The MSU hockey team did everything it needed to Friday night to break out of a scoring slump: it put a season-high number of shots to the net, created quality scoring chances and fed off each other offensively, but the result was the same.
If recent late-season games between MSU and Northern Michigan serve as any indication, the Spartans should be in for a thrilling series when Northern Michigan visits Munn Ice Arena tonight and Saturday. The Wildcats toppled the Spartans in a three-game CCHA playoff series in March 2008, and did the same the following year to take a 6-1 lead against MSU in games played in February or later in the past three seasons, but plenty will be on the line when the teams meet this weekend. The Spartans (12-14-4 overall, 8-12-2 CCHA) are one place behind the Wildcats (11-15-4, 9-11-2) in the conference standings and could climb as high as seventh if they’re able to earn their first series sweep of the season.
Call it Saturday Night Fever, but the MSU hockey team lately has struggled to follow up good Friday night performances with the same effort on Saturday nights.
The MSU hockey team continued to match its opponents’ intensity level but didn’t register its first sweep of the season in a weekend split with Ohio State. On Friday freshman goalie Will Yanakeff led the Spartans with 32 saves in his second shutout in his past four starts, and junior defenseman Tim Buttery scored his first goal of the season, while sophomore forward Derek Grant tallied an empty netter to lift the Spartans to a 2-0 win.
The MSU hockey team failed to earn its first series sweep of the season Saturday, as it fell, 4-2, at Ohio State.
Freshman goalie Will Yanakeff’s fifth consecutive win led the MSU hockey team to a 2-0 victory against Ohio State on Friday.
Moving up the CCHA standings has been about as difficult as walking through a snowdrift as several quality teams occupy the middle of the conference. Moving up will be the MSU hockey team’s objective, however, when they visit Ohio State for a series this weekend to try to climb out of 10th place in the CCHA and continue a 5-3-1 run in its past nine games.
Head coach Rick Comley believes the key to fixing the MSU hockey team’s inconsistencies this season revolves around one thing: scoring early goals. The Spartans (11-13-4 overall, 7-11-2 CCHA) lately have tallied four or more goals in games where they’ve generated an early goal and scored fewer than two in games they haven’t tallied one in the first period. Last weekend, MSU managed to go 1-1 against No.
The MSU hockey team proved once again this weekend it can hang with the best of the CCHA but still are trying to find consistency. In a packed Joe Louis Arena, the Spartans (11-13-4 overall, 7-11-2 CCHA) dropped No.
Detroit — If Saturday’s game was any indication of how MSU hockey head coach Rick Comley will finish his final regular season with MSU, the near future looks satisfying. Senior forward Joey Shean scored on a rebound with 7:34 remaining to put the Spartans ahead 2-1, and MSU weathered a 4-on-4, penalty shot and some good Wolverine chances to defeat No.
With head coach Rick Comley announcing his plans to retire at the end of the season Tuesday, the MSU hockey team now must turn its focus on finishing the season strong, beginning with this weekend’s games against Ferris State and No.
Upon first glance, MSU hockey head coach Rick Comley’s decision to announce his plans for an end-of-the-season retirement on Tuesday, rather than waiting until later in the season, seems surprising. The Spartans, who have struggled all season and stand in 10th place in the CCHA, are about to square off with Ferris State and No.
MSU hockey head coach Rick Comley announced Tuesday he will retire at the end of the season, after spending 38 seasons as a college hockey head coach. Comley, currently in his ninth season as the head coach of MSU, won a National Championship with the Spartans in 2007, and is one of five college hockey coaches to win more than 700 games.
After nine seasons as MSU hockey head coach, Rick Comley will retire at the conclusion of the 2010-11 season.
The MSU hockey team witnessed firsthand what a top-notch power play can do to the opposition in its 1-1 showing last weekend against No.
The MSU hockey team’s seven-goal turnaround from Friday to Saturday demonstrates the importance of early goals. On Friday, the Spartans scored two first-period goals and created all the scoring chances it needed to score a season-high seven goals, but struggled early in Saturday’s game and earned very few good scoring chances in a 4-0 loss in a series split against No.
A more defense-oriented Miami (Ohio) hockey team eased past MSU, 4-0, on Saturday to earn a weekend split at Munn Ice Arena.
In the midst of an inconsistent stretch of scoring, the MSU hockey team showed no signs of offensive weakness and pushed seven goals past No.
Even though it’s been close to 15 months, sophomore defenseman Torey Krug remembers the high skill level and tight series when the MSU hockey team and Miami (Ohio) last met.
After toiling through a 2-6 record to end the first half of the season, the MSU hockey team’s 15 goals and 3-1-1 mark in the last five games have provided a ray of hope.