Well, that didn’t go as expected.
After such an impressive start, the No. 10 MSU hockey team’s season is likely over much earlier than many would have thought.
Embarrassing series likely ends season
Senior center Nick Sucharski is knocked down by a gaggle of Michigan players during the third period of Friday night’s game at Munn Ice Arena. The Wolverines dominated MSU 5-1.
Yes, a miracle could happen and the icers could sneak into the 16-team NCAA Tournament, but after what happened at Munn Ice Arena this weekend, the Spartans don’t deserve a spot in the Big Dance.
No. 2 seed MSU was completely dominated by No. 7 seed Michigan in the quarterfinals of the CCHA Tournament. The Wolverines won Friday night with a score of 5-1 and earned the sweep of the best-of-three series on Saturday, 5-3.
Losing to your archrival is tough, but the way the Spartans lost this weekend was embarrassing. The Wolverines dismantled the Spartans in MSU’s own barn.
Yes, the crowds were weak because of spring break, and having two bye weekends in a month didn’t help, but how does a team come out so flat with the season on the line?
Granted, U-M is playing its best hockey of the year and they know they need to win the CCHA Tournament to have any hope of making it into the NCAA Tournament, but with the season on the line, you’d think the Spartans would come out with more desperation.
Because of an injury to U-M starting goaltender Bryan Hogan, walk-on netminder Shawn Hunwick was between the pipes for the Wolverines this weekend. U-M obviously rallied behind its backup goaltender, but MSU’s lack of offense was shocking. Hunwick was giving up huge rebounds, but the Spartans couldn’t muster, or withstand, offensive pressure in both losses this weekend.
As brutal as the sweep was for MSU, though, it’s important to put the season in perspective.
This year’s team was picked to finish in ninth place in the CCHA preseason polls. And after finishing in 10th place last season, they certainly were the surprise team of the year. MSU finished the regular season in second place — a jump of eight places from one year to another — which tied the CCHA all-time record.
The Spartans also got off to an amazing start (9-2-1), and that may be why this early postseason bounce was so surprising.
Most teams should be peaking at the end of the season. But the Spartans were fizzling away. MSU’s last conference sweep was Dec. 12 against Bowling Green. And after the team’s Great Lakes Invitational Tournament championship, MSU went ice cold, posting a 5-7-4 record to close out the season.
Several things could have contributed to the late meltdown.
The most likely cause is the youth of this year’s team. Keep in mind, at least 13 underclassmen started every game for the Spartans this season.
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It was clear that the team’s young legs caught up with them down the stretch of the season.
With a summer of workouts, the freshmen should take a huge jump. Just look at how improved sophomores Daultan Leveille, Brett Perlini and Matt Crandell returned after a hard summer of strength training.
Even with the likely letdown of not making the NCAA Tournament, the Spartans did have a pretty amazing bounce-back season that no one expected.
“I can’t speak for what happened last year with all the bad bounces they had,” freshman defenseman Torey Krug said. “But our goal was to put Spartan hockey back on the map, and that’s what we started to kind of establish here.”
Yes, MSU hockey is back on the map, but next year the expectations will be much higher and the Spartans won’t be able to sneak up on anyone early in the year.
As tough as the season-ending sweep was, the young Spartans should be able to take a lot away from struggles they faced late in the year.
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And getting your face rubbed in the mud by the Wolverines has to be good bulletin board material for the summer, right?
Alex DiFilippo is the State News hockey reporter. He can be reached at difilip3@msu.edu
