ICE HOCKEY
Return of hockey has fans excited
This is a great time of year to be a sports fan. Baseball is heading into the playoffs with tight races.
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1st hockey season opening in 2 years gives fans hope for games, new players
It's the middle of the summer and the beginning of August, so it's tough to get excited about the upcoming hockey season, but why not be excited about it? After this weekend, the National Hockey League has a full schedule, rookies from not one year but two - seeing as there was no draft last summer - and the rules are going to be different. Opening night is Oct.
ICE HOCKEY
Spartan hockey schedule released for next season; first five games on road
The 2005-06 MSU men's hockey schedule was released on Monday, with the Spartans kicking off their season on Oct.
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Detroit's Ford Field chosen to host hockey's 2010 NCAA Frozen Four
The city of Detroit has been selected to host the 2010 Frozen Four at Ford Field on April 8 and 10. "The Central Collegiate Hockey Association is extremely excited to be part of another major sporting event that is coming to Detroit," CCHA Commissioner Tom Anastos said in a written statement.
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Icers name volunteer coach for next season
The MSU hockey team announced in late May that they named former Spartans player Rob Woodward as volunteer assistant coach for the upcoming season. "I believe Rob will be a good fit for our program," MSU head coach Rick Comley said in a written statement.
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Hockey congress gives goalie two awards
MSU Hockey recruit and incoming freshman goalie Jeff Lerg will be honored with two awards at the 2005 USA Hockey Annual Congress, held June 8-12. Lerg will receive the Dave Peterson Goalie of the Year and USA Hockey Junior Player of the Year awards. The first award is a goaltender chosen from the pool of goalies who attended the USA Hockey National Goaltenders Camp and the USA Hockey Select 16 and Select 17 festivals.
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League changes playoff format
The CCHA is in the process of revising the league's playoff system, which will shorten the regular season by one week and extend the postseason from two to three rounds. The new playoff system will give the top four teams in the regular season first-round byes, and the remaining eight teams would play a best-of-three series with their corresponding seeds. The winners of the eight-team first round will then advance to face the top four teams in the division that were awarded the first-round byes.
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Star-studded event
The last thing on the minds of MSU hockey alumni and professional players that took part in the "Hockey for Hope" all-star charity contest on Saturday at Munn Ice Arena was the final score of the game and the NHL lockout. "Everybody's been disappointed for so long about the NHL," said Kevin Miller, a former MSU star (1984-88) and event organizer.
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Spartans add recruit for fall season
Forward Tim Crowder signed a National Letter of Intent and will make his debut as a Spartan in the fall for the 2005-06 season, head coach Rick Comley announced Friday. "He's the final piece to our recruiting," Comley said.
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Former Spartan sets up charity game
Munn Ice Arena is set to host a charity hockey game at 6 p.m. Saturday featuring MSU hockey alumni and other professional players in an all-star contest. The game has been dubbed "Hockey For Hope," with all proceeds made from the night benefiting the Sparrow Foundation Ron Mason Fund and Ingham Regional Medical Center's cancer and cardiology programs. Kevin Miller, who wore the green and white from 1984-88, has been busy organizing the event ever since the NHL season officially was canceled. "It's been a lot of phone calls, a lot of organizing, but it's for a good cause, and hopefully, it'll be just a great night," Miller said. The other Spartans alumni scheduled to appear on Saturday are Kip Miller, Steve Guolla, Shawn Horcoff, Rem Murray, Bryan Smolinski and Jason Woolley. Woolley said he has been active with Kevin Miller in recruiting players to take part in the game and has helped recruit several big-name NHL players such as Nicklas Lidstrom, Derian Hatcher, Manny Legace, Pat Verbeek, Bryan Berard, Ethan Moreau and Shean Donovan to play. Lidstrom, Hatcher and Legace spent last season with Woolley as members of the Detroit Red Wings, and Verbeek is a retired NHLer who spent two seasons with the Wings. Also scheduled to appear are Darryl Sydor, Brad Lukowich and Chris Dingman from the 2004 Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning. "My hat goes off to these guys," Woolley said.
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Miller unanimously voted captain by team
Forward Drew Miller was voted by his teammates to serve as the MSU hockey team's captain next season for his junior, head coach Rick Comley announced Tuesday. "It's a good group of guys coming back and the freshmen coming in are really talked highly of," Miller said. "I'm excited to lead the team, and I think I have three assistant captains that are all capable of being captain, too, so I think we have a good leadership for the team." Forward Colton Fretter and defensemen Jared Nightingale and Corey Potter will serve as assistants to Miller.
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Recruits to add depth to team next season
MSU head coach Rick Comley said he likes who he has coming back and coming in for the Spartans next season. "We had a lot of young guys gain great experience this year that should be better next year," Comley said last week. "I think we have an outstanding senior class next year that is really going to help the hockey team.
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Not enough
The Spartans missed the tournament cut for the second time in three years and have only been to the dance once since Rick Comley took over the reign of head coach from former head coach and current MSU Athletics Director Ron Mason.
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Disappointing finish
It wasn't the way the senior class wanted to go out. After annihilating Nebraska-Omaha in the CCHA Super Six quarterfinals Thursday to extend a season-high win streak to six, the MSU hockey team closed the season with two straight losses.
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ONLINE UPDATE: Icers lose to Ohio State, 4-1
Detroit - With the game tied at one, the MSU hockey team surrendered three unanswered goals to Ohio State and lost 4-1 in the CCHA Super Six semifinals.
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Icers win, 5-0, play Ohio State next
Detroit - On a holiday where the color green was showcased in respect to St. Patrick, it seemed only fitting for the hockey team in green and white to upend Nebraska-Omaha, 5-0, in the CCHA Super Six quarterfinals. The Spartans (20-15-4), on a six-game winning streak, play Ohio State next in the semifinals at 8:05 p.m.
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Experience at Joe Louis a plus for MSU
The MSU hockey team heads into the CCHA Super Six quarterfinals game today at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit against a Nebraska-Omaha team it has much in common with. The Spartans and Mavericks have identical overall records of 19-15-4 and split their only regular-season series in late October with respective 5-2 decisions. The Spartans were all over Nebraska-Omaha the first game of the series, only to come out flat in the second game. "Probably the game I think we played our worst in was that second game way back in October," MSU head coach Rick Comley said of the Oct.
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Bear hat proving more than its worth
Riding the bear. That's been the superstitious motto of the MSU hockey team's recent five-game winning streak after a goofball bear hat purchased by senior captain Jim Slater at an airport in Alaska has proven to be an unlikely good luck charm. "I was going to get a wolf one," Slater said.
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Thelen ousted from team for not meeting expectations
A.J. Thelen was dismissed from the MSU hockey team for failing to meet student-athlete expectations, head coach Rick Comley announced March 6. Comley said scratching Thelen in the Spartans' victory over Notre Dame on March 4 wasn't his first choice, but that he couldn't address the situation more thoroughly at that point in time. Two days later, Comley announced Thelen had been dismissed.
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Icers head to Super Six on 5-game streak
The inconsistency with the MSU hockey team has been the inability to pick up series sweeps, with the exception of the sweep over Ferris State, which came in early November. Currently, the Spartans (19-15-4 overall) are riding a five-game winning streak after sweeping Notre Dame on March 4 and 5 to clinch home ice in the first-round CCHA playoffs.