Michigan State University Athletics
Hockey Prepares For Two With Lake Superior
1/31/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 31, 2000
Thurs., Feb. 3 at Lake Superior, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 5 vs. Lake Superior, Joe Louis Arena, 7:35 p.m.
The Week -- The Michigan State hockey team, which tied (2-2) and lost (3-2 in overtime) in a series at Western Michigan last weekend, returns to action this Thursday and Saturday against Lake Superior. The Spartans (17-8-2 overall, 12-6-1 CCHA), ranked seventh in the nation last week, face the Lakers (13-12-1 overall, 12-7-1 CCHA) at Taffy Abel Arena (4,000) at 7:05 p.m. EST Thursday and Joe Louis Arena (19,983) at 7:35 p.m. EST on Saturday. The two teams are currently tied for third place in the CCHA standings, although Michigan State has played one less game. Hear both games on WVFN-AM 730 and at www.broadcast.com/sports/ncaa/MichiganState, with Scott Moore calling the play-by-play and volunteer assistant coach Jim Mullin providing color commentary.
The Coaches -- Head coach Ron Mason (St. Lawrence '64) builds upon his legendary status with each victory. Mason, in his 21st year at Michigan State and 34th as a college head coach, is the all-time winningest college hockey coach with 854 career victories, boasting an 854-362-72 (.691) overall record. He has a 565-252-58 (.679) mark at MSU.
Lake Superior head coach Scott Borek (Dartmouth '85) owns a 91-100-19 record in his seven-year career, including three years with the White Mules of Colby College. He is 58-67-14 in four years at Lake Superior.
Quoting Coach Mason -
On the WMU series: "We ran into a hot goaltender and their whole team played with a lot of emotion in front of him. The whole weekend was a tough pill to swallow, especially because I thought we played well and had chances to win both games. We just couldn't put the puck in the net."
On facing Lake Superior: "We've got to continue to play with intensity and the wins will come. Lake Superior is on a bit of a roll right now and this will be a tough weekend for us. One look at the standings to this point and you can see how important this weekend's games are going to be."
The Series vs. the Lakers -- Michigan State leads Lake Superior all-time, 44-28-8, entering the 81st and 82nd meetings. MSU leads 14-12-6 in Sault Ste. Marie and 6-4-0 in Joe Louis Arena. The Spartans have won nine games in a row vs. LSSU (since a 4-4 tie 1/11/97), the longest streak in series history. MSU is 9-0-2 in the last 11, since a 5-0 LSSU win in the 1996 Great Lakes Invitational (12/27/96). The Spartans have not given up more than two goals in any of the last seven meetings. MSU is 2-0-4 in its last six trips to the Soo, since an 11-1 loss on Feb. 11, 1994.
About the Lakers -- Lake Superior is 13-12-1 overall and 12-7-1 in the CCHA, currently tied for third in the conference with Michigan State. The Lakers, who are 5-1-0 in their last six, are coming off a weekend sweep of Miami. Ryan Vince (5-14-19) and Ryan Knox (3-14-17) lead the Lakers in points, while Ben Keup (10-3-13) and Jeremy Bachusz (9-7-16) are the top two goal scorers. Jayme Platt (13-9-1, 2.46, .923) handles the goaltending chores.
Western Michigan Recap
Friday night in Kalamazoo, Michigan State took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Brian Maloney and Adam Hall, while outshooting the Broncos 19-6. WMU stormed back, however, and tied the score on goals in the second and third periods. MSU has some terrific chances to win it (including a 6-0 shot margin in OT), but Jeff Reynaert (36 saves) held on for the tie.
Saturday night featured all four regulation goals in the second period as Rustyn Dolyny and Hall had the Spartan goals (Maloney and Shawn Horcoff both had two assists). WMU responded from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to send the game into overtime. Corey Waring's slapshot from the blue line at the 3:35 mark of the overtime period won it for the Broncos, ending MSU's nine-game unbeaten streak vs. WMU.
If you use just one MSU note this week, perhaps this should be it
Red-hot rookies -- Michigan State's freshmen have had a big impact this season, with two rookies (left wing Brian Maloney and defenseman John-Michael Liles) among the top five on the team in scoring. Overall, Spartan freshmen lead MSU's classes in points and trail only the junior class in goals (28 to 24). A breakdown of MSU's goals, assists and points by class:
Class (Skaters) G-A-P PPG SHG GWG Seniors (3) 14-45-59 3 2 2 Juniors (6) 28-34-62 10 1 5 Sophomores (4) 20-13-34 7 3 5 Freshmen (7) 24-39-63 10 1 5
We encourage you to use more notes ... perhaps these
Hall of fame -- Sophomore right wing Adam Hall leads the CCHA and is tied for seventh nationally with 17 goals, including one in each of the last three games. Hall leads the Spartans in goals, power-play goals (six), game-winning goals (five) and short-handed goals (three). Hall, who has 23 goals in his last 30 games dating back to last season, is tied with Rensselaer's Brad Tapper for the national lead in game-winning goals.
Taking too long -- After going 30 games without playing an overtime (its longest stretch without an OT since 1981-82), Michigan State has gone to overtime in four of its last six games.
A special team -- Michigan State leads the CCHA with a 20.9 percent power play and an 89.6 percent penalty kill. The Spartans have scored three or more PPGs in a game four times this year and are 12-for-51 (23.5 percent) in their last 10 games.
In CCHA games, MSU has scored almost as many short-handed goals (six) as it has allowed power-play goals (seven). The Spartans have killed off 52 of their last 55 (94.5 percent) and 29 of their last 30 (96.7 percent) short-handed situations.
In elite company -- Freshman left wing Brian Maloney, who has a three-game point-scoring streak (1-3-4) and has 5-6-11 in his last 10 games, scored his 10th goal of the season Friday night. Maloney joins Mike York, Shawn Horcoff, Rustyn Dolyny and Adam Hall as the only Spartans to record double-digits in goals as freshmen in the last five years. Maloney is tied for second among CCHA freshmen in scoring with 19 points (10-9).
Super Shawn -- Senior center and team captain Shawn Horcoff has 42 points on the year, good for second in the nation behind Wisconsin's Steve Reinprecht (44 points). Horcoff leads the nation in assists with 33.
Horcoff is one assist shy of the best single-season assist total at Michigan State in the past five years (Mike York had 34 in 1997-98) and could become the first Spartan to record 50 assists in a season since Peter White in 1991-92. Horcoff has had a hand in 42 of MSU's 86 goals (48.8 percent), including 17 of MSU's 31 power-play goals (54.8 percent). He has either scored or assisted on nine of MSU's 17 game-winning goals. Horcoff has had 13 multiple-point games in 27 outings this year, including seven games with three or more points.
Nothing comes easily -- Michigan State is 2-3-2 in its last seven games. During that time, the Spartans have averaged 33.9 shots on goal per game (to their opponents' 21.7) and have scored 2.29 goals per game (to their opponents' 2.57).
Spartan Hockeytown -- The Spartans have won 11 of their last 12 games at Joe Louis Arena, where they face Lake Superior Saturday night. MSU has won 14 of its last 16 games at the Joe as well.
Four score -- Michigan State is outscoring opponents 8-1 in four-on-four action this year.
Let the Goode times roll -- Saturday night sophomore forward Joe Goodenow made his return from a hip injury suffered last August at U.S. National Junior tryouts. Goodenow, who had three goals and 10 assists (13 points) while skating on the second line last season, had surgery in the fall.
Damon's: the place for wins -- Michigan State is 0-3-0 when junior left wing Damon Whitten is not in the lineup.
Fast starters -- Michigan State has outscored opponents 19-3 in the first period of its last 13 games.
Fast starters II -- Michigan State has not allowed a goal in the first three minutes of a game this season and not in the first six minutes of its last 14 games. The Spartans are outscoring opponents in the first (3-1) and last (4-2) minutes of a period.
Spreading the wealth -- Eleven different players have combined for the Spartans' 16 goals in their last seven games.
Homecoming I -- Head coach Ron Mason was the first head coach in Lake Superior hockey history. Inducted in the LSSU Hall of Fame in 1996, he led the Lakers to a 129-47-8 (.728) record from 1966-73, including the NAIA championship in 1972.
Homecoming II -- MSU freshmen Kris Koski and Ryan Miller played for the Soo Indians of the North American Hockey League.
It's no longer over at one -- Saturday night against WMU marked the first time this year that the Spartans had lost after scoring first (15-1-2). MSU is 0-1-2 when scoring first in its last four games.
O from the D -- Michigan State defensemen have combined for 18 goals after combining for 13 goals all of last season.
Looking for double digits -- Michigan State has won nine straight against Lake Superior, the longest streak in series history. The Spartans have only run up 10-game winning streaks on opponents eight times: vs. Miami (16 games and 14 games), vs. Minnesota-Duluth (11 games), vs. Ohio State (14 games and 12 games), vs. Ohio University (10 games), vs. Ontario Agricultural College (15 games) and vs. Western Michigan (10 games). The most recent such streak was the 12-game winning streak vs. Miami (1/9/88 to 1/17/92).
TICKETS AVAILABLE -- Bench seats ($14) are available for Senior Night, March 4 vs. Notre Dame. Tickets can be purchased at the MSU Athletic Ticket Office (800-GO-STATE).
INJURY REPORT -- Fr. F Pat Brush (left knee injury, out indefinitely), Fr. D Mike Porter (left shoulder injury, out for the season).
CURRENT POINT-SCORING STREAKS: 3 games: Brian Maloney (1-3-4), Shawn Horcoff (0-4-4), Adam Hall (3-0-3).
MSU CAREER LEADERS vs. LAKE SUPERIORPlayer (Yr., Pos.) StatisticsShawn Horcoff (Sr., C) 11 GP, 3-5-8Adam Hall (So., RW) 5 GP, 5-1-6Rustyn Dolyny (Jr., F) 8 GP, 3-1-4Mike Weaver (Sr., D) 12 GP, 1-3-4Brad Hodgins (Sr., D) 12 GP, 0-4-4Joe Blackburn (Jr., G) 5-0-0, 1.15, .937
