Michigan State University Athletics
MSU Hosts Weekend Set With Mavericks
11/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 4, 2009
Date/Time: Nov. 5-6, 2009, 7:05 p.m.
Tickets: A limited number of tickets remain for the weekend series. Purchase Tickets
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Audio: WVFN 730 AM (T) | WJIM 1240 AM (F) | SpartanSportsNetwork.com
Television:none
Live Video Webstream: BigTenNetwork.com (fee applies)
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Podcasts: Rick | Matt | Chris | Drew
storyline
Michigan State readies for its first CCHA home series of the season, in which it hosts Nebraska-Omaha. This will be MSU's final CCHA series with the Mavericks, as UNO will move to the WCHA for the 2010-11 season.
series history
MSU owns an 18-11-1 record all-time against the UNO, including a 10-6-0 record at Munn Arena. The teams have split their last two regular-season series played in East Lansing. The Mavericks swept last year in Omaha by 7-1 and 3-1 scores.
connections
UNO assistant coach Mike Hastings coached MSU netminder Drew Palmisano when the goalie played his junior hockey in Omaha (2006-08). Hastings sent Jeff Lerg to MSU from Omaha as well.
live on the web
Michigan State's weekend games will be broadcast live on BigTenNetwork.com. The video on the is paired with the radio call of the Spartan Sports Network (Scott Moore and Rob Woodward), for Thursday's game, while Dave Ellis and former MSU goalie Jeff Lerg call the action for the Big Ten Network on Friday.
non-conference
Michigan State started the season with a 3-1 record against non-conference competition, sweeping Clarkson and splitting its most recent series with Maine.
Rick Comley owns a 36-26-5 record in games against non-conference teams since coming to Michigan State prior to the 2002-03 season. (This includes regular-season, tournament, and NCAA Tournament games) Only once has a Comley team been sub-.500 in games against non-conference foes in a season (2003-04), and is 21-12-4 over the last four years (2005-09.)
around the league
A full weekend of conference action - the second straight - is again on the docket. Notre Dame is at Alaska, Bowling Green is at Ferris, Ohio State hosts Northern Michigan, Lake Superior is at Western Michigan, and Michigan entertains Miami.
recapping the action
Michigan State extended its winning streak to three games with a sweep of Western Michigan last weekend in a home-and-home series.
The Spartans dealt the Broncos their first loss of the year on Friday night at Munn. A last-second goal for the Broncos that appeared to force overtime was waved off after a video review ruled that it had not crossed the line before the clock expired. Chris Forfar and Dustin Gazley were the goal scorers for MSU, while Drew Palmisano made 23 saves.
On Saturday in Kalamazoo, the Spartans were able to hold off WMU despite skating shorthanded for the final five minutes of regulation, twice skating two men down. Corey Tropp had the game-winner, while Anthony Hayes and Dean Chelios each netted their first collegiate tallies. Andrew Rowe scored in the second period, and also assisted on Dustin Gazley's shorthanded empty-netter which sealed the victory. Bobby Jarosz made 21 saves for MSU in his second career road start.
o captain my captain
Senior Nick Sucharski and junior Jeff Petry will serve as captains of the 2009-10 Spartans. Corey Tropp and Andrew Rowe will serve as alternate captains.
honorary "c"
Michigan State will take part in honoring its past in its present with the introduction of Honorary Captains. In selected games this season, former MSU skaters will come back to campus to serve as an Honorary Captain for one game. The Honorary Captain will attend pre-game meal with team, address the Spartan squad prior to the contest, and stand on the bench during the game. This allows the program not only to honor former players, but also to share with current team members what donning the Green and White meant to those who came before them.
On Friday, MSU's honorary captain will be Kevin Miller, who played at Michigan State from 1984-88 and twice served as a captain of the Spartans. Miller scored 201 points (61 g, 140 a) in 143 career games, and helped MSU to the 1986 National Championship. In 1988, he played on the US Olympic Team in Calgary, then returned to MSU for the final 11 games of his senior season. He went on to a 17-year professional career which featured 620 NHL games with nine teams and three seasons in Davos, Switzerland. In addition, he played on three World Championship teams and on the 1991 Canada Cup squad. In 2006, he was named MSU Hockey's Distinguished Alumnus.
The Lansing native owns his own business (Kevin Miller Financial Services) and currently resides in Williamston, Mich. with his wife and four children.
Oct. 10 - Dave Kelley (1973-77)
Oct. 17 - Ron Clark (1972-75)
Nov. 6 - Kevin Miller (1984-88)
represent your state
MSU's 28-man roster represents six US states and two Canadian provences. Half (14) of MSU's players hail from the state of Michigan, while four are from Ontario. The Spartans have three players each from Illinois and British Columbia, and one player each from Colorado, Minnesota, New York, and Wisconsin.
prognosticating
Michigan State has been selected ninth by the head coaches and eighth by the league's media in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's annual preseason polls. In two close races, Michigan received enough points from the conference's 12 head coaches and 66 media members to be named the preseason favorite in both surveys. The polls were announced in conjunction with the CCHA's pre-season media conference call with all 12 head coaches, held this season in lieu of a media day in Detroit. MSU garnered 46 points in the survey of conference coaches, and 332 points in the media poll, which included one first-place vote.
what's new?
The CCHA announced that a regulation or overtime victory will be worth three points in the league standings this season, a change from when the shootout was instituted last season. This season, a regulation or sudden-death overtime win will earn a team three points in the standings, a shootout victory will garner two points, a shootout loss will be rewarded by one point, and a loss in regulation or overtime will mean no points. So, any game that goes to a shootout will see the victor credited with a tie and a shootout win in the conference standings, while the loser will receive credit for a tie. This differs from the system utilized in 2008-09, where a regulation/overtime victory or a shootout win meant two points, a shootout loss gave a team one point, and a regulation/overtime loss was awarded no points.
m.a.s.h. unit
In 2008-09, Michigan State had a total 14 players miss time with 16 injuries, totaling 221 practices missed and 108 games lost.
gaining ground
Comley captured his 750th career victory on Friday, Oct. 9 with a 6-1 victory over Clarkson. He now owns a 752-584-100 (.562) career overall coaching record, good for fourth place on the all-time wins list. Former MSU coach and athletic director Ron Mason finished his career behind the bench in 2002 with 924 wins, while Jerry York of Boston College has 816 and Jack Parker of Boston University has 804. The Feb. 7, 2009 victory over Ferris State (1-0) was the 150th victory for Comley at MSU.
law of averages
MSU's current roster averages: 6-0, 181 lbs., and the average age is 20 years, 10 months. Among CCHA schools, MSU was one of 10 schools that averaged 6-0 or taller, the Spartans were the lightest team on average, and were third-youngest. (Michigan's roster averages 20 years, two months, and Notre Dame averages 20 years, nine months.)
Compared to last year, MSU's roster is the same average height, but is six pounds heavier and eight months older - despite adding nine freshmen.
youth movement
Michigan State's roster features 18 underclassmen - nine sophomores and nine freshmen. The Spartans have the most first-year players of any conference team, and rank second in sophomore class size behind Alaska (11). Alaska boasts 19 underclassmen, the only league team with more than MSU.
quite the cluster
Michigan State and Michigan will be paired with Bowling Green and Notre Dame for the 2009-10 season as clustermates. The schools will face off four times, and play against the remaining eight schools in the conference twice.
undefeated no more
The Spartans knocked off previously-undefeated teams in two straight games - Miami on Oct. 24, and Western Michigan on Oct. 30.
the floors must be dirty
Against Clarkson, Michigan State recorded its first sweep of a home weekend since Nov. 9-10, 2007 against Mercyhurst. With an abundance of home-and-home series, the Spartans have played only nine two-game home sets since that weekend.
getting a hang of this road game thing
Michigan State won its third road game of the season on Oct. 31 at Western Michigan, one more than it won in all of last year.
conference streaking
The Spartans have now won three straight conference games for the first time since Feb. 15-22 of 2008 (MSU swept Western, then defeated Michigan).
fingers crossed for November
MSU has a 6-2-0 mark at the end of October, marginally better than the 4-2-2 mark it owned at the end of October last season. MSU's downward spiral began when injuries started to pile up in November - when MSU failed to win a game (0-7-1) and scored just eight goals during the month. This season. MSU reached the six-win mark on Oct. 30 - a plateau it did not reach until Jan. 2 last year.
November is not an easy month for the 2009-10 Spartans, either - it has three straight conference series against top-ten teams (No. 10 Nebraska-Omaha, No. 4 Michigan, No. 9 Notre Dame), then has games against Big Ten foes in the College Hockey Showcase against Minnesota and Wisconsin.
scoring outbursts
MSU has scored 29 goals, the most of any team in the country, through eight games. The total is nearly half of its offensive production from a year ago (62). MSU ranks 10th nationally with a 3.62 goals-per-game average, and 18th in scoring defense (2.5 gpg against).
scoring outbursts, part two
Michigan State has scored four goals or more in half of its eight games. MSU only reached the four-goal plateau twice last season.
win em close
All but one of MSU's games this season have been settled by two goals or less. Of the three that were two-goal margins, two of those games involved an empty-net goal.
you miss 100% of the shots you don't take
Michigan State has been outshot in five of its eight games thus far, but on the season, is only being outshot by 10 shots (219-229). MSU is averaging 27.4 shots per game, and allowing an average of 28.6. In 2008-09, the Spartans averaged 23.97 shots per game, which ranked last of 58 teams nationally. The Spartans allowed 35.32 per game, which was the second-highest total in the country behind Brown. In shot margin, MSU ranked 57th (-11.34), behind only Brown (-14.85).
scoring drought ... corrected
The Spartans averaged just 1.63 goals per game a year ago, not only the lowest average in Division I hockey, but also a program low for scoring output in a season.
This year has started with a stark contrast - MSU has averaged 3.63 goals over eight games, good for 11th nationally; its 29 goals is the most scored by any team in the country. MSU's 29 goals is also nearly half of the 62 the Spartans scored in 2008-09.
specialties
MSU is 12-for-51 (23.5%) on the power play through eight games, and ranks 16th nationally in power play percentage. MSU's power play sputtered a bit in the WMU series - it generated chances, but only managed one extra-man tally in 10 chances.
The Spartans scored just 20 power play goals a year ago, and their power play ranked 11th in the league (20/182, 11.0%).
The Oct. 9 game against Clarkson was the first time MSU had potted three power play goals in a game since since March 14, 2008, a 5-2 win over Northern Michigan; in that game, MSU went 3-for-7 on the man advantage. MSU did not have more than one power play goal in a game during the 2008-09 season.
academic achievement
MSU's hockey program recorded a 3.05 cumulative grade-point average in the fall 2008 semester, an all-time best. The team also posted a 2.905 in the spring semester of 2009. Three players recorded perfect 4.0 semesters: Brock Shelgren (fall) and Jeff Lerg and Jacob Schering (spring).
compete with the east
MSU took on two eastern teams - Clarkson and Maine - to open the 2009-10 season. MSU compiled a 3-1 record in the four games played, and is 5-3 over the last two years against Eastern competition.
MSU's WCHA stretch comes in November and December, when it has Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan Tech on the schedule. One more eastern team (Rensselaer) is a possible opponent in the Great Lakes Invitational.
strong second halves
During the Rick Comley era, the Spartans have traditionally been a second-half team. The first three months (October, November, December) of his eight seasons in East Lansing, the Spartans have been a combined 77-65-15 (538%), then compiled a 82-40-13 mark in the second half (61.6%). The 2007-08 Spartans had their best first-half record under Comley (12-5-2, 68.4%), and were 13-7-3 in the 2008 portion of the schedule (63%).
the young ones
Michigan State's lineup has a youthful look for sure - the Spartans have dressed 14 freshmen (8) and sophomores (6) each weekend.
bonus hockey
MSU's overtime victory on Oct. 24 at Miami was its first in an extra session since the CCHA Tournament consolation game in 2007, a wild 7-6 victory over Lake Superior on March 17, 2007.
Between overtime victories, MSU played 12 games that went to an extra session, and owned an 0-2-10 mark in those contests. Five of those ties were last year, with the shootout rule - MSU won the shootouts in three the four conference tilts that required an extra session.
taking it to heart
In a week that head coach Rick Comley emphasized that the Spartans needed to get scoring from its third and fourth lines, freshmen accounted for three of MSU's seven goals on the weekend against WMU.
quite the month, with a reward at the end
Freshman Derek Grant has been named the RBC Financial CCHA Rookie of the Month for October. The top-line winger for the Spartans finished the month tied for the national lead in rookie scoring, goals, and assists with a 4-6-10 scoring line. In the CCHA he ranked second in scoring, and tied for fourth in both goals and assists. His 3-4-7 stats on the power play ranked second in the CCHA, and his three power-play goals is the third-highest total in the country. In addition, he ranked fourth nationally among rookies (appearing in more than one game) in points per game (1.25). Grant opened his MSU career with three-straight multiple-point games, and earned CCHA Rookie of the Week kudos after the Clarkson series (Oct. 12).
quite the month, but no award
Corey Tropp, while losing out on RBC Financial Player of the Month kudos to Alaska goaltender Scott Greenham, had quite the impressive month as well. Through the end of October, the winger was tied for national lead in goals (7) and ranked second in points (13), was the CCHA's leading point (13) and goal scorer, and ranked third in assists (6) . Tropp also led the CCHA in power play goals, assists, and points (4-4-8), and was a +3 He had multiple-point efforts in six of eight games , including his first career hat trick in a road win at Maine. He ranked second nationally in power play goals (4) , tied for third in shorthanded goals (1)m and also tied for second in game-winning goals (2). He was11th nationally in points per game (1.62) and fifth in goals per game (0.88) (among players appearing in more than one game), and through eight contests, was assessed just one minor penalty. He was named the CCHA Player of the Week after the Maine series in which he had four goals and an assist (Oct. 19).
hot hand
Dustin Gazley finished the weekend set agaisnt Western Michigan with two goals and an assist, which included the game-winner on Friday and a shorthanded marker on Saturday. He and linemates Daultan Leveille and Andrew Rowe had a combined 3-4-7 scoring line and was a +5 against the Broncos.
cool, but hot when it counts
Corey Tropp and Derek Grant were held without a point for the first time this season in the Oct. 30 game against Western Michigan. However, Tropp had the game-winner (with a Grant assist) in Saturday's victory in Kalamazoo.
firsts
Anthony Hayes scored his first collegiate goal and had his first collegiate assist on Saturday. His assist set up the first college goal for his linemate, Dean Chelios.
mad hatter
Corey Tropp's Oct. 16 hat trick against Maine was the first for MSU since Justin Abdelkader's against Bowling Green on Feb. 29, 2008, a 6-3 victory. Tropp scored on the power play, shorthanded, and even strength. On the weekend vs. Maine, Tropp had four goals and an assist, and was a +1.
back in green
Last December, then-freshman forward Mike Merrifield returned to junior hockey for the remainder of the season, and played for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL. His coach in Green Bay was John Cooper, who coached Merrifield the previous season in the NAHL with the St. Louis Bandits. In 38 games in Green Bay, Merrifield had 18 goals and 16 assists (34 points), potted 12 points on special teams, and was a +9.
Merrifield cracked the lineup in MSU's series at Maine, and scored his first collegiate goal (and point) on a beautiful tic-tac-toe score in the second period of the second game. He has been in the lineup the last five games.
an eclipse ...
It took six games for Corey Tropp to eclipse the 11 points he amassed in his sophomore campaign, with 6-6-12 in his first six contests. In 2008-09, he had three goals and eight assists in 21 games.
...and close
Andrew Rowe (7) and Dustin Gazley (6) are at nearly half their scoring output from a year ago (14 points), as is blueliner Matt Crandell (0-3-3, 0-5-5 in 2008-09)
multiplicity
Corey Tropp started off his junior season with five multiple-point efforts in eight games, and has scored goals in five of the eight contests.
multiplicity, take two
Derek Grant started his college career with three straight multiple-point games, and has at least a point in seven of eight MSU games this season.
offensive defenseman
Jeff Petry leads all CCHA defensemen in scoring (1-7-8) and ranks second in the conference overall in assists. He is tied for 10th nationally among defensemen in points per game (1.00).
among the bretheren
In the CCHA overall statistics, Tropp is first in points (13), goals (7), power-play goals (4) and in power-play points (8), and is tied for fourth in assists (6). Grant is second in points (9), tied for thirf in goals (4), tied for fourth in assists (6) and tied for second in power play points (7). Jeff Petry is tied for fifth in points (8) and tied for second in assists (7).
its been a while
Zach Josepher's four-point collegiate debut vs. Clarkson (Oct. 9) is the most for an MSU freshman in his first game since both Russell Welch and James Cunningham each had a goal and three assists in an 8-1 win over Ohio State on Oct. 22, 1976.
Josepher's two-goal outing in the opener was MSU's first since Matt Schepke potted two against North Dakota In the Great Lakes Invitational (Dec. 27, 2008). Josepher recorded MSU's first four-point game since Justin Abdelkader (3g, 1a) against Bowling Green on Feb. 29, 2008.
the reports of our goaltending demise have been greatly exaggerated
The post-Jeff Lerg era showed that both of MSU's top two netminders are capable of winning hockey games. Drew Palmisano and Bobby Jarosz have split time in three of the four weekend sets; Palmisano has drawn five starts (4-1-0) and owns a 2.19 GAA and .921 save percentage. Jarosz has three starts, a 2.69 GAA abd .909 save percentage, and is 2-1-0.
road warrior
Five of netminder Drew Palmisano's six starts last season in came in road tilts. His lone home start came on Oct. 17 against UMass-Lowell. Four of his five road starts were in hostile, spirited road venues: Western Michgian, Minnesota, Michigan, and Notre Dame.
Three of Palmisano's five starts this season have come on the road as well - so the home fans have yet to get a good look at his abilities. Couple that with Jarosz's being in a deep goaltending corps over his career, and the home fans are not that familiar with MSU's current backstops.
penalty shots
Andrew Rowe's penalty shot attempt on Oct. 23 against Miami was the first for the Spartans since March 16, 2007, when Justin Abdelkader had one against Michigan in the CCHA semifinals. Billy Sauer made the save. MSU's last successful penalty shot came on Dec. 9, 2006, when Chris Mueller scored against Western Michigan
block party
Michigan State blocked 25 shots in its two-game set with Clarkson, 28 in the Maine series, and 43 in the two-game set with Miami. Against the RedHawks, the defensive pair of Jeff Petry and Torey Krug each blocked eight. On the year. Petry has 17, and Brock Shelgren has 18, and Krug has 16.
In the WMU series, the Broncos did not generate many shots, and MSU blocked just 16 - compared to a two-game total of 42 for Western Michigan.
In 2009-10, MSU blocked 746 shots, compared to 421 for its opponents.
at the dot
Through six games, MSU is having significantly more success on faceoffs than it did a year ago. The Spartans have three of its centermen averaging better than 50% success, led by Trevor Nill (56.1%), Daultan Leveille (54.9%) and Nick Sucharski (50.3%).
goalie u
Thanks to LSJ scribe Neil Koepke for this gem: Since the 1980-81 season, all but one Spartan starting goaltender has earned All-League honors (the Spartans have competed in both the Western Collegiate Hockey Association or Central Collegiate Hockey Association during this stretch). The list reads like a who's who in Spartan hockey - Ron Scott, Bob Essensa, Norm Foster, Jason Muzzatti, Mike Gilmore, Mike Buzak, Chad Alban, Joe Blackburn, Ryan Miller, Dominic Vicari and Jeff Lerg. Scott, Alban, Blackburn, Miller and Lerg were All-Americans. The only starting goalie who didn't make an all-star team or win an award during this stretch was Matt Migliaccio in 2002-03.
the future in the present
Inside College Hockey has placed freshman winger Derek Grant as No. 17 on its list of incoming forwards.
fun facts for a team you don't know well ... yet.
Nick Sucharski, despite being a fifth-year senior, is not the oldest player on the MSU roster - that honor belongs to netminder Bobby Jarosz. Junior Joey Shean is also older than Sucharski, who came to campus in the fall of 2005 as a 17-year-old ... Torey Krug is the youngest player on the Spartan roster with an April 12, 1991 birthdate. He has won two national championships with Detroit Honeybaked (2003) and Indiana Ice (2009) as a teammate of fellow freshman Zach Golembiewski ... The honor of being the tallest Spartan falls to AJ Sturges (6-4), and the, ahem, least tallest is Dustin Gazley (5-8) ... Matt Grassi is the heaviest (and almost the tallest) at 6-3, 215 ... British Columbia is becoming a hotbed of college hockey recruiting, as Grassi, Kevin Walrod, and Derek Grant all hail from the provence - and Zach Josepher and Trevor Nill both played their junior hockey for Penticton in the BCHL ... Gazley was the youngest member of the 2004 US inline team that won a silver medal at World Juniors in London, Ontario and three ... Seven players were multiple-sport athletes in high school - Matt Crandell, Trevor Nill, and Brett Perlini all played soccer, while Nill, Jeff Petry, Brock Shelgren, and Dean Chelios all played baseball. Golembiewski was a scholastic golfer and graduated with his high school record for best round ... Nill is featured in this year's College of Engineering ad in the MSU hockey yearbook ...
next up
MSU hosts a home-and-home series with archrival Michigan next weekend. The teams face off on Friday evening in Ann Arbor, and play Saturday at Munn Arena.
