Spartans Host Miami in CCHA Battle

Nov. 13, 2007

in brief
Michigan State welcomes league-leading Miami to Munn Arena for the Spartans' biggest games of the young season. The RedHawks have played eight conference games (compared to just four for the Spartans) and boast a 9-1 overall record (7-1 CCHA). MSU brings an 8-1 mark (4-0 CCHA) into the Thursday-Friday series.

Date/Time: November 15-16, 2007, 7:05 p.m.; East Lansing, Mich..
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series history
MSU owns a 65-20-5 mark in the all-time series, which includes a 7-3 advantage in the last 10 meetings. The Spartans have won six of the last seven games against the Red Hawks, including four straight at Munn Arena. The teams split the season series last year at Steve Cady Arena - and MSU's victory was the 700th in the head coaching career of Rick Comley.

scouting the red hawks
Miami, the pre-season pick of the CCHA coaches, climbed to a No. 1 national ranking last week on the strength of an 8-0 start, and is coming off a split in Oxford with 2007 CCHA champ Notre Dame.
Rico Blasi's squad has been impressive, particularly with the absence of pre-season Hobey candidate Nate Davis. Classmate Ryan Jones has paced the offensive attack with eight goals and three assists, while junior Justin Mercier has seven goals and three helpers. Standout freshman Carter Camper has 11 points on the season to tie for the team lead in scoring, as he has a team-best eight assists and three goals. Blasi has employed a goalie platoon much of the last two seasons, but junior Jeff Zatkoff has carried the bulk of the load this year - he boasts a 7-1-0 record, .942 save percentage and 1.38 GAA. Senior Charlie Effinger has played in two games, and has an equally-impressive 2.00 GAA and .930 save percentage.

storylines
In addition to being a battle of one-loss teams, the series will feature a battle between the nation's top power play from Michigan State (15-of-46, 32.6%) and the nation's fourth-ranked penalty kill from Miami (95%, 57-of-60). The two teams are among the nation's top scoring squads - Miami leads the country in scoring offense (4.6 goals per game), and MSU is sixth (3.78), and Miami ranks second nationally in scoring defense (1.50).

hot start
MSU has opened its conference record at 4-0 for the first time under head coach Rick Comley. It's the best opening to a conference slate since 1999-2000, when the Spartans opened 10-0.

keep it rollin'
Michigan State has won eight straight games, sharing the longest winning streak in the nation with archrival Michigan. This is MSU's longest winning streak in the Rick Comley era, and the longest since a nine-game skein during the Frozen Four season of 2000-01.

last time out
Michigan State extended its winning streak to eight games with a pair of 6-2 victories over visiting Mercyhurst. The Spartans outshot their opponent, 96-46, in the two-game set, and outscored the Lakers, 12-4. The Spartans went 4-11 on the power play in the series.
Tim Kennedy finished the series with three goals and three assists, while Justin Abdelkader (2g, 2a) and Chris Mueller (goal, 3a) each had four points. Ten Spartans in all had multiple-point weekends, and two freshmen blueliners - Jeff Petry and AJ Sturges - potted their first collegiate tallies. Jeff Lerg extended his consecutive goaltender starts record to 63 games on Friday, and Bobby Jarosz got his first collegiate start on Saturday.

win, place, and show
The CCHA holds the top three spots in both the USA Hockey/USA Today national poll and USCHO.com survey, as Miami, Michigan, and Michigan State occupy the top three spots. The only other league to accomplish this is the WCHA, which held the top three spots in both polls for most of November and December of 2001, and then did it again on Dec. 6, 2004.

an early look at the CCHA race
Miami has jumped out to a lead in the CCHA standings, with 14 points (7-1-0). The Red Hawks, along with Northern Michigan, have played the most conference games, however (8). The Spartans, with just four CCHA games under their belts, are in the lower third of the conference in terms of league games played - Western Michigan and Alaska have also played just four, while Lake Superior has played just two.
The Spartans and Michigan are the only teams, however, to boast perfect CCHA records.

the number ones
The opening-game 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.
MSU gets another shot this weekend, as Miami currently holds the No. 1 ranking in the USCHO.com poll.

home cooking
This weekend's series is the middle of six straight home games for Michigan State. Last weekend, MSU hosted a two-game set with Mercyhurst, and the Spartans host league-leading Miami this weekend before hosting the College Hockey Showcase (Minnesota and Wisconsin) the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Dating back to Oct. 19, Michigan State plays 10 of 12 games in the friendly confines of Munn Ice Arena.

oh-so-special
Michigan State's power play has been nothing short of impressive in recent games. Including a 4-for-11 performance in each of the last two weekends against Alaska and Mercyhurst, the team is now 15-for-46 (.326) on the season, which ranks first both in the CCHA and nationally. The Spartans have registered multiple power-play goals in each of their last five games (11-26, 42.3%).

if you think that's good ...
In MSU's four conference games, the power play has converted eight of 17 chances (.471).

peppered
Michigan State's 52 shots on net against Mercyhurst last Saturday was the most since a 52-shot effort against Wayne State in a 7-2 victory on Nov. 21, 2003

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 titleists made the tournament the year after they won the championship: both the Denver Pioneers (2005 champions) and Wisconsin Badgers (2006 titleists) 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.

tough thirds
The third period is the only one in which MSU does not hold a scoring advantage - the Spartans hold a 14-7 edge in the first period and 12-5 in the middle frame, but have been outscored 10-8 in the final frame.
MSU surrendered eight of those 10 third-period markers in their first four games, however. In that span, the Spartans twice gave up three goals in the third- at North Dakota on Oct. 13, and at home against Northern Michigan on Oct. 26 - and gave up two to Colgate in the final frame on Nov. 19.

offensive stay-at-home defenseman?
Daniel Vukovic registered his 11th point of the season on Saturday, one shy of tying his single-season career best of 12, set last year. He has a point in his last four games, a career best.

more on vuk
Vukovic ranks second nationally in points per game by a defenseman (1.22) and is tied for eighth nationally in assists per game (1.00).

offensive outburst
Tim Kennedy has scored a goal in a career-best seven straight games. He also has multiple-point efforts in four straight tilts and five of his last six. He leads the country in both power play (7) and game-winning goals (4), ranks ninth in the country in points per game (1.56), fourth in goals per game (1.0).

grand forks, streak killer
Kennedy is riding a seven-game point-scoring streak, tying his career high set at the end of last year. Kennedy had scored in seven straight games to end the 2007 season (3/10/07 vs. Nebraska-Omaha - 4/7/07 vs. Boston College;), and had registered 5-5-10 during that streak. His streak was halted by the North Dakota shutout of the Spartans in the season opener, but Kennedy rebounded in the second game of the Colgate series to put up 9-5-14 in the seven games since. He has 14 goals and 10 assists in his last 16 games.

multiplicity
Kennedy leads the Spartans with five multiple-point outings this season, followed by Daniel Vukovic with three. Four MSU players have two: Justin Abdelkader, Bryan Lerg, Matt Schepke, and Michael Ratchuk.
Vukovic entered his senior campaign with two career multiple-point games, which he has already surpassed this year. Ratchuk had two as a freshman, and has tied that total in nine games.

after the seventh game, he rested
Jeff Lerg now owns the school record for consecutive goaltender appearances and games started, (63). The previous mark was held by Joe Selinger from Jan. 15, 1957-March 14, 1959. Lerg's streak ranks second all-time in the NCAA annals for consecutive starts and third in consecutive games played.
Lerg made his 63rd consecutive start last Friday against Mercyhurst. On Saturday, Lerg was relegated to door duty as sophomore Bobby Jarosz got his first collegiate start, and made 24 saves.

back where he belongs
Jeff Lerg has allowed two or fewer goals in each of his last four games. In that span, he boasts a 1.50 GAA and .944 save percentage. It has helped him lower his season GAA a full goal (3.5 to 2.5).

in the annals ...
Jeff Lerg has moved into the top 10 in several netminding categories at Michigan State: Career wins (50), eighth; career games played (81), 10th; career GAA (2.24), third; career save percentage (.918), third; career shutouts (6), T-fifth; Wins in a season (26), T-fifth; games played, season (42), T-first; saves, season (1,042), fourth.

stopper
Jeff Lerg stopped a second-period penalty shot on an attempt by Colgate's Tyler Burton (Oct. 20) 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.

schep-ping up
Matt Schepke has already bettered his sophomore-year point total (2-3-5) with his 4-3-7 scoring line through nine games.

collegiate debuts
The freshman class is finding ways to make an impact in the early part of the season. Five of the six MSU freshmen have recorded their first collegiate goal, with blueliners Jeff Petry and AJ Sturges getting their first on Saturday night. Petry, a regular on the MSU power play, currently leads the class in scoring (1-6-7). Dustin Gazley had an impressive home debut, netting a pair of goals in his first home game (Oct. 19 vs. Colgate). Corey Tropp ranks second among freshmen in scoring (2-3-5) and had a goal last weekend against Mercyhurst. Andrew Rowe played in his first game in green and white on Oct. 26 against Northern, and recorded a goal. Forward Joey Shean has played in three games, and still looks for his first collegiate tally - but has played well in his role when called upon.

double dips
Dustin Gazley and Matt Schepke each had two-goal outings on Oct. 19 vs. Colgate. It 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.

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. Lerg has 98 career points in 136 career games, and brings a three-game point-scoring streak into the Miami series.

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).