Sophomore goaltender Jeff Lerg was named CSTV: College Sports Television/Hockey Commissioners' Association National Division I Player of the Month on Monday for March and April for his performance in the postseason. Lerg posted a .919 save percentage and a 2.24 goals-against average in those two months.
A stone has been cast by the hockey team's national championship victory, and the ripple effect could be enormous. When I came back to South Case Hall at 3 p.m.
The MSU hockey team has barely had time to appreciate this year's national championship, but it's already looking ahead. With five seniors graduating, including captain Chris Lawrence, the Spartans will lose valuable leadership and character players.
State News sports reporter and hockey fanatic Matt Bishop talks about the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs, which kicked off Wednesday with four games. Question: So, opening thoughts on this year's playoffs? Answer: I am like a kid in a candy store right now.
MSU head coach Rick Comley walks around the concourse on occasion at an empty Munn Ice Arena, desiring to be a part of the rich history that former coaches Amo Bessone and Ron Mason built. His attention focuses on the concourse walls.
Following the Spartans' 3-1 national championship-clinching win Saturday night over Boston College, junior defenseman Daniel Vukovic's voice mail in-box was completely full. The most important message was from his brother Nick who was watching the game on DirecTV from his home in Australia with friends. "He moved over there, I think two years ago, and I haven't seen my brother for the two years," Vukovic said Monday.
St. Louis — Ralph and Joanne Gentile weren't able to travel to the Czech Republic when their son Brandon, now a sophomore defenseman on the MSU hockey team, was playing in the biggest event of his pre-college career. As a member of the United States National Team Development Program out of Ann Arbor, Gentile and Team USA won a gold medal at the 2005 International Ice Hockey Federation's World Under-18 Championships in the Czech Republic. Mom and Dad were unable to attend. "I had been overseas, and they unfortunately couldn't make it," Brandon Gentile said. But that just made his parents' trip to St.
St. Louis — Still in his hockey gear, senior captain Chris Lawrence leaned his right hand against a locker room wall.
St. Louis — Boston College registered 13 shots in the first period in Saturday night's national championship game.
St. Louis — The crowd at Scottrade Center knew something magical was about to happen. As the 1-1 game against Boston College for the national championship Saturday crept closer to a possible overtime, Spartans fans in the Frozen Four record-setting crowd of 19,432 kept cheering.
St. Louis — MSU head coach Rick Comley has been picked apart by the media, fans and the public ever since he was named Ron Mason's successor in 2002. He has dealt with two seasons in which the team failed to meet lofty preseason expectations, ultimately falling short of an NCAA Tournament bid. But with Saturday's 3-1 victory over Boston College to give MSU its third national championship in program history, Comley has met those lofty expectations, silencing the critics in the process. "I want to publicly thank Ron Mason," Comley said of MSU's athletic director.
State News sports editor Eric Fish kept a running blog of his journey this past weekend with hockey reporter Zack Colman and photographer Mike Itchue at the Frozen Four in St.
St. Louis — Justin Abdelkader wasn't even born when Mike Donnelly scored the game-winning goal in the 1986 NCAA championship game to earn the crown for the Spartans, but the sophomore forward will take his place in the hockey history books alongside him. Abdelkader, like Donnelly, scored the game-winning goal to give MSU the national title.
St. Louis — Jeff Lerg gave the Spartans a chance to win the game. Early in the third period, he denied forward Brian Boyle on a two-on-one rush with a glove save that could have given Boston College a 2-0 lead. That save was ranked the fourth best play of the night on SportsCenter and was arguably the turning point in the game. "Coach Newton said on the bench after he made that save, he's like, 'We're going to score two goals and win it.
St. Louis — Resilient. It's the word MSU head coach Rick Comley has used again and again this season to describe his team. The Spartans continued to define the term Thursday in the Frozen Four national semifinal game when they found themselves down 2-0 to Maine less than four minutes into the game.
The State News recently caught up with former MSU All-American and current Colorado Avalanche defenseman John-Michael Liles.
Maine's offense vs. MSU's defense Although Maine is ranked 12th in the nation with 3.36 goals per game, the ranking is misleading.
Not a big hockey fan, but want to root on the Spartans in their improbable march to a national championship?
Boston College: The Eagles are the hottest team in college hockey right now as winners of 12 straight games.
Jeff Lerg got up at 6 a.m. for a month straight after Maine eliminated MSU in last year's East Regional final.