ICE HOCKEY
Icers get verbal commitment
The voice mail greeting on hockey recruit David Booth’s cell phone goes something like this: “Hey, what’s up?
ICE HOCKEY
Freshman plans to stay with Spartans
When longtime MSU head coach Ron Mason announced that the recently concluded season was going to be his last behind the bench, freshman center Jim Slater started considering options.
ICE HOCKEY
No chance for Miller to claim second Hobey Baker
MSU suffered a disheartening loss to North Dakota in last year’s Frozen Four, but Ryan Miller won the 2001 Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s outstanding player the very next day.This year, the Spartans’ season ended earlier - with a first-round NCAA Tournament loss Friday - and so did the junior goaltender’s Hobey Baker pursuit.Miller, one of 10 semifinalists for the 2002 Hobey, didn’t make the cut of three finalists announced Wednesday by the Hobey Baker Award Selection Committee.St.
ICE HOCKEY
Comley era begins; changes expected
Some fans were grinding their teeth just as hard as the MSU hockey team was trying to grind out a goal during the NCAA Tournament West Regional on Friday in Ann Arbor. In the end, the toil didn’t pay off for the Spartans - who wrapped up their season with a 2-0 loss to Colorado College that day.
ICE HOCKEY
Longtime assistants in search of other options
A big chunk of the uncertainty surrounding the MSU hockey program’s future ended Monday with the hiring of Northern Michigan head coach Rick Comley.But the uncertainty for Tom Newton and Dave McAuliffe is just beginning.The two Spartan assistant coaches are in a precarious position.
ICE HOCKEY
Spartans welcome Comley
Rick Comley was so firmly entrenched at Northern Michigan University that only a “very good reason” could sway him to leave Marquette. Apparently, the head coaching position at MSU was enough persuasion. Comley, 55, was formally introduced as the fifth head coach in the history of MSU hockey at a press conference Monday in Munn Ice Arena.
ICE HOCKEY
Mason exits ice, leaves legacy
Ann Arbor - It really was a pretty strange ending. As it turned out, longtime MSU head coach Ron Mason concluded his career Friday afternoon with a 2-0 loss to Colorado College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Yost Ice Arena. The loss, particularly so early in the tournament, was surely disappointing for Mason - a 62-year-old, super-competitive, old-school coach who will become MSU’s next athletics director on July 1.
ICE HOCKEY
Icers make unexpected first-round NCAA exit
Ann Arbor - So much for phase one of MSU’s “Loosen Up the Offense Project.” The No.
ICE HOCKEY
Northern Michigan coach to lead icers
Northern Michigan head coach Rick Comley will be named MSU’s next hockey coach at a press conference today, the university announced Sunday night.“Rick Comley is a fierce competitor,” retiring MSU head coach Ron Mason said in a written statement.
ICE HOCKEY
SPORTS UPDATE: Mason ends coaching career with NCAA Tournament shutout
Ann Arbor - MSU’s national title hopes drowned in a sea of offensive futility Friday afternoon at Yost Ice Arena.The No.
ICE HOCKEY
Spartans have high hopes for tournament
Junior goaltender Ryan Miller is trying to inject his fellow Spartans with his personal postseason motto - national championship or bust. “You want to win and you have the will to win and you express that and hold it as an ideal,” Miller said.
ICE HOCKEY
Tigers present classic rematch
Senior defenseman Jon Insana remembers being overwhelmed during MSU’s game against Colorado College in the NCAA Tournament West Regional in Madison, Wis., on March 28, 1999. MSU was trailing the Tigers 3-2 late in the third period and, with less than two minutes separating the Spartans from a disappointing end to their season, emotions started to burst out. “I remember (former defenseman Brad) Hodgins on the bench, literally in tears,” said Insana, who was a freshman at the time.
ICE HOCKEY
Line changes provide spark, but no title
MSU head coach Ron Mason tried just about every coaching ploy in his repertoire this weekend, but it still didn’t equate to a CCHA Tournament championship. Mason overhauled his forward lines right in the middle of MSU’s 2-1 win over Northern Michigan on Saturday and the Spartans’ 3-2 loss to archrival Michigan in Sunday’s title game. By the end of the Northern game, MSU’s top line had a 67 percent turnover, with senior right wing Adam Hall as the only constant.
ICE HOCKEY
No. 3 seed reflects icer loss
Detroit - After Sunday’s 3-2 CCHA Tournament championship game loss to Michigan, an irritated MSU head coach Ron Mason said he didn’t want to talk about the NCAA Tournament. “We don’t know who we’re playing, and we don’t know where we’re going to be,” Mason said. Well, now the Spartans know both.
ICE HOCKEY
Wolverines sweep CCHA honors
Detroit - The Spartans headed for their Joe Louis Arena locker room just seconds before being subjected to an unwelcome sight - archrival Michigan hoisting the Mason Cup, which is named after MSU’s longtime head coach Ron Mason. The trophy signified U-M’s CCHA Tournament Championship, which it won Sunday with an impressive 3-2 victory over MSU in front of 16,452 fans.
ICE HOCKEY
MSU to meet U-M for tourney championship after win over Northern
Detroit - Retiring MSU head coach Ron Mason will get another crack at the Wolverines - and it will be with the CCHA Tournament championship on the line. The archrivals posted matching 2-1 semifinal wins in front of 14,079 fans at Joe Louis Arena on Saturday.
ICE HOCKEY
Northern Michigan will take on Spartans in CCHA
Detroit - The No. 2 seed Spartans now know their next CCHA Tournament foe - No. 3 seed Northern Michigan. Behind a hat trick by center Chris Gobert, Northern overcame a 1-0 deficit to notch a 3-1 win against No.
ICE HOCKEY
CCHA honors two Spartans
Junior goaltender Ryan Miller is the CCHA Player of the Year for the second straight season - capturing the honor at the CCHA Awards Banquet on Thursday night at Fox Theatre in Detroit. The league’s 12 coaches dubbed the East Lansing native the CCHA’s premier player after posting conference-leading numbers in goals against average (1.64), saves percentage (.941) and shutouts (eight). He ranked second in league wins (18) and minutes played (1,684:58). Miller is the second person to win the award back-to-back, after Michigan’s Brendan Morrison did so in 1996-97.
ICE HOCKEY
Icers look for conference title in Detroit
No. 2 seed MSU heads into the weekend knowing it needs two wins to claim its fourth CCHA Tournament title in five years. The Spartans (26-7-5) just don’t know who they’ll have to beat to win the Mason Cup, named after MSUhead coach Ron Mason. Six teams still are alive as the second weekend of the CCHA Tournament starts today - up from the usual four.
ICE HOCKEY
Miller misses award
Junior goaltender Ryan Miller found out Tuesday he missed the cut for the 72nd annual Sullivan Award - the highest honor for an amateur athlete in the nation.Miller, who is widely regarded as the best collegiate goalie in the nation, was one of 14 semifinalists for the Amateur Athletic Union’s Sullivan Award, but he wasn’t included in the list of five finalists released this week.The five finalists are: Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan, former Southern Cal pitcher Mark Prior, world champion gymnast Sean Townsend, high school track star Alan Webb, and California swimmer Natalie Coughlin.