Spartans Prepare for GLI Title Defense

Dec. 27, 2007

Michigan State participates in the 43rd annual Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit, Mich. at Joe Louis Arena. In addition to the Spartans, Michigan Tech and Michigan, Providence has been invited to this year's field. MSU will play Michigan Tech in the semifinals this season, while the Wolverines and Friars will play in Friday's firsr game.
The reigning champions of the tournament, the Spartans will be looking for their 12th title in 2007. The Spartans are 41-24-1 (.617) all-time in the holiday event, the highest winning percentage of the three traditional participants.

Date/Time: Dec. 28-29, 2007, Detroit, Mich..
Tickets: A limited number of tickets remain. Order now by calling 313-396-7575 or going online to www.collegehockeyatthejoe.com

Audio: WVFN 730 AM/ msuspartans.com
Scott Moore (PBP) and Rob Woodward `00 (Analysis)
Television: Friday's semifinal games will be carried on FSN Detroit. Saturday's Championship game will air live on Comcast Local and on tape delay (12:30 a.m.) on FSN Detorit. Click here to find out where it's airing in your area live on FSN Plus
Download MSU Hockey Notes (PDF)

series histories
The Spartans will take on Michigan Tech in the semifinals on Dec. 28. The Spartans are 21-3 all-time against Tech in this tournament, and have met 152 times overall in the storied history of the programs. While the Huskies own a 73-77-2 mark all-time, MSU has won the last 11 meetings and 24 of the last 28. The teams have met only in this tournament since 1986, and the Spartans staged a dramatic overtime victory in the 2005 semifinals (3-2 in overtime).
The series record between Michigan and Michigan State in GLI games tipped in favor of the Spartans last season (7-6-1), with MSU winning the title game, 4-1. Should the teams meet in this year's tournament, it would be the first of five meetings of the regular season of the two teams and the first of a possible three at Joe Louis Arena this year.
Overall, Michigan State trails 117-131-17 in the series. MSU and Michigan have met 11 times in the finals of the GLI, and U-M owns six victories in those games.
If the Wolverines are MSU's most-played opponent, Providence is one of the most infrequent - the teams have met just three times, the most recent a two-game NCAA Tournament series in East Lansing in 1985. Providence holds the 2-1-0 edge in the all-time meetings.
recent gli history
MSU has appeared in the GLI final in nine of the last ten years (and 12 of the last 14), and has won 11 tournament titles, its most recent in 2006. Since 1997, MSU is the only traditional participant to win the GLI - the Spartans have won six of the last ten titles, with North Dakota (2001), Boston University (2002), Boston College (2003), and Colorado College (2005) winning the others.
The Spartans are 7-3 under Rick Comley in the GLI, which included the 2004 and 2006 titles. The Spartans have been in the championship game the last four seasons.
scouting the huskies
Michigan Tech started the season with a 5-2 record, but has gone 1-6-2 since Nov. 3 and enters the GLI with a 6-8-2 overall mark, and is 5-6-1 in the CCHA. In its most recent games, MTU skated to a 1-1 tie at Northern Michgian before falling, 2-0, at home against the Wildcats the following evening.
Michigan Tech has been offensively challenged, averaging 2.12 goals per game, which ranks last in the WCHA. A team goals-against average of 2.62 gpg ranks fifth in the conference. The Huskies are a veteran team - only one of MTU's top six scorers is an underclassman, and a pair of juniors patrol the crease. Michael-Lee Teslak owns a 1.72 GAA, good for fourth nationally), while his .934 save percentage ranks 10th. Rob Nolan has appeared in six games, with a 3.56 GAA and .854 save percentage,
A pair of seniors sit atop the scoring charts for coach Jamie Russell's Huskies - Tyler Shelast (7-3-10) and Peter Rouleau (4-5-0). Junior Malcolm Gwilliam ranks third with 3-6-9, while sophomore Drew Dobson leads the squad in assists with eight and ranks fourth with nine points.
last time out
Michigan State posted its second consecutive conference sweep, winning a home-and-home series with Ferris State on Dec. 7-8 to close the first half of the season. The Spartans won a 4-3 contest on Friday in Big Rapids, then took a 4-1 decision on Saturday in the 2007 finale at Munn Arena. Friday's win was the 725th in the career of head coach Rick Comley.

hottest start
MSU finished the pre-holiday portion of its schedule with a 12-3-2 mark, the best halfway-point record in the Rick Comley era and the best since the 2001-02 team - Ron Mason's last - had an identical record in the pre-GLI schedule.
The three Spartan losses have all come to teams ranked No. 1 at the time of the game.
brotherly love
Junior Kurt Kivisto could find himself in an odd situation on Friday - facing off against younger brother, John, who plays for Michigan Tech. The two have never played against one another in an organized hockey game.
league kudos
Tim Crowder was named the CCHA Offensive Player of the Week on Dec. 10, after MSU's last series before the holiday break. Crowder had been snakebitten, with just two goals (in 15 games) entering the weekend - but managed two goals in the third period of each game against Ferris. Crowder now has a 6-7-13 stat line.
Crowder's brother, Paul, was named the WCHA player of the week on the same day for his performance against Alaska-Anchorage.
an early look at the CCHA race
MSU entered the holiday hiatus in fourth place in the CCHA standings, six points behind league-leading Michigan and four behind both Miami and Notre Dame.
MSU has played two fewer conference games than all three of those teams, and has yet to face off against either the Irish or the Wolverines.
roadies
The Spartans have played 11 of their 17 games at home this season, but own a 5-1 mark in six road contests. All five victories have come as part of CCHA sweeps - at Alaska and Lake Superior, and in a home-and-home with Ferris State.
quite the cluster
MSU has played a third of its cluster games, and is 4-0 with sweeps at Lake Superior (3-2, 5-2) and at home against Northern Michigan (5-4, 3-2). Michigan has also swept both upper peninsula schools, and Northern Michigan swept Lake Superior in a home-and-home.
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 returned 20 letterwinners this season, the highest number in the CCHA. The Spartans returned 83.9 percent of their goal scoring from a year ago (115 goals), tops in the league. MSU returned 73.9 percent (263) of its points from a year ago, which ranks second in the CCHA behind Miami (81.5%). The Spartans returned 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
MSU 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. Fourteen of the 20 will be televised.
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.
Michigan State has three losses this season, and all were to teams which held the No. 1 ranking at the time of the game.
streaking
With the sweep of Ferris, the Spartans extended their unbeaten streak to six games (4-0-2), the third-longest in the nation.
MSU entered the break with a four-game winning streak, all in CCHA contests.
fit to be tied
Michigan State played to a pair of ties in the College Hockey Showcase (Nov. 23-24). The Spartans are undefeated in their last 17 overtime games (6-0-11), and have not dropped an overtime contest since Nov. 12, 2005 against Nebraska-Omaha (3-2).
strong starts
MSU has scored the first goal of the game in each of its last five games. The Spartans own a 10-0-1 record when scoring the game's opening tally, and are 2-3-1 when letting its opponent get on the board first.
home cooking?
With a 4-1 victory over Ferris State on Dec. 8, MSU snapped a four-game winless streak at home (0-2-2), its longest streak at Munn since an 0-3-2 streak in November of 2005.
The next month brings six games for the Spartans: four on the road, four at home, and two at Joe Louis Arena (Great Lakes Invitational).
quick hits
Nationally, the Spartans rank fourth in scoring offense (3.53 gpg), fifth in winning percentage (76.5 percent), and has the second-fewest losses of anyone in the country.
oh-so-special
The MSU power play ranks sixth nationally (22/96, 22.9%).
The Spartans have registered multiple power-play tallies in eight of 17 games this season.
peppered
Michigan State's 52 shots on net against Mercyhurst (Nov. 10) was the most since a 52-shot effort against Wayne State in a 7-2 victory on Nov. 21, 2003. The Spartans had their second-highest shot output of the season on Dec. 1 at Lake Superior State (41 shots).
tough thirds
The third period is the only one in which MSU does not hold a scoring advantage - the Spartans hold a 23-13 edge in the first period and 19-12 in the middle frame, but have been outscored 19-18 in the final frame.
MSU surrendered eight of those 19 third-period markers in their first four games, and an additional two were empty-netters against Miami. In that opening four-game 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 and to Wisconsin on Nov. 23.
In its most recent series, MSU outscored Ferris State 4-1 in the final frame.
choir boys?
Only twice this season - the Nov. 3 game at Alaska and the Nov. 30 game at Lake Superior State - has MSU been assessed more penalty minutes in a game than its opponent.
In the Nov. 16 game against Miami, MSU was whistled for season-highs in both penalties (10) and penalty minutes (28).
class system
Which class is the most productive for the Spartans? The eight-member junior class has an average of 0.65 points per game. The overall breakdown:

Class (no.) GP G-A-P PPG
Seniors (5) 80 14-26-40 0.50
Juniors (8) 111 34-45-79 0.71
Sophomores (4) 50 2-15-17 0.34
Freshmen (6) 65 10-22-32 0.49
familiar faces
The all-junior "'09 line" of Tim Kennedy, Justin Abdelkader, and Tim Crowder has skated together in 14 of MSU's 17 games this season, far and away the most consistent line combination. Matt Schepke, Nick Sucharski, and Corey Tropp have skated together five times, the second-highest on the team.
The '09 line has skated together in 46 of MSU's 59 games since the start of the 2006-07 season.
offensive outburst
Tim Kennedy is among national scoring leaders in several categories: he ranks second in game-winning goals (5), third in power-play tallies (7), tied for fifth in shorthanded goals (2), seventh in goals per game (0.71).
offensive stay-at-home defenseman?
Senior Daniel Vukovic registered his 13th point of the season on Nov. 30 against Lake Superior, bettering his single-season high set as a junior. Vukovic ranks ninth nationally in points per game by a defenseman (0.87).
offensive D, part 2
Sophomore Michael Ratchuk was a force at both ends of the ice for the Spartans in their sweep of LSSU. He led the team in scoring on the weekend with a goal and pair of assists - he assisted on both first-period power-play tallies on Friday, and helped the Spartans kill a five-minute major in the final eight minutes to preserve a victory. On Saturday, he opened the game's scoring and assisted on a power-play strike in the middle frame. On the weekend, he was a +2 with three of his four points coming on the power play. With a 2-10-12 stat line, he has tied his freshman year point total (4-8-12).
green blueliner producing
Jeff Petry had a pair of assists and led all defensemen with a +4 in the two-game sweep of Ferris State. The freshman has been a standout so far this season on the blueline, and ranks fourth overall on the team with a +7 and owns a 1-10-11 stat line.
play the percentages
Kennedy has nearly half of the Spartans' game-winning goals (five of 12), and a third (7) of MSU's total power play tallies (22).
No. 1s are a streak killer
Earlier in the season, Kennedy had an eight-game point-scoring streak, his career best. 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 and went on to put up 10-5-15 in the next eight games.
multiplicity
Kennedy leads the Spartans with six multiple-point outings this season, followed by Matt Schepke (5), Bryan Lerg (4), and then Daniel Vukovic, Justin Abdelkader, and Michael Ratchuk with three each.
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 surpassed that total in 15 games.
tight squeezes
Jeff Lerg is now 5-0 this season in one-goal games - he posted a 4-3 win at Ferris State in Big Rapids on Dec. 7, while making a season-best 37 saves. He allowed just one goal in a victory the next night to seal a sweep, which extended MSU's conference winning streak to four games. Lerg made 63 of 67 saves on the weekend.
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.
after the seventh game, he rested
Jeff Lerg recently set 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 played in the first seven games of the year, and made his 63rd consecutive start on Nov. 9 against Mercyhurst. The next night, 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 made a season-best 33 saves on Nov. 24 against Wisconsin, his fourth game with 30+ saves this season.
in the annals
Jeff Lerg has moved into the top 10 in several netminding categories at Michigan State: Career wins (54), eighth; career games played (89), seventh; career GAA (2.26), 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.
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.
The senior captain had a two-goal effort against Wisconsin, (Nov. 24) the second serving as his 100th career point. He added a two-goal effort two games later at Lake Superior State, and is recently had a three-game goal scoring streak (5-0-5) He has 56 goals and 47 assists in 144 career games.
breaking out
A pair of seemingly snakebitten forwards have gotten it going in recent contests. Senior Chris Mueller has six points (3-3-6) in his last six games.
Tim Crowder skated in his 100th career game on Dec. 1 against LSSU, the first junior to reach that milestone. He celebrated with a goal and an assist, which snapped a five-game scoreless streak. He had a pair of goals in each of the games against Ferris, earning CCHA Player of the Week honors.
at the dot
MSU dominated Ferris State in the faceoff circle in its final first-half weekend, winning 79 of 133 draws. On the year, Chris Mueller has won 121 of 214, for a team-best 56.5 percent. Justin Abdelkader has won 202 of 370 (54.6%).
schep-ping up
Matt Schepke has already bettered his sophomore-year point total (2-3-5) with his 7-8-15 scoring line through 17 games. He has had two, two-goal games this season - including a pair of goals against Wisconsin (Nov. 24). He has multiple-point efforts in three of his last five games, and ranks third on the team this season in goal scoring.
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 Nov. 10 against Mercyhurst. Petry, a regular on the MSU power play, currently has a 1-10-11 line. Dustin Gazley had an impressive home debut, netting a pair of goals in his first home game (Oct. 19 vs. Colgate) and currently has two goals and seven assists. Corey Tropp leads freshmen in goal scoring (4-5-9) and is tied for second in points. Andrew Rowe played in his first game in green and white on Oct. 26 against Northern Michigan, and has a pair of goals on the season. Forward Joey Shean has played in four games, and still looks for his first collegiate tally - but has played well in his role when called upon.
career years
Five veterans have already surpassed their single-season bests through the midpoint of the season. Headlining the group is senior blueliner Daniel Vukovic, who recorded a 7-5-12 stat line in what was a breakout junior season. This year, he has two goals and 11 assists for 13 points - the 11 assists betters his career total of nine coming into the season.
In addition, junior Matt Schepke posted 3-2-5 as a sophomore, his first year in Green and White. He has seven goals and eight assist this year for 15 points. Schepke ranks second on the team in points.
A trio of blueliners also finds themselves having their best offensive seasons. Sophomore Michael Ratchuk has tied his 12 points he recorded as a freshman, while classmate Ryan Turek and junior Brandon Gentile are also already ahead of their totals from a year ago. Turek has three assists this season after just two as a freshman, while Gentile's five helpers betters his total of four last year.
double dips
Dustin Gazley and Matt Schepke each had two-goal outings on Oct. 19, a 6-2 victory over 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. Schepke and Bryan Lerg completed the feat again against Wisconsin (Nov. 23) in a 4-4 tie.
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
Michigan State gets back into CCHA action next weekend, hosting Lake Superior State in a series in East Lansing. The Spartans swept the Lakers last month in Sault Ste. Marie.