Sunday, April 12, 2026

Take a peek behind the curtain and test drive the NEW StateNews.com today!

Sports | Hockey

SPORTS

Icers have no worries at goalie

James Jahnke
January 9, 2001

When Joe Blackburn was a sophomore he set MSU records for goals against average, saves percentage, earned CCHA Best Goaltender honors, was named to the All-Great Lakes Invitational team and named NCAA West All-American.Then Ryan Miller came along.Now a senior, Blackburn has lost his starting job to the sophomore phenom from East Lansing, and has almost become a forgotten member of the top-ranked Spartans.Miller has already broken Blackburn’s goals against record, earned All-CCHA honors and tied the school record for career shutouts - in only a season and a half.Miller had started 24 straight games for MSU before head coach Ron Mason finally gave Blackburn the call in net against Yale on Friday.

SPORTS

Center looks to improve

Eric Lacy
January 9, 2001

In the beginning there were doubts.Critics pointed to a criminal record as a severe roadblock for him to succeed, with charges of shoplifting, battery and receiving stolen property.Then there was the hurdle of trying to qualify academically to be eligible to play Division I college basketball, as he was 20 points below the score needed on the SAT.

SPORTS

Mens basketball, hockey reminicse about No. 1 ranking

James Jahnke  and  Eric Lacy
January 8, 2001

Tom Izzo was starting to wonder if he was cut out for his job. The long-time Spartan basketball assistant was in his first season as MSU’s head coach in 1995 and the Breslin Student Events Center was only half-full for home games. Fans were trying to figure out if he was the team’s problem or the answer after a losing streak dropped MSU’s record down to .500. In the middle of Sunday morning practice, Izzo was looking at the faces of his players, searching for a way out of MSU’s slump when he heard somebody pounding on the Breslin Center door. The coach scaled the steps of the arena racking his mind for someone who would have the audacity to disrupt his practice. And there was the culprit. The winningest coach in college hockey history, Ron Mason, peering through the glass door and into the concourse. Mason had been at MSU for 17 years, almost longer than Izzo had been out of college.

SPORTS

Pressure of No. 1 rank wasn

It’s not easy being at the top. For the first time since Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson roamed the campus in the late 1970s the Spartans held the No.

SPORTS

Womens hoops win in close game vs. Minnesota

Krista Latham
January 8, 2001

MINNEAPOLIS - The MSU women’s basketball team has proven it can handle pressure by winning another Big Ten buzzer-beater. In its past two conference games, MSU (2-1 Big Ten, 8-6 overall) has stayed alive and won at the buzzer, this time squeezing by Minnesota (0-3 Big Ten, 7-7 overall), 66-65.

SPORTS

Icers serve Bulldogs back-to-back shutouts

James Jahnke
January 8, 2001

You don’t have to go to an Ivy League school to figure out you can’t win a hockey game without scoring a goal.And that was one feat Yale couldn’t accomplish in its series against MSU at Munn Ice Arena this weekend.MSU senior goaltender Joe Blackburn blanked the Bulldogs 5-0 on Friday night and sophomore goaltender Ryan Miller earned a 4-0 shutout Saturday as MSU extended its unbeaten streak to 18 (15-0-3).Yale (6-8-0) outshot the top-ranked Spartans (16-1-4 overall, 9-1-3 CCHA) both games, but Blackburn made 31 saves and Miller turned away 36 shots to earn the wins.

SPORTS

Taylor slowly battles back from injury

Eric Mckinney
January 8, 2001

Bloomington, Ind. - It’s tough for any freshmen to come into the Big Ten and contribute right away, and injuries only make it more difficult. For Freshman guard Marcus Taylor those expectations have been higher than most freshmen since the day he committed to MSU. As a Lansing native, the hometown hero is averaging over 20 minutes a game as the Spartan’s backup point guard, but a broken ring-finger on his shooting hand (right) has slowed his progress. “I’ve only been practicing for a week now, and I haven’t been playing the full time either,” he said after MSU’s 59-58 lost at Indiana.

SPORTS

Mens hoops faces new tests on the road

Eric Mckinney
December 8, 2000

This weekend’s game at Loyola University marks the first road game of the season for the No. 2 MSU men’s basketball team.The undefeated Spartans (6-0) hold the nation’s second-longest home court winning streak at 34 games, but MSU won’t have the student cheering section, the Izzone cheering it on this weekend.MSU head coach Tom Izzo said defeating two of last year’s Final Four teams in the last two weeks - Florida and North Carolina - was a great accomplishment.

SPORTS

Icers get long rest before Great Lakes Invitational

James Jahnke
December 8, 2000

Holidays are traditionally set aside as a time for rest and recuperation and that philosophy doesn’t change for MSU’s top-ranked hockey team.After this weekend’s CCHA series with last place Ferris State, the Spartans (11-1-3 overall, 8-1-2 CCHA) will have almost three weeks to rejuvenate mentally and physically before the 36th annual Great Lakes Invitational on Dec.

SPORTS

Former NFL receiver stands trial

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Rae Carruth urged a woman to wait before cooperating with a private investigator involved in his murder case, the woman testified Wednesday. Prosecutors played a voice mail message that Carruth left on Tanya Ferguson’s cell phone Jan.

SPORTS

Icers prepare for last place Ferris State

James Jahnke
December 7, 2000

After having to battle back to earn three points from struggling Bowling Green last week, the MSU hockey team is looking to pick up four points from last place Ferris State this weekend.The top-ranked Spartans (11-1-3 overall, 8-1-2 CCHA) and the Bulldogs (3-8-3, 1-7-2) will meet for the only time this season in a home-and-home series Friday and Saturday.Friday’s game will be played at Ewigleben Ice Arena in Big Rapids and Saturday’s game at Munn Ice Arena, both at 7:05 p.m.Despite Ferris’ record, senior right wing John Nail said they’re a talented team.“I think they’re a deceiving team because of their record,” Nail said.

SPORTS

Unique player looks to lead Purdue

Talking about a Gene Keady-led Purdue team in the preseason is virtually worthless.Coming into each new season, the Boilermakers seem destined for the middle of the Big Ten pack.

SPORTS

Ohio State looks to defy critics

This is the sixth in a series of Big Ten men’s basketball previews.Two years ago, people didn’t think the Ohio State men’s basketball team would amount to much.

SPORTS

Haslem plans to toughen up for U

Jeff Karzen
December 6, 2000

Udonis Haslem’s 27 points were lost amidst MSU’s convincing 89-76 win over Florida in the 2000 national championship game.The Gator center shot 10-of-12 from the field and made all seven of his free throws in 28 minutes on the court.But MSU will be ready for Haslem this time.“We’ll be prepared for him this year,” MSU senior forward Andre Hutson said.

SPORTS

U athletes honored for academic excellence

Krista Latham
December 6, 2000

On top of practicing for hours each day, spending extra minutes in the weight room and competing weekly, 45 MSU student-athletes squeezed in the time to earn Fall 2000 Academic All-Big Ten Honors Monday.MSU places sixth in the conference overall in Academic All-Big Ten student-athletes.

SPORTS

Gators look to take down cagers winning streak after championship defeat

Jeff Karzen
December 6, 2000

Andre Hutson knows what it’s like to play a road game in a hostile environment. He doesn’t like it.The senior forward is pleased opposing players feel that same wrath when they play in Breslin Student Events Center, where the 5-0 Spartans have won 32 consecutive games, the second-longest run in Division I.Tonight at 7, the 3-0 Florida Gators will try to snap MSU’s streak in a rematch of last year’s national championship game, which MSU won 89-76.“I feel we have the best crowd,” Hutson said.

SPORTS

Womens hoops prepares for Wisconsin - Green Bay at Breslin

Krista Latham
December 5, 2000

The women’s basketball team will have to learn how to win without the sure shot of co-captain and leading scorer Becky Cummings, as they host the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay tonight. Senior forward Cummings tore her left foot’s plantar fascia in the team’s upsetting 66-59 loss Sunday to Eastern Michigan at the Women’s Basketball Showcase in Grand Rapids. The plantar fascia is a tissue beneath the arc of the foot.