Michigan State University Athletics
Hockey Enters Final Four Weeks Of Regular Season
2/7/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Feb. 7, 2000
Fri., Feb. 11 vs. Northern Michigan, Munn Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 12 vs. Northern Michigan, Munn Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m.
The Week -- The Michigan State hockey team, which split (a 3-0 win and a 3-1 loss) in a series against Lake Superior last weekend, returns to action this Friday and Saturday against Northern Michigan. The Spartans (18-9-2 overall, 13-7-1 CCHA), ranked 10th in the nation, face the seventh-ranked Wildcats (19-7-2 overall, 14-4-2 CCHA) at Munn Ice Arena (6,470) at 7:05 p.m. EST both nights. Northern Michigan is currently second in the CCHA, with MSU three points back in a tie for third. Friday's game can be seen on AT&T Cable Systems in the Lansing area (Ch. 13 or 17), with Eric Peasley and Joe Campbell calling the action. Saturday, FOX Sports Net (DirecTV Ch. 636, also shown on the web at www.foxsports.com) will show the game live, with Ken Daniels calling play-by-play, Billy Jaffe on color and Shireen Saski rinkside. 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 855 career victories, boasting an 855-363-72 (.691) overall record. He has a 566-253-58 (.678) mark at MSU.
Northern Michigan head coach Rick Comley (Lake Superior '72) owns a 550-444-60 record in his 27-year career, including a 491-398-57 record in 24 years with the Wildcats. Comley was a former player and assistant coach for Ron Mason at Lake Superior.
Quoting Coach Mason --
On the Spartans: "We've been playing hard and putting a lot of good shots on net. We just haven't finished and I have no answer for that. I'm not worried about our team right now, because we've got a great group of guys who all care about winning and work really hard."
On facing Northern Michigan: "We are facing a team which is the best team in the league right now. They just beat a team 6-3 and 7-1 which we couldn't get a win against and struggled to get goals. We are going to have to be at our very best to be able to compete with them."
The Series vs. the Wildcats -- Michigan State leads Northern Michigan all-time, 12-10-2, entering the 25th and 26th meetings. MSU leads 6-4-1 in Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans are 5-2-2 against NMU since the Wildcats rejoined the CCHA. At home, the Spartans have won three in a row and are 3-0-1 in the last four, since a 3-2 loss Dec. 19, 1985.
About the Wildcats -- Northern Michigan is 19-7-2 overall and 14-4-2 in the CCHA, just a point behind first-place Michigan. The Wildcats, who are coming off a sweep of Western Michigan (6-3 and 7-1), are 9-3-0 on the road this year. Roger Trudeau (16-13-29) and J.P. Vigier (14-12-26) are the offensive leaders, with rookie Chris Gobert (14-8-22) chipping in as well. Dan Ragusett (14-4-1, 2.14, .903) has played the majority of the minutes in goal.
Lake Superior Recap
Freshman goaltender Ryan Miller made 22 saves in his return to the city where he played junior hockey, shutting out Lake Superior, 3-0, in Sault Ste. Marie Thursday night. The Spartans got goals in each period, as Rustyn Dolyny, Joe Goodenow and Shawn Horcoff scored for MSU. Horcoff added an assist as well.
Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena, Lake Superior scored 24 seconds into the game, setting the tone for a 3-1 Laker win. The Spartans bounced back to tie the score just over four minutes after the first goal on the power play, but they were 0-for-9 on the PP the rest of the way. MSU outshot the Lakers 38-28, but Jayme Platt stopped 37 shots for the Lakers.
If you use just one MSU note this week, perhaps this should be it
Not coming easily -- In the nine games since winning the Great Lakes Invitational, Michigan State is 3-4-2. MSU has outshot each opponent, but Spartan opponents are posting a .939 save percentage in that time. MSU is outshooting opponents by an average of 34.8 to 22.4, but only outscoring opponents 2.22 to 2.00.
We encourage you to use more notes ... perhaps these
Horcoff is on -- Senior center and team captain Shawn Horcoff has a five-game point-scoring streak and has had a hand in six of MSU's last eight goals (75 percent).
Horcoff is on II -- Horcoff has 45 points on the year, good for second in the nation behind Wisconsin's Steve Reinprecht (47 points). Horcoff leads the nation in assists with 35.
Horcoff is one assist shy of the best single-season assist total at Michigan State in the past six years (Rem Murray had 36 in 1994-95) 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 45 of MSU's 90 goals (50 percent), including 19 of MSU's 33 power-play goals (57.6 percent). He has either scored or assisted on 10 of MSU's 18 game-winning goals. Horcoff has had 14 multiple-point games in 29 outings this year, including seven games with three or more points.
Natural born killers -- MSU, which leads the CCHA with a 90.4 penalty killing percentage (93.8 percent in CCHA games), has killed off 39 of its last 40 short-handed situations (97.5 percent), including each of its last 12. In CCHA games, the Spartans have scored almost as many short-handed goals (six) as they have allowed power-play goals (seven).
Power surge -- Michigan State also leads the CCHA on the power play, with a 20.1 percent success rate in all games (17.4 percent in conference games, fourth in the CCHA). The Spartans have scored one PPG in five of their last six games.
Stretch run -- Michigan State enters the final four weeks of the CCHA regular season just four points shy of first-place Michigan as the Spartans quest for their third straight CCHA regular-season championship. The Spartans have three remaining conference games against the two teams ahead of them in the standings (Michigan and Northern Michigan, plus one non-conference game against Michigan), as well as two games each against 12th-place Alaska Fairbanks and fifth-place Notre Dame.
Blank stare -- Last Thursday night's shutout of Lake Superior was Michigan State's sixth of the year, tying the single-season school record originally set in 1997-98. It was the fifth shutout of the year for freshman goaltender Ryan Miller, one shy of Chad Alban's individual school record set in 1997-98. Miller has four shutouts in CCHA games, one shy of the conference record set by Western Michigan's Marc Magliarditi in 1995-96.
Miller, who played both games last weekend for the first time this season, is 3-1-1 in his last five starts with a 1.38 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage. He leads the CCHA with a 1.42 GAA and a .932 save percentage (1.33 and .937 in conference games).
Coaching connection -- Ron Mason recruited Rick Comley to Lake Superior, luring the NMU head coach away from Detroit Red Wings training camp. Comley played for Mason at Lake Superior and was a team captain before joining the coaching staff as an assistant coach. When Mason left for Bowling Green in 1973, Comley began his head coaching career.
Y ask y? -- Junior Rustyn Dolyny, who has been able to move back to his natural position of right wing with the return of sophomore center Joe Goodenow from injury, has started the Spartans' scoring in each of the last three games and five times on the year. He scored the Spartans' first goal seven times last year.
Dolyny, who has 10-10-20 this year, is three points shy of becoming the 56th Spartan to record 100 career points. He has 48 goals and 49 assists (97 points) in just over two and a half seasons with the Spartans.
20/20 vision -- Michigan State has a chance this weekend to reach 20 victories for the 18th time in the last 19 years.
Goode for the goose and the gander -- Sophomore center Joe Goodenow scored his first goal last Thursday night in just his second game back from a preseason hip injury. Goodenow, who had three goals and 10 assists (13 points) last year, had missed the first four months of the season.
Hall of fame -- Sophomore right wing Adam Hall is second in the CCHA and is tied for 12th nationally with 17 goals. Hall leads the Spartans in goals, game-winning goals (five) and short-handed goals (three). Hall, who has 23 goals in his last 32 games dating back to last season, is tied for the national lead in game-winning goals.
A group of winners -- Eleven different players have combined for Michigan State's 18 game-winning goals.
Four score -- Michigan State is outscoring opponents 8-1 in four-on-four action this year.
Fast starters -- Michigan State has outscored opponents 21-4 in the first period of its last 15 games.
Poll gazing -- Michigan State slipped to 10th in this week's USCHO national poll, its lowest ranking since falling out of the top 10 in the March 3, 1997, poll. Still, this marks the 61st straight week that MSU has been in the top 10 since that March 3, 1997, poll.
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 (30 to 24). A breakdown of MSU's goals, assists and points by class:
Class (Skaters) G-A-Points PPG SHG GWG Seniors (3) 15-47-62 3 2 2 Juniors (6) 30-34-64 12 1 6 Sophomores (4) 21-15-37 7 3 5 Freshmen (7) 24-41-65 10 1 5
Get the sensation! -- Calder Trophy candidate Mike York, who leads all NHL rookies in goals with 17, visited his former teammates over the NHL All-Star break. York stands fourth on the New York Rangers in scoring (17-17-34) and shares the team lead in goals with Adam Graves and John MacLean.
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
5 games: Shawn Horcoff (1-6-7)
3 games: Rustyn Dolyny (3-0-3)
MSU CAREER LEADERS vs. NORTHERN MICHIGAN
Player (Yr., Pos.) StatisticsRustyn Dolyny (Jr., RW) 8 GP, 4-4-8Shawn Horcoff (Sr., C) 8 GP, 2-5-7Brad Hodgins (Sr., D) 9 GP, 2-4-6Mike Weaver (Sr., D) 8 GP, 0-5-5Andrew Bogle (Jr., C) 9 GP, 2-1-3Joe Blackburn (Jr., G) 2-2-1, 2.36, .900Mike Gresl (Sr., G) 1-0-0, 3.00, .897
SPARTANS IN THE CCHA
Team (Overall) CCHA Pts1. Michigan (20-7-1) 15-5-1 312. Northern Michigan (19-7-2) 14-4-2 303. MICHIGAN STATE (18-9-2) 13-7-1 27 Lake Superior (14-13-1) 13-8-1 275. Notre Dame (12-14-6) 9-8-5 236. Nebraska-Omaha (10-13-5) 8-9-5 21 Miami (12-11-3) 9-8-3 218. Ferris State (16-12-2) 9-11-2 209. Western Michigan (9-14-3) 8-11-3 1910. Bowling Green (11-15-0) 8-12-0 1611. Ohio State (9-16-3) 5-13-2 1212. Alaska Fairbanks (5-19-2) 3-18-1 7
MULTIPLE-GOAL GAMES (MR: most recent)
Player Thisyr. Career MRAdam Hall 3 7 12/11/99Brian Maloney 3 3 1/13/00Rustyn Dolyny 2 9 11/27/99Shawn Horcoff 1 7 10/29/99J-M Liles 1 1 11/19/99Damon Whitten 1 1 10/16/99Bogle, Hodgins, Weaver: 1 each in career
MULTIPLE-POINT GAMES (MR: most recent)
Player Thisyr. Career MRShawn Horcoff 14 36 2/3/00Rustyn Dolyny 4 23 11/27/99J-M Liles 6 6 1/22/00Adam Hall 5 9 12/11/99Brian Maloney 5 5 1/29/00Brad Hodgins 3 9 11/27/99Damon Whitten 4 8 12/29/99Sean Patchell 2 3 12/29/99John Nail 2 3 1/22/00Troy Ferguson 2 2 12/29/99Brad Fast 2 2 11/13/99Mike Weaver 1 6 1/14/00Andrew Bogle 1 5 12/5/99Joe Goodenow 0 1 1/1/99A. Hutchinson 0 1 1/9/99
