Michigan State University Athletics
Spartans Aim For Third Straight CCHA Postseason Title
3/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
March 14, 2002
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THIS WEEK
Michigan State aims for its third straight Central Collegiate Hockey Association postseason title as the Spartans (26-7-5 overall, 18-6-4 CCHA) head to Detroit to take part in the CCHA "Super Six" Championship at Joe Louis Arena.
The Spartans, the tournament's second seed, are joined by top-seed Michigan, no. 3-seed Northern Michigan, fourth-seed Northern Michigan, no. 7-seed Ohio State and eighth-seed Notre Dame. MSU and Michigan have earned byes into Saturday's semifinal round.
The weekend schedule (all times are EST):
QUARTERFINAL ROUND - FRIDAY, MARCH 15
Northern Michigan vs. Notre Dame, 4:05 p.m.
Alaska Fairbanks vs. Ohio State, 7:35 p.m.
SEMIFINAL ROUND - SATURDAY, MARCH 16
Michigan vs. lowest-seeded quarterfinal winner, 2:05 p.m.
Michigan State vs. highest-seeded quarterfinal winner, 5:35 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP - SUNDAY, MARCH 17
Semifinal winners, 3:05 p.m.
RADIO
All Michigan State CCHA "Super Six" Championship games can be heard live on WVFN-AM 730 "The Fan". Play-by-play man Scott Moore, in his fifth season as the radio voice of Spartan hockey, will call the action from Joe Louis Arena. He's joined by former Spartan All-American goaltender Joe Blackburn, who provides color commentary.
Fans can also hear live play-by-play action of MSU hockey via the Internet. Broadcasts can be accessed by logging on to www.msuspartans.com, the official website of Spartan athletics, or www.espn.com.
TELEVISION
Saturday's CCHA Championship semifinals and Sunday's league title game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net Detroit to more than 2.4 million homes in Michigan, northwestern Ohio and northern Indiana. Matt Shepard will handle play-by-play duties and is joined by analyst Fred Pletsch and rinkside reporter Shireen Saski.
Both semifinals will be televised live beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday. Sunday's championship game will be broadcast on a tape-delay basis starting at 6 p.m.
TICKET UPDATE
Reserved seating is available for the CCHA "Super Six" Championship. Tickets prices range from $9-25 for the general public and can be purchased through the MSU ticket office at (517) 355-1610 or 1-800-GO STATE. Fans can also buy tickets by contacting the Joe Louis Arena box office at (313) 396-7575 or TicketMaster at (248) 645-6666.
General admission tickets for the CCHA Championship, priced at $7.50, are available for students of conference member institutions with a valid student identification card. They can be purchased at both the MSU ticket office or the Joe Louis Arena box office.
MSU INJURY UPDATE (as of March 14) Junior wing Brian Maloney (Bassano, Alta.) will miss the rest of the season after bruising his kidney and breaking two ribs during the second period of the Spartans' 4-3 overtime win vs. Bowling Green at Munn Ice Arena March 8.
THE SPARTANS... Are the no. 2 seed in the CCHA playoffs for the fifth time in school history. On each of the four previous occasions (1983, 1984, 1987 and 2000) MSU was seeded second in the league tournament, the team went on to capture the conference postseason crown. Haven't lost a league postseason game since March 19, 1999, when they fell to Northern Michigan in the CCHA tournament semifinals at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Since that defeat, MSU is 10-0 against conference foes in the playoffs and has claimed back-to-back league tournament titles. Are trying to become the first team to win three straight CCHA postseason championships since MSU alum Jeff Jackson guided Lake Superior State to titles in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Have won 10 CCHA playoff titles in its 20 seasons in the league, the most of any school. Bowling Green ranks second to MSU in that category with five conference tournament championships, three of which came during Ron Mason's tenure with the Falcons. Are making the mid-March trek to Joe Louis Arena for the CCHA Championship for the 20th time in 21 years. The lone time the Spartans missed out on the trip to the Motor City was 1991. Have given up one goal in their last four postseason games at Joe Louis Arena. The Spartans defeated Notre Dame (4-0) and Nebraska-Omaha (6-0) en route to the 2000 CCHA tournament championship and beat Bowling Green (2-1) and Michigan (2-0) to take home last season's league postseason crown. Come into Joe Louis Arena this weekend with a 64-15 (.810) all-time mark in CCHA playoff competition, tops in the conference. Have had coach Ron Mason on the bench for all 64 Spartan wins in league postseason play -- he posted a 12-4 record in the conference playoffs while at Bowling Green. His all-time CCHA playoff record currently stands at 76-19 (.800) and he ranks first all-time in league playoff wins and winning percentage.
THE MSU HEAD COACH
Ron Mason (St. Lawrence '64) is in his 23rd season with the Spartans and 36th year as a college coach. The winningest mentor in college hockey history, Mason has piloted the Spartans to a 634-268-69 (.689) mark since taking over for the legendary Amo Bessone in 1979. His overall record currently stands at 923-378-83 (.697), with win no. 900 coming Oct. 20 vs. Ferris State at Munn Ice Arena.
Mason guided MSU to its second NCAA hockey championship in 1986 and his 21 NCAA Tournament appearances are an all-time record. He also has taken eight teams to the NCAA Frozen Four, including seven Spartan squads. Mason has more victories at one school than all but two coaches in NCAA hockey history. He's surpassed by only Bob Peters of Bemidji State (703 wins), who retired at the end of the 2000-01 season, and Jack Parker of Boston University (655). His number of wins with the Green and White are more than all but five coaches have during their collegiate careers.
The seven-time Central Collegiate Hockey Association Coach of the Year led the Spartans to league regular-season titles in 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1998, 1999 and 2001. He's also guided MSU to CCHA playoff crowns in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1998, 2000 and 2001. The league honored Mason by renaming the CCHA playoff trophy in his honor last year.
Mason, who won the Spencer Penrose Award as national coach of the year in 1992, has coached 20 Spartans to All-American honors and seen 45 of his former MSU skaters move on to the National Hockey League.
