Bowling Green, Ohio - Bad luck and a lack of goal-scoring doomed the MSU hockey team again Friday night.The Spartans took a 2-1 lead with less than four minutes to play against Bowling Green, but the Falcons tied the score with 1:54 to play and then won it in overtime at BGSU Ice Arena. The 3-2 loss dropped MSU's record to 5-6-0 overall and 3-4-0 in the CCHA.
If you analyzed the MSU hockey team's schedule before the season started, you probably wouldn't have singled out tonight's game at Bowling Green as a pivotal matchup. But that's what it has become, thanks to MSU's rocky .500 start (5-5-0 overall, 3-3-0 CCHA). The Falcons (2-8-1, 0-7-1) don't look very daunting on paper, but the Spartans can't take them lightly - MSU desperately needs a win at 7:05 p.m.
No matter what, Tom Newton was going to be at the BGSU Ice Arena this Friday. But the MSU assistant coach probably wishes he was directing the Bowling Green bench instead of being in a supporting role with the Spartans. Newton applied for the Falcons' head coaching vacancy this offseason, but Boston College assistant and fellow BGSU alumnus Scott Paluch got the job.
In the wake of two discouraging losses to Ohio State, the MSU hockey team doesn't have much choice except to regroup and look to the future. But the bad news for the Spartans (5-5-0 overall, 3-3-0 CCHA) is that they face a rocky road ahead. The sweep at OSU started a stretch where MSU will play 10 of its next 11 games away from Munn Ice Arena.
Former MSU goaltender Ryan Miller is scheduled to start for the Buffalo Sabres against the New Jersey Devils at 7:30 tonight, which would mark his debut in the NHL. The Sabres, who are 0-9-2 in their last 11 games, called up Miller on Sunday.
Columbus, Ohio - The cities and opponents keep changing, but the theme throughout the MSU hockey team has stayed the same: The Spartans aren't scoring enough to win. And win they didn't in a two-game series at Ohio State this weekend.
Ohio State might have the most talented hockey team in the CCHA. Most programs would be happy with a pair of first-round NHL draft picks, a three-year starting goalie and three senior defensemen - all of which OSU has.
On the eve of National Signing Day, the MSU hockey coaching staff expanded its recruiting class by two players. Forward/defenseman Tyler Howells of Eden Prairie, Minn., and defenseman Chris Snavely of Lancaster, Pa., both inked National Letters of Intent with MSU on Wednesday - less than 24 hours after they verbally committed. Forward Tommy Goebel of Parma, Ohio, and goaltender Dominic Vicari of Clinton Township also signed Wednesday.
Former MSU hockey player Jason Woolley was waived by the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.Sabres spokesman Gregg Huller said Woolley will be sent down to Buffalo's American Hockey League affiliate in Rochester if he's not claimed by another NHL team by Friday.Woolley, a defenseman, had no goals, three assists and 29 penalty minutes in 14 games with the Sabres this season.
MSU's goalie situation is actually clearer than most people thought it would be at this point of the season. Sophomore Matt Migliaccio has out-played freshman Justin Tobe so far, and he seems to have earned the unofficial designation of being the team's No.
Sophomore center Jim Slater was the meat in a hockey player sandwich Friday night - and his left elbow paid the price. As Slater released a wrist shot in the third period of MSU's 2-1 loss to Niagara, a pair of Purple Eagles smashed him from both sides.
Bobby Big Wheel continued his late-game heroics Saturday, helping the MSU hockey team salvage two points out of a disappointing weekend series with Niagara.
Jim Slater is one of the easiest players to spot while playing for the MSU hockey team, which is probably because the sophomore center is always around the puck.
The Spartans are nothing if they aren’t dramatic this year.In what is becoming the norm, the MSU hockey team played a hard-fought and tense game Saturday night at Munn Ice Arena - and this time, the Spartans came out on top.Sophomore left wing Brock Radunske was the hero for the second time in three games Saturday, slapping home a game-winning overtime goal to lift MSU to a 5-4 victory over Niagara.Radunske’s tally with 1:07 left in the extra period helped erase the memory that No.
Freshman left wing David Booth did his best to shake the rust out of the Spartans on Friday night, but 13th-ranked MSU still succumbed to heavy underdog Niagara, 2-1, at Munn Ice Arena.Booth scored 41 seconds into Friday’s game, but that was all MSU (4-3-0 overall, 3-1-0 CCHA) could muster for the entire night.
Bye weeks on the MSU hockey schedule haven’t been very common in recent years, so it’s tough to guess how the Spartans will perform against Niagara at 7:05 p.m.
When it comes to weight rooms, size is an issue for first-year MSU head coach Rick Comley. That’s why his hockey team has been commuting to the Duffy Daugherty Football Building for lifting sessions every Monday and Wednesday this year.
In trying to sum up his team’s offensive struggles earlier this season, MSU hockey head coach Rick Comley kept coming back to one central theme - several sophomore forwards weren’t fulfilling their potential.Undoubtedly, sophomore center Ash Goldie was one of the guilty parties.
Versatility has been the name of Jared Nightingale’s game so far this season. The 6-foot-2, 191-pound freshman is a defenseman by trade, but he has played half of MSU’s games as the fourth-line right wing this year. Where Nightingale lines up on a given night seems to depend on whether freshman defenseman Evan Shaw is playing or not.
With the MSU hockey team enjoying a bye this week, it seems like an appropriate time to mention Adam Nightingale. After all, Nightingale is in the midst of an entire bye season with the Spartans.