ICE HOCKEY
Defensive hockey key to advancing
The MSU hockey team prepares to play Boston tonight in Grand Rapids in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
ICE HOCKEY
Midwest Region highlighted by goalies
Athletes probably get used to being overlooked when they're 5-foot-6. But not sophomore goaltender Jeff Lerg. Lerg, who was named the team's Most Valuable Player on Monday, may be forgotten among Hobey Baker candidates such as Notre Dame goaltender David Brown and Boston goaltender John Curry.
BASKETBALL
Spartans could be 13 deep next season, Joseph may transfer
The locker room is empty. The equipment is packed away. The players are on hiatus for two weeks — "13 1/2 more days than last year," head coach Tom Izzo said. The season is over for the MSU men's basketball team — a grueling campaign that saw the Spartans go from preseason doormat to a few minutes away from a Sweet 16 berth. "The biggest problem now is where do we go?" Izzo said Wednesday at his year-end press conference.
ICE HOCKEY
Vukovic becoming total package
What started out as a joke has now taken on a sort of truth for junior defenseman Daniel Vukovic. When Vukovic scored his first goal of the season to lift MSU in a come-from-behind victory over Miami (Ohio) on Jan.
SPORTS
Season ends sadly, but team's future bright
State News women's basketball reporter Matt Bishop discusses the women's basketball team's loss to Rutgers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, how this season will be remembered and the situation surrounding head coach Joanne P.
SPORTS
Senior gymnast breaks MSU record
After a record-breaking performance Sunday, Spartans gymnast Kristen Coleman was named Big Ten gymnast of the week on Wednesday. The senior from Cornwall, Ontario, Canada broke her own all-around performance record against Western Michigan with a 39.625 tally, a full point higher than her previously set school record. Coleman set a personal high on floor exercise Sunday with a 9.950, her highest individual apparatus score of the night.
FOOTBALL
Dantonio, staff encourage goal setting
Senior SirDarean Adams has a goal. And it's not a pretty one. "Just come out and just flat-out kill somebody," he said Tuesday after MSU's first spring practice. Don't be alarmed — it's not what you think.
ICE HOCKEY
Jeff Lerg earns team MVP honors
Eleven MSU players earned team honors at the annual hockey banquet on Monday. Sophomore goaltender Jeff Lerg earned the 2007 Spartan Hockey Most Valuable Player Award.
BASKETBALL
Tourney time a holiday for hoops reporter
State News basketball reporter Tom Keller covered MSU's postseason run last week in Winston-Salem, N.C., and was reminded why this is his favorite — and most fattening — time of year. If you don't like the NCAA Tournament, I'm not sure we can be friends.
SPORTS
MSU feels home-court advantage
Breslin Center was half full for Sunday's game against Delaware. Butu when those fans are as loud as they were during the first-round tournament win, it doesn't necessarily matter how many people are in the seats. "It felt almost like it was a sellout," sophomore guard Mia Johnson said.
SPORTS
Gymnast breaks MSU record over weekend
Senior gymnast Kristen Coleman set the MSU record in the all-around performance Sunday with a 39.625 overall score in a dual match at Western Michigan.
ICE HOCKEY
Comley wants tourney berth to relax Spartans
Finally, the pressure to get in is gone. MSU is in the NCAA Tournament, and one could only imagine the metaphorical sigh of relief the entire team released when it found out. After weeks of struggling, there is indeed a silver lining. There's a postseason. But still, the team has a longing to play as it did in its run that spanned more than two months.
SPORTS
Monday musings
After six straight NCAA Tournament-less seasons, Michigan fired men's basketball coach Tommy Amaker on Saturday.
ICE HOCKEY
MSU makes NCAA Tournament, will play in Grand Rapids at Midwest regional as No. 3-seeded team
MSU won't have to travel far for its first-round NCAA Tournament matchup, but at least it won't be sitting at home watching. After a lackluster end to the regular season and a CCHA Tournament semifinal loss to Michigan, the Spartans earned a No.
BASKETBALL
Incoming class, returnees set bar high for future
Winston-Salem, N.C. — Come this time next year, MSU could very well be hoisting a conference championship banner to the Breslin Center rafters and enjoying a No.
SPORTS
Nick Simmons fails to win national title, finishes 3rd at championships
Auburn Hills — MSU wrestler Nick Simmons emerged victorious in his final match as a Spartan at the NCAA Wrestling Championships on Saturday, but it wasn't the match he wanted to end his collegiate career. Simmons took third place in the 133-pound weight class at the national finals after defeating Tennessee-Chattanooga's fifth-seeded Matt Keller in wrestleback finals Saturday morning. But the win came one night after he was upset in the championship semifinals, 4-3, by Oklahoma State's fourth-seeded Coleman Scott, ending his last effort at winning his first national title. In the match's first period, Scott scored a two-point takedown and a two-point near-fall to jump out to a 4-0 lead.
ICE HOCKEY
Spartans fall to U-M in semifinals before defeating Lake Superior to ensure an NCAA at-large bid
Detroit — After Friday's 5-2 loss to Michigan in the CCHA semifinals, MSU knew its NCAA Tournament hopes rested on its performance in Saturday's third-place consolation game against Lake Superior. "We have to put this disappointment behind us," MSU head coach Rick Comley said after Friday's game.
ICE HOCKEY
MSU, U-M matchup more than rivalry for 2 friends
Tonight's matchup between MSU and Michigan is something that happens in movies, not real life. Playoff game.
ICE HOCKEY
CCHA title on the line this weekend
The green 2006 CCHA Championship banner that hangs from the rafters at Joe Louis Arena bears great significance to the MSU hockey team.
ICE HOCKEY
Conference finals narrowed down to 4
Lake Superior State Relies on goaltender Jeff Jakaitis, who posted a 2.17 goals-against average and .935 save percentage on the season.