Ann Arbor - Coming into Friday night's rivalry matchup with No. 8 Michigan, the MSU hockey team stressed the importance of playing well in the first 10 minutes of the game. Unfortunately for the Spartans, they couldn't even finish their first shift before they were trailing 1-0.
If Nenad Gajic scores against Michigan tonight, his parents, Lazo and Helen Gajic, are going to stick out like sore thumbs at Yost Ice Arena. After all, Nenad is an MSU hockey player, and the Spartans and their parents are considered enemies in Ann Arbor.
Ann Arbor - Imagine you are Northern Michigan goalie Craig Kowalski. You have done everything but stand on your head to keep your Wildcats within a goal of perennial CCHA powerhouse Michigan. But late in the third period, a rogue Michigan blast slips by you for a 3-1 Wolverine lead - and the game is now out of reach. Hanging your head in despair, you stare at the ice and realize where you are: the University of Michigan's Yost Ice Arena. For an opposing goalie, just call it hell frozen over. And the fans gleefully start their ritualistic torment.
There's plenty of hatred surrounding this weekend's MSU-Michigan hockey games, but it seems most of the loathing will be confined to the fans in the stands. The teams are still archrivals - just ask any student or alumnus from the schools.
In the fall, Kevin Estrada could hardly bring himself to discuss his role with the MSU hockey team. The highly skilled sophomore's confidence had been free-falling since the beginning of his unconvincing rookie campaign and it finally bottomed out. New head coach Rick Comley's more open offensive style was supposed to be the boost Estrada needed to be a goal-scoring force in the CCHA this year, but the first two months of the season netted him no goals, one assist and four healthy scratches. Estrada, a left wing, was already miffed about not being able to score in college.
There is no shortage of intriguing matches as the Spartan hockey team readies for its last eight regular-season games of the year. Fourth-place MSU plays archrival Michigan four times in the next three weeks, starting with this weekend's home-and-home series. Sandwiched between those rivalry tussles is a series against Northern Michigan at Munn Ice Arena on Feb.
Bowling Green, Ohio - MSU head coach Rick Comley had a feeling Bowling Green's power-play scheme would crumble under constant stress. So on Saturday, Comley threw everything in his penalty-killing arsenal at the Falcons. The Spartans forechecked aggressively, pressed the Falcons through the neutral zone and harassed the Bowling Green power-play unit around the offensive zone en route to a 6-3 win at BGSU Ice Arena. "We felt they were vulnerable to pressure," Comley said.
Bowling Green, Ohio - The MSU hockey team used two offensive bursts - one early in the first period and one late in the second - to distance itself from 11th-place Bowling Green on Saturday night at BGSU Ice Arena.Five different Spartans had at least two points in the 6-3 win.The contest was the Spartans' only action of the weekend, but the two points they earned were enough to stay in fourth place in the CCHA.
Bowling Green, Ohio - The MSU hockey team used two offensive bursts - one early in the first period and one late in the second - to distance itself from 11th-place Bowling Green on Saturday night at BGSU Ice Arena.Five different Spartans had at least two points in the 6-3 win.The contest was the Spartans' only action of the weekend, but the two points they earned were enough to stay in fourth place in the CCHA.
It's analogy time! For question No. 1, fill in the blank with the most appropriate answer. 1.
For the first time in about a month, MSU head coach Rick Comley bemoaned his team's effort after Friday's 5-3 loss to Miami (Ohio)."We had a lot of players that didn't work hard enough," Comley said.
Nobody on the MSU hockey team has played with more intensity since the semester break than senior left wing Brian Maloney. Overall, the 6-foot-1, 207-pounder has skated faster, hit harder and forechecked more fiercely and consistently than any of his counterparts.
The MSU hockey team fell flat on its face Friday night. But, to the Spartans' credit, they stood up, dusted themselves off and actually took a baby step forward in the CCHA standings this weekend. With a series split against Miami (Ohio), the Spartans rose from fifth to fourth place in the league.
This weekend is as good as any for the fifth-place MSU hockey team to take a significant leap in the CCHA standings. The Spartans (14-9-2 overall, 10-6-1 CCHA) start a two-game series with Miami (Ohio) tonight at Munn Ice Arena.
It's not a coincidence that no player has ever worn the jersey No. 13 in the history of MSU hockey. "I think a couple of kids asked me to wear it, and I just said 'no 13s,'" said former head coach Ron Mason, who ran the MSU program for 23 years.
Goaltenders, by nature, are set off on an island.They can't hide much. If the puck stays out of the net, it's a job well done.
South Bend, Ind. - Rick Comley's hockey team had just earned three points on the road - which usually is an acceptable outcome - but the coach wasn't happy. "Aw, nuts!" Comley said outside of the visitors' locker room at the Joyce Center on Saturday.
South Bend, Ind. - Like an old fisherman, the MSU hockey team will be talking about "the one that got away" for at least the next week.The Spartans led Notre Dame 3-1 with less than five minutes separating them from a seven-game winning streak, but the Fighting Irish stormed back with two goals within 18 second to force a 3-3 tie Saturday night at the Joyce Center.The tie, coupled with MSU's series-opening 2-1 win Friday, gave the Spartans a three-point weekend in South Bend.
South Bend, Ind. - It wasn't easy, but the Spartan hockey team scratched out its sixth straight victory with a 2-1 decision over Notre Dame on Friday night at the Joyce Center.Sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio was superb for MSU (14-9-1 overall, 10-6-0 CCHA), turning away 40 shots, including 19 in a hectic third period.The Fighting Irish (9-12-4, 7-9-1) hounded the Spartans in the third, keeping the puck in the MSU zone for most of the frame.
MSU senior defenseman John-Michael Liles has plenty of friends on the Notre Dame hockey team - he was teammates with Fighting Irish forwards Connor Dunlop and John Wroblewski and defenseman Brett Lebda in the U.S.