to MSU.”

The return

Sure enough, Tropp was reinstated to the MSU hockey team March 20.

Since being reinstated, teammates have noticed a difference in Tropp. He’s more focused, more composed and more outspoken in the locker room.

These qualities led Tropp to earn the rank of assistant captain on this year’s squad. And so far this season, Tropp’s been the Spartans’ go-to forward on the first line.

Freshman forward Derek Grant, Tropp’s linemate, said he tries to get Tropp the puck because he’s had such a hot hand lately.

“He’s incredible with the puck,” said Grant, who leads all rookies nationally with 12 points. “He can dance around defenseman like nobody I’ve ever seen. He has the ability to walk around two defensemen and put the puck in by himself.”

With eight goals through 10 games, Tropp is well on his way to becoming only the fifth 20-goal scorer in Comley’s seven years at the helm of the hockey program.

Through the thick and thin, Comley has been impressed with the way Tropp has handled himself, both on and off the ice.

Tropp also has been active in the community — as Angela Howard, the MSU Director of Student Athlete Development, said Tropp is “very involved” in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.

“Where I see the maturity is in practice, in games, and shift-to-shift,” Comley said. “Corey came in here as a very young freshman and now he’s one of the better players in the country. He’s done a great job.”