Friday, March 29, 2024

Sports | Ice Hockey

ICE HOCKEY

Replacement put on hold

Nobody really saw it coming, but now that hockey head coach Ron Mason has officially announced he’s vacating his post of 23 years, coaches across the country are expected to start printing out their résumés and sending them to East Lansing.Current MSU assistants Tom Newton and Dave McAuliffe have clearly stated they want the job, but those outside the Spartan hockey program face a stickier situation if they are interested.Rumors have Denver head coach George Gwozdecky, an MSU assistant from 1984-89, in the pole position for the job, but his No.

ICE HOCKEY

Mason makes difficult decision

After meeting with university officials three months ago to discuss possible candidates for athletics director, Ron Mason walked out of the meeting and everything suddenly clicked. “I walked away from that meeting and said, ‘You know, I think I’d be the right person for that position,’” Mason said.

ICE HOCKEY

Mason leaves program in good shape

MSU’s two oldest players - junior left wing Brian Maloney and sophomore center Tim Hearon - were infants when Ron Mason took over the reins of the Spartan hockey chariot. The rest of the 27-man roster hadn’t even been born yet. While the current players were growing up, losing their teeth, playing floor hockey in gym class and passing notes to childhood crushes, Mason was building the framework for a college hockey dynamo. Under his watchful eye and signature mustache (which has whitened a bit through the years), the Spartan program flourished into one of the elite programs in the country. He arrived from Bowling Green in 1979 and suffered through a pair of losing seasons right off the bat.

ICE HOCKEY

U wants Mason for A.D.

MSU hockey head coach Ron Mason will announce today that he’ll become the university’s 16th athletics director, ending a 23-year tenure at the helm of the hockey program.

ICE HOCKEY

BREAKING NEWS: Mason to be athletics director

MSU President M. Peter McPherson will recommend Spartan hockey head coach Ron Mason to become the university’s next athletics director at a Monday morning press conference. University officials made the announcement Saturday night while Mason’s team was playing Ohio State at Munn Ice Arena.

ICE HOCKEY

Icers prepare for Buckeyes

MSU begins a four-game odyssey with No. 14 Ohio State - its first four-game stand in 31 years - with two contests at Munn Ice Arena today and Saturday. The teams also play Feb.

ICE HOCKEY

Bragging rights still unclaimed

Ann Arbor - Coming out of Saturday night’s showdown with No. 8 Michigan at Yost Ice Arena, fifth-ranked MSU is still where it wants to be - alone in first place in the CCHA. Things could have been better for the Spartans - they took a 1-0 lead into the game’s final seven minutes - but they sounded more pleased than disappointed after the 1-1 tie with U-M kept them two points up on the Wolverines in the CCHA standings. “It’s a great tie for Michigan State,” MSU head coach Ron Mason said.

ICE HOCKEY

Miller shines, despite weaker supporting cast

Ann Arbor - About 30 minutes after the book was closed on MSU’s 1-1 tie with Michigan, Ryan Miller stood amid a group of reporters in a makeshift interview room in the bowels of Yost Ice Arena. Without warning, a U-M writer listening to Miller’s comments dropped his tape recorder.

ICE HOCKEY

Miller in line for Sullivan

MSU junior goaltender Ryan Miller is a preliminary finalist for the 2001 James E. Sullivan Award, presented annually to the nation’s top amateur athlete by the Amateur Athletic Union.

ICE HOCKEY

Spartans, U-M ready for round two

The state’s two biggest college hockey powers have some unfinished business to take care of - and the game that has been circled with both blue and green ink for the past three and a half months is now just a day away. Sixth-ranked MSU (17-5-2 overall, 12-4-1 CCHA) and No.

ICE HOCKEY

Injury bug bites Spartans

MSU head coach Ron Mason has been shooing it away all season, but the injury bug finally bit Tuesday night in Big Rapids. And although it bit hard, the sting doesn’t look quite as bad as it did at first.

ICE HOCKEY

Win gives icers sole ownership of CCHA

Big Rapids - Everything Chris Kunitz did Tuesday night, Adam Hall had an answer for. Kunitz, a Ferris State left wing and the CCHA’s leading goal-scorer, put the Bulldogs up 1-0 and 2-1, but MSU senior right wing Hall provided the equalizer each time. And just when a scoring duel seemed to be shaping up between the two players, MSU freshman center Jim Slater gloved a bad clearing attempt deep in the Bulldog zone, and banged home the game-winning goal to lift No.

ICE HOCKEY

Spartans face tough stretch

The sixth-ranked Spartans are in the midst of a rare eight-day, three-game stretch against three different schools at three different arenas. Behind MSU is a 2-0 loss at Western Michigan on Saturday night. Looming on the horizon is a main event showdown against the co-first-place Michigan Wolverines at Yost Ice Arena this Saturday. But for the only time this season, Tuesday is a game-night this week.

ICE HOCKEY

Spartans split weekend series with Broncos

Kalamazoo - Sixth-ranked MSU had the pedal to the metal in Friday’s 6-3 win over Western Michigan, but the Spartans’ offensive fuel tank went dry a night later as they sputtered to a 2-0 loss in Kalamazoo.The Spartans (16-5-2 overall, 11-4-1 CCHA) seemed to get all the bounces in the series opener at Munn Ice Arena, but MSU players and coaches were left scratching their heads after their luck took a 180-degree turn Saturday at hostile Lawson Arena.Western (12-9-3, 6-8-2) packed 4,575 rowdy fans into Lawson for a “Black Out” promotion Saturday, and the arena continued to be an Achilles’ heel for the Spartans.

ICE HOCKEY

Icers try to reverse bad trend vs. Western

It’s hard to believe, but only four players on MSU’s roster have ever won a game against Western Michigan. All four - right wing Adam Hall, left wing Joe Goodenow, and defensemen Andrew Hutchinson and Jon Insana - are seniors now.

ICE HOCKEY

Icers find goals from unexpected player

Quick, who leads sixth-ranked MSU in goal scoring?No, it’s not senior captain Adam Hall, sensational freshman center Jim Slater or even thunder-shooting junior wing Brian Maloney.It’s John-Michael Liles - a 5-foot-10 defenseman from the renowned hockey hotbed of Indiana.Against Quinnipiac on Saturday, Liles became the first Spartan to notch 10 goals this season.