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Sports | Ice Hockey

ICE HOCKEY

Spartans seek to slay 'Cats, stretch season

Every once in a while, the thought creeps into Troy Ferguson's mind. He always pushes the notion out of his consciousness as quickly as possible, but he knows it's the truth: His career as an MSU hockey player could end in Detroit this weekend. Especially if the fourth-seeded Spartans stumble tonight against No.

ICE HOCKEY

Radunske gets passing grade; Lalonde out 4 weeks

After sophomore forward Brock Radunske scored his first career hat trick Friday night, he jokingly said he had the puck on his stick so much because his linemates had owed him a couple passes. It was a valid point. Radunske, a 6-foot-4, 203-pounder, has been the MSU hockey team's most dangerous play-maker during the last month.

ICE HOCKEY

Fast has excelled as team leader

Brad Fast was groomed to become a captain of the MSU hockey team since the first day he stepped on campus.A quiet guy hailing from eight hours north of Vancouver, British Columbia, Fast had all the makings of a leader.

ICE HOCKEY

Migliaccio propels 'U'

To persevere through hockey playoffs, a team invariably needs its goaltending to be somewhere between good and great. MSU sophomore Matt Migliaccio knows that.

ICE HOCKEY

Icers try to hook Nanooks

For Brian Maloney, tonight's CCHA Tournament game against Alaska-Fairbanks can't come soon enough. Maloney, a senior left wing on the MSU hockey team, has been itching for some playoff action for almost two years now.

ICE HOCKEY

Slater, Liles, Fast named to CCHA first team

There is a green tint to the blue-liners on this year's All-CCHA First Team.MSU seniors John-Michael Liles and Brad Fast were voted the two best defensemen in the CCHA by the 12 league coaches, and sophomore center Jim Slater joined them on the all-conference first team, which was released Wednesday night.It's the first time since 1984-85, when former Spartans Gary Haight and Don McSween were honored, that both first-team defensemen have hailed from the same school."Fast and I play very well together and he has helped me bring my game to another level," Liles said in a statement.

ICE HOCKEY

Junior chooses job hunting over senior season

Tim Hearon is ready to close the book on his hockey career - one year earlier than most people expected.The versatile junior forward from Southgate decided last month to skip his senior season, choosing instead to take his finance degree into the real world.

ICE HOCKEY

Spartans seize 4th seed with sweep

The Nanooks are coming to town.After sweeping Western Michigan this weekend to close out the regular season, the MSU hockey team earned a first-round CCHA Tournament matchup with ninth-place Alaska-Fairbanks starting Friday at Munn Ice Arena.It's been quite a turnaround for the Spartans (21-13-2 overall, 17-10-1 CCHA), who bottomed out at 10th place in the league in early January.

ICE HOCKEY

Spartans blank Broncos, 4-0

Kalamazoo - The MSU hockey team is 2-for-2 in terms of spoiling opponents' senior nights this season.A week after the Spartans pounded Michigan 4-0 on its senior night, MSU sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio shut out Western Michigan by the same score in the Broncos' last game of the season at Lawson Arena.The Spartans (20-13-2 overall, 16-10-1 CCHA) used three first period goals to dispose of the Broncos (15-18-2, 13-13-1) on Friday.

ICE HOCKEY

Slater's hat trick leads hockey team to victory on Senior Night

The MSU hockey team's seven departing players played well on Senior Night, but a pair of sophomores upstaged all of them in the Spartans' regular-season finale. Second-year center Jim Slater, who has been battling a shoulder injury, scored a goal in each period for his first career hat trick Saturday night at Munn Ice Arena.

ICE HOCKEY

Hockey team looks for needed strong finish

Two things are on the Spartans' minds as they wrap up their regular season against Western Michigan this weekend - to get on a roll heading into the playoffs and to honor their seven departing teammates.MSU (19-13-2 overall, 15-10-1 CCHA) and the Broncos (15-17-2, 13-12-1) play Friday at Lawson Arena in Kalamazoo and Saturday at Munn Ice Arena.

ICE HOCKEY

Hockey team falls to U-M at the Joe, Berenson wins No. 500

Detroit - When the MSU hockey team smacked No. 8 Michigan 4-0 on Friday night, almost every bounce of the puck went its way. But the Spartans'puck luck ran out in Saturday's rematch at Joe Louis Arena. U-M head coach Red Berenson notched his 500th career win with a 5-4 victory infront of 20,058 fans. "You know me, it's not a big thing until it's all over," Berenson said of his milestone mark.

ICE HOCKEY

Another cold battle

Here we go again. Just two weeks after archrivals MSU and No. 8 Michigan split a hard-fought, home-and-home hockey series, they'll bump heads two more times this weekend - tonight in Ann Arbor and Saturday in Detroit.

ICE HOCKEY

Defense, goaltender hope to contain Michigan's Tambellini

Michigan left wing Jeff Tambellini played so well against MSU two weeks ago that, when asked to describe the dynamic freshman, Spartan head coach Rick Comley said he didn't have a big enough adjective to do the job. One suggestion would be "dominating," considering Tambellini scored four of U-M's six goals against the Spartans that weekend.

ICE HOCKEY

'Cats special to Comley; Slater 'doubtful'

MSU head coach Rick Comley's second go-around with Northern Michigan still felt weird. However, it wasn't quite as strange as his first encounter with the team he coached for 26 seasons before coming to East Lansing this year. This weekend, Comley and his family reacquainted themselves with several old friends from Northern who traveled to MSU for the teams' two-game series. Of course, he saw many of the same people when the Spartans traveled to Marquette for a series in October.

ICE HOCKEY

Falardeau content as a grinder

It's OK by Lee Falardeau if no one ever confuses him with Jaromir Jagr or a similarly skilled, speedy hockey player.The 6-foot-4, 211-pound sophomore center knows his role on the MSU hockey team extends beyond racking up goals and assists.There's defense to be played.

ICE HOCKEY

Split hurts slim CCHA title hopes

Rick Comley doesn't claim to be a soothsayer, but he made a prediction Saturday night: The MSU hockey team is in big trouble. After the Spartans dropped a lackluster 4-2 decision to Northern Michigan on Saturday, the MSU head coach said he doubts his team can still get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. "I couldn't imagine (getting in) now unless we win the CCHA Tournament," Comley said.