Icers Ready For CCHA Set With Northern Michigan

10/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

Oct. 25, 2007

Michigan State hosts Northern Michigan in its CCHA-opening series this weekend. NMU opened CCHA play last weekend at home against Michigan, and fell 3-1, 4-3. MSU is coming off a sweep of non-conference games against Colgate, 6-3, 2-1.

Date/Time: October 26-27, 2007, 7:05 p.m. ET; Munn Ice Arena
Tickets: A limited number of tickets remain. Purchase Tickets

Live Statistics: |
Audio: WJIM 1240 AM/ msuspartans.com
Scott Moore (PBP) and Rob Woodward '00 (Analysis)
Television: (Fri) Comcast Local; (Sat.) Comcast East Lansing
Live Video Webstream: All-Access Subscription required Watch
Download MSU Hockey Notes (PDF)

series history
The Spartans own a 27-18-2 record all-time against their conference rivals, which includes four straight victories in the series. MSU swept the Wildcats with identical 3-2 decisions last season in Marquette. MSU mentor Rick Comley spent 26 years at Northern Michigan as the head coach of the hockey program - he recorded 538 of his 716 career coaching victories as the head coach of the Wildcats. Since coming to State, Comley is 7-7-0 against his former charges, which includes a 4-1 record at Munn.

last time out
The Spartans are coming off a weekend sweep of ECAC Hockey entry Colgate, (6-3. 2-1).
Senior captain Bryan Lerg tied a career high with four assists while Matt Schepke and Dustin Gazley each scored twice as Michigan State rolled in its home opener on Friday. Michigan State jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one period, and tacked on a pair in the first 2:29 in the second frame to jump out to a 5-0 lead and coast from there. Schepke was credited with the first Spartan goal, the first for MSU on the 2007-08 season, at 8:35 of the opening period - Daniel Vukovic unleashed a rocket from the right point that rebounded off the end boards, and Schepke was on the doorstep to stuff it past Dekanich at the right post.
Gazley put up the first two goals of his collegiate career at 14:58 and 19:19 - the second a great play where he corralled a rebound at the right post. All alone in front of the net, Gazley moved right-to-left across the top of the crease with a nifty toe-drag and lifted the puck over the left leg of Dekanich.
Schepke tacked on his second at 1:42 of the middle period, and Nick Sucharski followed suit at 2:29 off an assist from freshman Corey Tropp, his first collegiate point. Schepke's goal had chased the Colgate netminder, as Dekanich made way for Justin Kowalkoski. The backup had no better fate, allowing Sucharski's tally less than a minute after entering the game.
Tyler Burton broke up the shutout at 14:02 of the period, with the teams skating four-on-four. He got assists from Jesse Winchester and Matt Torti on his second goal of the season. That cut the lead to 5-1 as the teams headed to the second intermission Justin Abdelkader put his first of the season on the board at the four minute mark of the final frame, getting the "09 line" its first points of the season as an assist went to linemate Tim Crowder and freshman blueliner Jeff Petry.
Colgate answered with a goal at 11:36, as Brian Day took a cross-crease pass from Joe DiBello and beat Jeff Lerg low stick-side. The Raiders tacked on another power-play goal at 14:21, credited to Jason Williams. Jeff Lerg made 22 saves in the winning effort, while Mark Dekanich made six saves and allowed four goals in 21:42 of work. Kowalkoski made 17 saves in just under 39 minutes between the pipes. MSU wrapped up its first home weekend with a 2-1 victory on Saturday. The Spartans opened the scoring at 6:45 of the opening frame while skating on the power play. Vukovic ripped a slapshot from the point, which was redirected by winger Tim Kennedy at the base of the left faceoff circle past the stick-hand of Dekanich for the junior's first goal of the season.
MSU doubled its lead at 9:13. Michael Ratchuk made a nifty play at the right point to keep the puck in the zone, and passed off across the high slot to Crowder. Crowder redirected it to Abdelkader in the right faceoff circle, who took the puck, made one stride forward, and ripped a shot over the glove-hand shoulder of Dekanich for his second goal of the weekend.
With Crowder already in the box and 1:15 expired on his penalty, Ryan Turek was whistled for a cross-check at 15:00. Skating five-on-three, it took the Raiders just 14 seconds to cut the lead in half, as Jesse Winchester fed the puck through the slot for Burton at the right post, who tapped the puck past Jeff Lerg.
Burton had a chance to knot the game at the 11:01 mark, when he was awarded a penalty shot after being hauled down on a breakaway. He attempted to go high, stick-side, but the netminder looked effortless in knocking away the offering with his blocker to preserve the one-goal lead. The teams played a physical, scoreless third period, but Jeff Lerg made five saves (23 total) to preserve the one-goal lead. The Spartans pressed to add to their lead as well, but Dekanich made 12 of his 25 saves in the final frame to keep the Raiders close.

scouting the wildcats
Northern Michigan, under the tutelage of former NMU skater and former NHL assistant coach Walt Kyle, is off to a 1-3 start on the season. The Wildcats dropped a 3-1 decision to Michigan last Friday, and fell in a wild, 4-3 game the following evening. NMU rallied to tie the game (3-3) at the 19:19 mark of the final period on an extra-attacker goal by freshman Phil Fox, but the Wolverines got the game-winner from Chad Kolarik with just :22 remaining to send Northern to the tough loss.
Junior Nick Sirota has led the offensive charge, pitting up two goals and three assists in four games. Two others - freshman Fox and Jared Brown - have also scored twice. Sophomore Brian Stewart has earned all four decisions in net, playing nearly two-thirds of the available time in net and posting a 3.77 GAA and .868 save percentage.
NMU's penalty kill has struggled early, allowing opponents to convert on seven of 25 power play chances (28%). Four of the seven goals allowed last weekend to Michigan came on the power play.

whitewash, the wrong way
MSU was shut out in its season opener for the first time 2002, a 5-0 loss to Denver in the Maverick Stampede. That was the first game behind the MSU bench for head coach Rick Comley.

margin-al
The 6-0 loss at North Dakota was the first time that MSU had lost by six goals since Jan. 3, 2003 at Lake Superior State (7-1). It was also the largest losing margin for the Spartans since dropping an 11-1 decision to Michigan at Joe Louis Arena on Jan. 30, 1993.

the number ones
The loss to North Dakota snapped a two-game winning streak for the Spartans against teams ranked No. 1 in the national polls. In last year's NCAA Tournament, the Spartans defeated both Notre Dame (2-1) and Boston College (3-1) when they held the top ranking.

home cooking
Dating back to last weekend, Michigan State plays 10 of 12 games in the friendly confines of Munn Ice Arena. The lone road trip is a significant one, however - to the CCHA's furthest outpost, Fairbanks. The Spartans head to Alaska the first weekend in November, but MSU will host two-game sets with Mercyhurst and Miami before hosting the College Hockey Showcase the weekend after Thanksgiving.

preseason honors
The Spartans were selected first in the CCHA pre-season media poll, and second in the CCHA coaches' pre-season survey. The Spartans earned 25 first-place votes in the media poll and 701 total points, followed by Miami (21 and 667). In the coaches poll, the Spartans had a slight edge in first-place votes, slotted first on six ballots, but Miami (five first-place votes) finished with 114 points, one ahead of Michigan State, to earn the top spot in the poll. Defending CCHA regular-season and tournament champion Notre Dame was selected third and Michigan fourth in both polls. Four Spartans earned spots on the CCHA pre-season All-Conference team. Jeff Lerg was one of two consensus selections, and was the first team goaltender; Tim Kennedy earned a spot on the second team as the fourth-highest vote-getter among forwards. Both Bryan Lerg and Justin Abdelkader were honorable mention picks.

more preseason kudos
Jeff Lerg has been named a pre-season first team All-American by InsideCollegeHockey.com

law of averages
MSU's roster averages: 6-0, 188 lbs., and the average age is 20 years 11 months.

high-yield returns
Michigan State is one of four teams in the CCHA that returns 20 letterwinners this season, the highest number in the CCHA. The Spartans return 83.9 percent of their goal scoring from a year ago (115 goals), tops in the league. MSU returns 73.9 percent (263) of its points from a year ago, which ranks second in the CCHA behind Miami (81.5%). The Spartans return five of their top six forwards: seniors Bryan Lerg and Chris Mueller and the all-junior line of Tim Kennedy, Justin Abdelkader, and Tim Crowder.

if it was baseball, they'd win the cy young
Michigan State has won 20+ games in 15 consecutive seasons.

let's end this streak
The Spartans will look to snap a rather inauspicious streak: neither of the last two NCAA titlists made the tournament the year after they won the championship: both the Denver Pioneers (2005 champions) and Wisconsin Badgers (2006 titlists) failed to qualify for the 16-team field.

home sweet home
In 2007-08, MSU will play 20 regular-season games at Munn Arena, compared to 15 a year ago. Seventeen of the 20 will be televised.

second-half surges
During the Rick Comley era, the Spartans have traditionally been a second-half team. The first three months (October, November, December) of the previous four seasons (2002-06), the Spartans went 37-34-7 (.519), then compiled a 55-27-8 mark in January, February, and March (.656). The trend of second-half surges continued into 2007, as Michigan State went 19-6-2 its final 27 games.

cardiac kids
On 20 occasions in 2006-07, the Spartans scored a goal in the first or final minute of a period. MSU scored four times in the opening 60 seconds, and the Spartans tallied 16 goals in the final minute of play in a period. Eight of those goals were empty-netters, but one - Justin Abdelkader's at Northern Michigan on Dec. 9 - stood as the game-winner in a 3-2 MSU win. Michigan State owned a record of 10-1-1 in games in which it scored a goal in the final minute of a period, and 2-2-0 when it scored a goal in the opening minute of a frame.

oh-so-special
Special teams were crucial to the Spartans' postseason success in 2007, particularly its prowess on the penalty kill. MSU's man-down unit was an impressive 16-for-17 in the NCAA Tournament; the PK extinguished 42 of its last 46 chances against (91.3 percent), and did not allow a man-advantage goal in seven of its last 10 games. On the year, the penalty kill executed at 86.7 percent (170 of 196).

netminding workhorse
Jeff Lerg started all 42 games last season and played 2465:06 in the Spartan net, which calculated to 96.9 percent of the time possible - the highest percentage of any netminder in the CCHA and the second- highest percentage in the country. Cory Schneider of Boston College topped the list having played 99.2% of available minutes (2516:33). He has played every minute of every game so far this year. Lerg has minded the crease in 58 straight games, two off the school mark of 60 set by Joe Selinger from Jan. 15, 1957-March 14, 1959.

in the annals ...
Jeff Lerg has moved into the top 10 in several netminding categories at Michigan State: Career wins (45), eighth; career games played (73), T-10th; career GAA (2.22), third; career save percentage (.920), T-second; career shutouts (6), T-fifth; Wins in a season (26), T-fifth; games played, season (42), T-first; saves, season (1,042), fourth.

schep-ping up
Junior Matt Schepke had a pair of goals and an assist in Friday's game against the Raiders, not only marking his first multiple-goal game of his MSU career, but also tying his entire goal output from 2006-07. He had a 2-3-5 stat line as a sophomore, his first season at MSU.

collegiate firsts
Freshman Dustin Gazley had an impressive home debut, netting a pair of goals in the Friday victory as well. Jeff Petry and Corey Tropp also recorded their first collegiate points last weekend.

double dips
Gazley and Schepke's two-goal outings on Friday was the first time that MSU had two, two-goal scorers in the same game since Dec. 1, 2006 against Ohio State when Tim Kennedy and Chris Mueller each scored twice in a 4-1 victory.

stopper
Jeff Lerg stopped a second-period penalty shot attempt by Colgate's Tyler Burton to preserve a 2-1 MSU lead that held up as the final. It was the first time an MSU goalie had stopped a penalty shot since Chad Alban denied Brendan Concannon of UMass-Lowell in the 1996 NCAA West Regional.

one stops `em, the other puts `em in
Bryan Lerg emerged as one of the most dangerous - and exciting to watch - forwards in the CCHA. Lerg recorded four assists on Oct. 19 against Colgate, tying his career best that he set on Oct. 29, 2005 at Cornell. It also tied his single-game high for points, set in the same game. A year ago, his 23 goals led the Spartans and bettered his single-season career high by eight markers. The senior led the country last year with eight game-winning goals, and in addition, he assisted on five other Spartan game-winners. His eight game-winning goals is tied for the highest single-season total all-time at Michigan State, shared with Mitch Messier (1986-87) and Steve Beadle (1989-90).

iron men
Only five Spartans appeared in all 42 contests last year, and four of the five return to the roster this season: alternate captains Chris Mueller, Daniel Vukovic, Tim Kennedy, and Jeff Lerg. The fifth was graduated senior Tyler Howells.

2007 career superlatives
Bryan Lerg's 23 goals bettered his previous single-season best of 15, set as a sophomore. Justin Abdelkader's 15 goals pushed him past the 10 he netted as a freshman, and Chris Mueller topped his career best of 11, with 16 on the year.
Daniel Vukovic scored six goals after netting just one in his first two collegiate seasons combined and had 12 points on the year after a combined five in his freshman and sophomore campaigns. Jeff Dunne, who had six assists as a freshman and no points in an injury-shortened sophomore year, netted 10 helpers. and scored his first career goal in the Spartans' final regular-season game.

trends
In 2006-07, Michigan State owned an 18-4-0 record when Justin Abdelkader registered a point, was 14-0-0 when Chris Mueller scored a goal, went 8-1-1 when Tim Crowder lit the lamp, 12-0-1 when Jim McKenzie had an assist, and 9-0-0 when Jeff Dunne added a helper.

an even dozen
A total of 12 former Spartans are currently on NHL rosters: David Booth (Florida), Rod Brind'Amour (Carolina), Adam Hall (Pittsburgh), Shawn Horcoff (Edmonton), Duncan Keith (Chicago), John-Michael Liles (Colorado), Ryan Miller (Buffalo), Jim Slater (Atlanta), Bryan Smolinski (Montreal), Mike Weaver (Vancouver) and Mike York (Phoenix).

up next
The Spartans will continue their CCHA schedule with a pair of games at Alaska before returning home for six straight home games in November.