Michigan State University Athletics
Hockey Seeks Win At Western Michigan
1/29/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 29, 2000
Date January 29, 2000
Site Lawson Ice Arena (3,667)
Time 7:05 p.m.
TV None
Radio WVFN-AM 730
Web broadcast www.broadcast.com/sports/ncaa/MichiganState
Note of the Night
Ready to rebound -- Michigan State is 0-2-2 in its first game the last four weekends and 2-0-0 in its second game entering tonight (Jan. 7 was a one-game weekend).
Five More Notes No Media Person Should Be Without
1. Firing blanks -- Michigan State has outshot its opponents by an average of 37.0 to 21.2 in its last five games, but is averaging just 2.80 goals per game and is 2-1-2 in that stretch.
2. Let the Goode times roll -- Sophomore forward Joe Goodenow makes his first appearance of the season in the Spartan lineup tonight. Goodenow, the son of NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow, suffered a left hip injury at U.S. National Junior Team tryouts in August and had surgery in the fall. He has been skating with the team for three weeks. Goodenow, who had three goals and 10 assists (13 points) in 36 games last season, fills in for junior Damon Whitten at left wing on Rustyn Dolyny's line. Whitten is day-to-day with a right quadriceps strain.
3. Commonality in goal -- Michigan State junior goaltender Joe Blackburn and Western Michigan sophomore goaltender Jeff Reynaert are former teammates with the Compuware Ambassadors. Blackburn, a first-team All-American last season, enters this game just six saves shy of 1,000 for his career.
4. In good company -- Freshman Brian Maloney scored his 10th goal of the season last night, joining Mike York, Shawn Horcoff, Rustyn Dolyny and Adam Hall as the only Spartan rookies to register double-digits in goals in the last five seasons.
5. Hall of fame -- Sophomore Kalamazoo native Adam Hall scored his first collegiate goal at Lawson Ice Arena last night. Hall leads the Spartans in goals (16), power-play goals (six), game-winning goals (five) and short-handed goals (three). His GWG total leads the nation. Hall has 22 goals in his last 28 games, dating back to last season.
Post-it Notes
What is this, soccer? -- At least one team has been held to two goals or fewer in each of the last 23 Michigan State-Western Michigan games.
Four score -- Michigan State is outscoring opponents 8-1 in four-on-four action this year.
Spreading the wealth -- Eleven different players have combined for the Spartans' 14 goals in their last six games.
One: it's all you get -- MSU has not allowed more than one goal in a period in the last 24 periods (since the third period of the Great Lakes Invitational semifinal game Dec. 29, when Michigan Tech scored two goals). The Spartans have scored more than one goal in a period six times in that span.
A special team -- Michigan State leads the CCHA in overall power play (20.8 percent) and penalty killing (89.6 percent). The Spartans scored a short-handed goal last night, and have scored almost as many short-handed goals (six) as they have allowed power-play goals (seven) in conference games.
Super Shawn -- Senior center and team captain Shawn Horcoff has 40 points on the year, good for second in the nation. Wisconsin's Steve Reinprecht (44 points) leads the nation.
Last night Horcoff reached the 40-point mark in his 26th game of the year. Last season, it took 35 games for Hobey Baker runner-up and current New York Ranger Mike York to record 40 points.
Horcoff leads the nation in assists with 31. He has had 12 multiple-point games in 26 outings this year, including seven games with three or more points. Horcoff has had a hand in 40 of MSU's 83 goals (48.2 percent), including 17 of MSU's 30 power-play goals (56.7 percent). He has either scored or assisted on nine of MSU's 17 game-winning goals.
Red-hot rookies -- Michigan State's freshmen have had a big impact this season, with two rookies (defenseman John-Michael Liles and left wing Brian Maloney) among the top five on the team in scoring. Overall, Spartan freshmen share the lead among the classes in points and trail only the junior class in goals (27 to 24). A breakdown of MSU's goals, assists and points by class:
Class (Players) G-A-P PPG SHG GWG Seniors (3+) 14-43-57 3 2 2 Juniors (6+) 27-34-61 10 1 5 Sophomores (3) 19-13-33 7 3 5 Freshmen (7+) 24-37-61 10 1 5 + not including goaltender in that class
First one to one wins -- Michigan State is 15-0-2 when it scores first and just 2-7-0 when its opponent scores first.
Fast starters -- Michigan State has outscored opponents 19-3 in the first period of its last 12 games.
O from the D -- Michigan State defensemen have combined for 18 goals after combining for 13 goals all of last season.
Zeroes both ways -- Michigan State will tie a school record the next time the Spartans shut out an opponent or the next time they are shut out. MSU has posted five shutouts already this year (one shy of the school record of six, set in 1997-98) and has been shut out three times (one shy of the school record of four, set in 1959-60).
Individually, freshman Ryan Miller has posted four shutouts, tied for second in a single season behind Chad Alban's six in 1997-98.
INJURY REPORT -- Fr. F Pat Brush (left knee injury, out indefinitely), Fr. D Mike Porter (left shoulder injury, out for the season), Jr. LW Damon Whitten (right quadriceps strain, day-to-day).
The fries at the bottom of the bag -- MSU is 17-1-2 in games it has led at one point and 2-7-0 in games it has trailed at one point ... MSU has not allowed a goal in the first three minutes of a game and not in the first six minutes of its last 13 games ... the Spartans are outscoring opponents in the first (3-1) and last (4-2) minutes of a period ... the only other time Michigan State opened the season against Colorado College was 1965-66 (a 4-0 loss), the year MSU won its first national championship ... Adam Hall took MSU's first penalty shot in over five years Nov. 13 vs. Bowling Green and was stopped by BG goaltender Tyler Masters ... Michigan State's last national title came when the Frozen Four was in Providence, R.I., as it is this season.
Say This About Our Players...
1 * Mike Gresl (Sr., G) * last year's GLI MVP
2 * Jon Insana (So., D) * MSU's Most Improved Player a year ago * scored his first career goal against Minnesota and added a second two games later
4 * John-Michael Liles (Fr., D) * leads MSU rookies and MSU defensemen with 4-13-17 * selected for the U.S. National Junior Team, but missed the tournament with an injury * has 12 of his 17 points at home * twice this year has had three points in a period, including 10/16 vs. UNO
5 * Mike Weaver (Sr., D) * MSU's top defensive player and penalty killer * 1997 GLI MVP and '99 all-tournament pick * first-team All-CCHA, second-team All-America and CCHA Best Defensive Defenseman last year
7 * Brad Hodgins (Sr., D) * leader among MSU defensemen in career points with 13-51-64 * four of five goals and nine of 11 points have come at home * 6 PIM shy of MSU's all-time career top 10
9 * Sean Patchell (Jr., W) * has doubled last year's point total (3-2-5) with 5-5-10 through 26 games * nine of his 10 points have come in the first or second period
10 * Shawn Horcoff (Sr., C) * MSU's top active scorer (45-82-127) and the 55th Spartan to record 100 points * tied for second in nation in points, he has a hand in 48.2% of MSU's goals (40 of 83) * has either scored or assisted on nine of MSU's 17 game-winning goals this year * Hockey News rates him the Edmonton Oilers' No. 4 prospect and a sure-fire NHLer
12 * Steve Jackson (Fr., RW) * joined MSU for the second semester and scored a goal in his second career game
14 * Damon Whitten (Jr., LW) * has 7-9-16 in 24 GP, but will miss tonight's game with a right quadriceps strain * has 15 of his 16 points in the first or second period * had his career-best six-game point-scoring streak from Oct. 23 to Nov. 12
17 * Troy Ferguson (Fr., C) * scored the first goal last Friday night * co-captain of U.S. Under-18 Team last year
18 * Adam Hall (So., RW) * Kalamazoo native who leads the CCHA and is seventh nationally with 16 goals * captained the U.S. National Junior Team * had 11 goals in MSU's 10-game winning streak to start the CCHA season * has scored MSU's first goal five times and the GWG a NCAA-leading five times * has 22 goals in last 28 games
19 * Rustyn Dolyny (Jr., C/RW) * has had 12 of his 17 points and five of his seven goals on special teams * has had a hand in four of MSU's seven SHGs this season * has scored six of his seven goals at home * second on team with 10 first-period points
20 * Brian Maloney (Fr., LW) * leads MSU rookies with 10 goals * had 1-1-2 in the GLI title game * has three two-goal games (Oct. 15 at UNO, Nov. 13 vs. BGSU, Jan. 13 vs. UNO)
21 * John Nail (Jr., RW) * enjoying best offensive season (3-6-9)
24 * Andrew Hutchinson (So., D) * ended a streak of 16 games without a point with two against Michigan Tech Dec. 29 * has three of his four points on the PP
26 * Joe Goodenow (So., C/LW) * returns tonight after a hip injury suffered at U.S. Junior National Team tryouts in August
27 * Brad Fast (Fr., D) * 2nd among MSU defensemen with 4-8-12 * 1-2-3 (including GWG) vs. BGSU Nov. 13
30 * Joe Blackburn (Jr., G) * returning first-team All-American who has split time with rookie Ryan Miller * six saves shy of 1,000 for his career * made career-high 37 saves in GLI title game, including 20 in the third period * set CCHA and MSU single-season records in GAA and save percentage last year * owns the best career GAA (1.72) and save percentage (.921) in MSU history * has four career shutouts (one this year) * an outstanding student who plans to become a teacher after hockey
39 * Ryan Miller (Fr., G) * has shared time in net with Blackburn, with a CCHA-leading 1.41 GAA and .931 save percentage * first MSU goalie ever to post three straight shutouts, he has four on the year * broke Ron Scott's school-record shutout streak (Miller's record: 191:54) * an East Lansing native and cousin of Kip, Kevin and Kelly Miller
SERIES INFORMATION vs. WESTERN MICHIGAN:
* 74th meeting: MSU leads, 49-19-5
* In Kalamazoo: MSU leads, 21-13-1
* First meeting: MSU 7, WMU 6 (10/19/79)
* Last meeting: MSU 2, WMU 2 (last night)
* Last year's series: MSU won, 2-0-1
* MSU is 6-0-3 in the last nine meetings (since a 5-2 loss 2/7/97)
* MSU has not allowed more than two goals in the last nine meetings
* MSU is unbeaten in three (2-0-1) in Lawson but lost three straight prior to that
MSU CAREER LEADERS vs. WMUPlayer (Yr., Pos.) GP, G-A-PRustyn Dolyny (Jr., C/RW) 7 GP, 1-4-5Brad Hodgins (Sr., D) 12 GP, 1-3-4Shawn Horcoff (Sr., C) 11 GP, 0-4-4Sean Patchell (Jr., F) 6 GP, 2-1-3John Nail (Jr., RW) 7 GP, 1-1-2Mike Weaver (Sr., D) 12 GP, 0-2-2Joe Blackburn (Jr., G) 2-0-1, 1.30, .931
