Saturday night’s MSU hockey 1-0 win against Western Michigan at Munn Ice Arena marked multiple “lasts” for the Spartan players.
Friday night’s 5-2 win by Western Michigan over MSU hockey means the Broncos have a shot at a first-place CCHA finish, but for the Spartans, it means securing last place.
Chris Forfar, Matt Grassi, Anthony Hayes and Kevin Walrod came to MSU hockey as part of a nine-man freshmen class, but are the only remaining seniors. Since the time they stepped on campus, the four have become close friends and roommates, and soon will go their separate ways as their last days as Spartans quickly approach.
For the first time in months, Will Yanakeff sang to arena music. He might have had to travel more than 3,500 miles to do so, but for MSU hockey’s junior goaltender, it’s a sign his confidence finally is restored.
It might not be the series sweep it was looking for, but MSU hockey (10-21-3 overall, 8-17-1-0 CCHA) picked up its first pair of back-to-back wins this season with a 1-0 win against Alaska on Friday night.
Multiple flights and a day’s worth of travel, only to be welcomed by a high of minus 4 degrees. The weather of Fairbanks, Alaska, might make the frigid winters of East Lansing seem tropic, but to Tanner Sorenson, the sub-zero temperature means home.
After an upper body injury plagued Ryan Keller the first half of the season, the freshman forward finally is finding his stride for the MSU hockey team.
Twenty-eight seasons. Fourteen trips to Alaska. Hundreds of games. Countless players. Few fans are as dedicated as Janeen Geisenhaver.
At Tuesday afternoon’s press conference, MSU hockey players and head coach Tom Anastos finally were able to say they succeeded at the little things last weekend.
Sitting last in the CCHA and yet to sweep a series, the MSU hockey team doesn’t have much to show for its work. But despite a 9-20-3 overall record, 7-16-1-0 in the CCHA, the Spartans have made sure their opponents recognize they still have some fight in them. “The biggest takeaway is to show that these guys can be resilient,” head coach Tom Anastos said of the weekend.
Coming off Friday night’s game where fatal mistakes were the demise of the MSU hockey’s 5-3 loss to Northern Michigan, the Spartans managed to find the positives and apply it to Saturday evening. This time, the effort and the execution outweighed the mistakes, and MSU (13-15-4 overall, 7-13-4-1 CCHA) came out on top of the Wildcats, 4-2. “To be honest with you, I was a little concerned coming in after yesterday’s game how we were going to respond,” head coach Tom Anastos said.
Walking away from Friday night’s game, one thing MSU hockey can be sure of is the Spartans still have some fight in them. Unfortunately, fight doesn’t show up on the scoreboard. “We know, because hockey hasn’t changed, there’s 60 minutes to a game,” MSU (8-20-3 overall, 6-16-1-0 CCHA) head coach Tom Anastos said.
A fight to get out of last place might not be the position MSU hockey wants to be in, but it’s the reality.
This season, the MSU hockey team is 7-4-1 when netting a power-play goal, but only 1-16-2 when the Spartans fail to score on a man-advantage. Last Saturday, captain and junior forward Greg Wolfe snapped a four-game streak of no power-play goals.
When Greg Wolfe was going through a rough patch earlier in the hockey season, his head coach told him not to worry about the results, just worry about the process.
In a break from the normal practice routine, the MSU hockey team had an inter-squad skills competition Monday afternoon.
Some college hockey teams only would be happy with a swept series. MSU (8-19-3 overall, 6-15-1-0 CCHA) is pleased with the progress made in a split.
Week after week of getting its confidence chipped away, the MSU hockey (8-19-3 overall, 6-15-1-0 CCHA) team finally was able to gain a bit of it back.
With Bowling Green next in the schedule and the end of the regular season drawing closer, the MSU hockey team is looking to follow the path the Falcons did last season.
Tom Anastos received a text message last week and it has been stuck in ever since. It said something along the lines of “difficult times don’t define one’s character, they reveal it.”