“Coming off a sweep puts a good taste in our mouth and is a confidence booster now that we can see we can put the puck in the back of the net,” junior defenseman Torey Krug said. “We have a lot of time to chew on it and keep working hard. I’m excited for next weekend.”

Following the first month of the schedule, the Spartans (4-4-0, 1-3-0 CCHA) have had plenty of positives but remain a work in progress.

On the positive end, the team saw its offense come alive with 21 points on the weekend from the line combination of Lee Reimer, Mike Merrifield, Greg Wolfe and Dean Chelios. In addition, the team showed an ability to make adjustments and play more disciplined after cutting down penalties from 12 on Friday to five on Saturday.

But the Spartans still have plenty of work on both sides of the puck after opening the season with a .500 record. Head coach Tom Anastos said the team is still refining its defensive strategy and will look to cut down on the scoring opportunities for opposing teams.

The team also sustained a couple of injuries over the weekend, as Chelios (undisclosed shoulder injury) and freshman forward Justin Hoomaian (knee bruise) will be assessed and potentially could miss some time.

Anastos said he was happy with his team’s performance but acknowledges the work that still needs to be done.

“For another six periods, I thought, for the most part, we worked real hard, and we’re happy with the effort,” Anastos said. “It was obviously a good sign to see some guys emerge offensively and have real good nights. The downside is we sustained a couple injuries and so we’ll see how those go.”

Building support
As Anastos’ attempts to get the right pieces to rebuild the program, he has garnered support of his fellow Spartan coaches.

From the first day he stepped on campus, Anastos said men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo advised that Anastos take advantage of the support system of coaches at the university. Since then, Anastos said Izzo, head football coach Mark Dantonio, women’s basketball coach Suzy Merchant and head baseball coach Jake Boss Jr., among others, have been critical on the recruiting trail and building support for the hockey program.

“As I’ve been here, I see people just step up and do everything they can to make your life as good as possible,” Anastos said. “When I started here, I spent time, especially with Tom (Izzo), telling him what our objectives were and finding how he went about establishing the recruiting and how they’ve focused their recruiting and what he felt were real assets for us to potentially use.”