MSU Welcomes Alabama-Huntsville For Weekend Set

No. 11/14 Michigan State vs. Alabama-Huntsville
Dates	Friday-Saturday, Oct. 29-30
Game Times	7:05 p.m.
Location	East Lansing, Mich.. \| Munn Ice Arena (Cap. 6,470; 200x85)
Televison	none
Radio	WVFN 730 AM
Tickets	Seating Chart \| Ticket Info
Game Notes	Download PDF
Internet Coverage	MSU ALl-Access (Fri. ); \| BigTenNetwork.com (Sat.) Live Stats \| Live Audio
Social Media	@MSU_Hockey \| Facebook
Press Conference Video	Head Coach Rick
Press Conference Audio	Rick \| Trevor \| Drew
Promotions	Family Four Pack (Fri.) \| Halloween Costume Contest (Sat.)

storyline
Michigan State welcomes Alabama-Huntsville to East Lansing this weekend for a pair of games at Munn Ice Arena. Both games will be played at 7:05 p.m.

media darlings?
There will be no television coverage for this weekend's games. This is the final games played at Munn Ice Arena during the regular season which will not be televised - the remainder will be carried on Comcast, FSN, or the Big Ten Network.
On the radio, both games will be carried on WVFN 730 AM. The radio call can also be heard on www.spartansportsnetwork.com. Scott Moore and Rob Woodward begin their sixth season together on the call of Spartan hockey.
Both games will have a live video webstream. Friday's will be paired with the audio from the Spartan Sports Network. These live video webstreams are part of the MSU All-Access package at www.MSUSpartans.com. Saturday will be available on BigTenNetwork.com.

series history
Friday's game will serve as just the second meeting between these two programs. The lone previous game between these schools happened on Dec. 11, 1999 - a 5-0 Spartan victory.

last time out
Michigan State opened CCHA play last weekend at Munn Ice Arena with a 1-1 tie (and shootout loss) against No. 9/9 Alaska, then came back to post a convincing 4-1 victory in game two of the set. With Saturday's victory, MSU snapped a four-game unbeaten streak against Alaska (0-2-2) and is now 1-0-2 in its last three games against the Nanooks. The teams will meet again in February.

turnabout is fair play
Last Friday, The Spartans and Nanooks went to overtime for the second straight time in the series. The teams settled on a 1-1 deadlock in game two of their series last February in Fairbanks, and the Spartans took the extra point in the standings in the shootout in that contest by a 2-1 margin This time, it was Alaska with the 2-1 shootout victory.

for starters
MSU is unbeaten in its first four games (2-0-2) for the first time since the 2005-06 season, when it started 3-0-1. Both of MSU's opponents so far - Maine (No. 6/8) and Alaska (No. 9/9) were ranked in the top 10.

historical significance
MSU skated to a tie in its opening game of the season for the first time in the nine-year tenure of head coach Rick Comley. The Spartans are 3-5-1 all-time in openers under the team's current mentor. MSU last tied its season opener in 2001-02, a 3-3 deadlock with archrival Michigan in "The Cold War" - an outdoor game played across the street at Spartan Stadium.
Speaking of the "Cold War" game ... that outdoor game captured the attention not only of the college hockey world but of sports fans around the globe. It was the first outdoor game in the modern era of college hockey, and it was the beginning of a decade of outdoor games which have become large-scale events not only in college hockey, but in the NHL as well. The NHL's Winter Classic is now played annually on New Year's Day, and MSU and Michigan will play "The Big Chill at the Big House" - an outdoor game at Michigan Stadium - on Dec. 11. The Big Chill game has already sold more than 105,000 tickets, which will once again make MSU-Michigan the world-record holder for hockey attendance.

familiar face
Alabama-Huntsville is coached by Spartan alum Chris Luongo. Luongo was a four-year letterwinner (1986-89) who put up 69 points in 157 games played on the Spartan blueline. Twice he was given the team's Most Outstanding Defenseman Award (1988, 1989) and he also earned Second Team All-CCHA honors as a senior. During his time on the MSU roster, the Spartans won two CCHA Regular-Season titles, two CCHA Tournament crowns, and went to three NCAA Frozen Fours - including winning the 1986 National Championship during Luongo's freshman year and finishing as the runners-up a year later.
Luongo is in his first season as the head coach at UAH - he was elevated to the head coaching position after serving on the staff of former head coach Danton Cole - another Spartan. Cole is currently coaching in the US National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor.

traditionally strong
In 25 of MSU's 28 seasons in the CCHA, it has finished fourth or better. MSU has won six regular-season titles, finished second eight times, third eight times, and fourth three times.

home sweet home
Michigan State is wrapping up a stretch of six straight home games in the month of October. This series against Huntsville is the final series in a three-weekend homestand against Maine, Alaska, and now the Chargers. MSU will play at Western Michgian next weekend, then will return to Munn Ice Arena Nov. 12-13 vs. Ohio State.

this week's popularity contest ...
Michigan State moved up five spots in the USCHO.com national top-20 poll to 11th. The Spartans also make their debut in the USA Hockey/USA Today poll, coming in at No. 14 after spending the first three polls in the "Also Receiving Votes" category.

survey says ...
The 2010-11 CCHA Pre-Season polls find picked fourth by the conference coaches and third by the league's media.
For the third time in four years, the coaches and media disagree over who should own the No. 1 position in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's annual preseason polls. The conference's 11 head coaches ranked defending playoff champion Michigan first, while 75 media members named defending regular-season champion Miami as the preseason favorite.

roster preview
The Spartans return 19 players from a 19-13-5 team a season ago, including Second Team All-CCHA selection Drew Palmisano. Seventeen of the 19 returnees were letterwinners a year ago. MSU is quite "middle-classes" heavy - the roster features just two seniors and five freshmen on a roster of 26 student-athletes. The Spartans lost four players to graduation and three would-be seniors to professional hockey in the off-season. Sophomore Derek Grant is the team's top returning scorer (12-18-30), followed by junior Dauyltan Leveille (6-19-25). Palmisano boasted a 2.44 GAA and .917 save percentage in his first season as a starter.

the mentor
Rick Comley is beginning his 38th season behind the bench of a college hockey program, and his ninth season at MSU. With 768 victories entering the season, Comley ranks among the top five coaches all-time in wins and top three among active coaches.

gaining ground
Comley owns a 770-596-108 (.559) 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 853 and Jack Parker of Boston University has 836.

season in review
Michigan State finished the 2009-10 CCHA season in second place. MSU's improvement of eight spots in the league standings from the previous season tied the all-time best jump from one year to another in conference history (Ferris State was ninth in the 2002-03 season, then captured the league title a season later.) Michigan State finished in a tie for 10th in 2008-09, but was the 11th seed in the playoffs due to losing the tiebreaker. A year ago, Michigan State was picked eighth and ninth in the pre-season polls by the media and coaches, respectively. Michigan State was the CCHA team in 2009-10 which finished the most spots ahead of its preseason projection.

he's honored
Drew Palmisano earned CCHA Goaltender of the Week honors for his performance in the Alaska series. Allowing just one goal in each game against the Nanooks, he stopped 45 of 47 shots against in the weekend set. He improved his GAA to 1.92 and his save percentage to .932, both which rank third in the overall CCHA rankings. Nationally, he is eighth in goals-against average and 10th in save percentage.
Junior defenseman Brock Shelgren was named the CCHA Defenseman of the Week on Oct. 18. It was the first CCHA weekly honor in his career.

they like our d
Sophomore captain Torey Krug was named to the CCHA Preseason All-Conference Team. Krug received the third-most votes of any blueliner in the conference, garnering three first-place votes and 30 points. Junior goaltender Drew Palmisano was an honorable mention selection, garnering 14 points and one first-place vote.

non-conference
Rick Comley owns a 39-28-6 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 26-17-4 over the last five seasons (2005-10.)
Michigan State was 5-3 against non-conference competition in 2009-10, going 1-1 against Hockey East, 3-0 against ECAC Hockey, and 1-2 against the WCHA. MSU's 2010-11 schedule has one independent (Alabama-Huntsville), up to four games against WCHA competition (Minnesota, Wisconsin, MIchigan Tech, and possibly Colorado College in the GLI) in addition to the two-game set with Hockey East entry Maine.

consistency
Michigan State scored four goals or more only 12 times in its 38 games last season. The Spartans averaged 3.03 goals per game, third in the CCHA.
Only once last season, however, did MSU score four goals or more and lose - that happened in MSU's tilt against Michigan at Joe Louis Arena (Jan. 30) when the Spartans fell to their archrival, 5-4.
MSU has already put four goals on the board twice this season - once in a 4-4 tie with Maine, and in a 4-1 victory over Alaska.

three is amagic number
Three seemed to be the magic number when related to wins and losses for the Spartans in 2009-10. MSU was 16-4-3 when scoring three goals or more in a game. When allowing three goals or less, the Spartans were 15-4-5.
That has carried through the games thus far in 2010-11, as MSU scored at least three goals in three of its four games and is 2-0-1 in those contests.

first & last words
In 2010-11, Michigan State scored in the first or final minute of a period 12 times, compared to just four times for their opponents (excluding empty-net goals).
In the first or final two minutes of a period, MSU scored 21 goals (excluding empty-netters), while allowing just 13.

jump the gun
The Spartans scored a goal in the first two minutes of a period 13 times last season.

critical to get it going first
Michigan State was 15-3- 4 when scoring the first goal, and 4-10-2 when allowing the opponent to do so last season. MSU scored first in each of its first two games of the season against Maine, but allowed Alaska to score first in each of its games last weekend.

win `em close
27 of MSU's 38 games a year ago were settled by two goals or less, and 12 were one-goal affairs. Of the eight that were two-goal margins or more, four involved an empty-net goal.
MSU was 8-4-0 in one-goal games in 2009-10.

you miss 100% of the shots you don't take
Michigan State was outshot in 25 of its 38 games, but on the season was outshot only by a 1099-1051 margin, a total of 48 shots over 38 games. MSU averaged 27.7 shots per game, and allowed an average of 28.9.
MSU was outshot in each of the first two games of the Maine series, by three and nine shots, respectively. MSU outshot Alaska by three shots on Friday and 12 on Saturday.

deadlocks
MSU had six ties last season, and four were home games. MSU went 11-5-4 at home, and 6-6-2 on the road. The Spartans were 2-2-0 in neutral-site games. MSU has tied half of its four games this season.

home sweet (conference) home
In conference games in 2009-10, MSU lost just once at Munn Arena - on Jan. 23 to Ohio State (4-2). A last-minute wraparound goal (and an empty-netter in the waning seconds) was the difference in that contest.
MSU has not lost a conference game at home since that Ohio State contest, a stretch of five games (4-0-1).

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 81-71-17 (52.9%), then compiled a 87-45-17 mark in the second half (64.1%).
With MSU's a 14-6-2 first-semester record last year it surpassed the 2007-08 squad for most wins under Comley in the opening semester. That team had the then-best first-half record (12-5-2, 68.4%), and were 13-7-3 in the 2008 portion of the schedule (63%).

Last year appears to be a juxtaposition of seasons past in the Comley regime - MSU jumped out to a 14-6-2 first-half ledger (.681), and its second-semester record was 5-7-4 (.438).

more consistency
Michigan State, along with Alaska and CCHA regular-season champion Miami, were the only teams to take points out of each of their conference weekends in 2009-10.
MSU was also one of two teams to trip Miami in conference play - Nebraska-Omaha was the only other team to give Miami a conference loss.

free hockey
Michigan State played nine overtimes last season, with an official record of 2-1-6. In the six ties, MSU lost the shootout four times (to UNO, Notre Dame (Nov. 19), LSSU, and Bowling Green (Feb. 27); MSU first got a shootout win on Jan. 16 against the Irish, then a 2-1 shootout win at Alaska, its first road shootout of the season.
Michigan State played to a 4-4 deadlock with Maine in the first game this season, but the teams did not do a shootout. The Spartans lost their shootout vs. Alaska, but it came with controversy - a disputed no-goal call on Dean Chelios as the first shooter. MSU lost that shootout, 2-1.

lock down on the PK
In the six goals MSU allowed to Maine in the first weekend, only one came while skating five-on-five. All three of MSU's scores in the Friday game were even strength, and in Thursday's tilt, the Spartans got two on the power play, one shorthanded, and one five-on-five.
Against Alaska, Friday's Nanook goal by Cody Kunyk came on the man advantage, but Saturday's goal was even strength - which means the Spartans have allowed only two goals in four games while skating five-on-five.

maiden voyage
Freshman Lee Reimer was the first freshman to get on the board this season, his first collegiate point coming on Brett Perlini's second-period goal in the second game of the Maine series.
Two classmates joined him on the season scoresheet last weekend. Jake Chelios had his first career two-point game last Saturday against Alaska, the same night he had his first career point (an assist on Daultan Leveille's tally) and collegiate goal. Greg Wolfe had his first collegiate point in the same game, an assist on Chelios' third period marker.

waiting for the call
Only one sophomore - winger Kevin Walrod - has yet to score a collegiate goal. He had three assists last season.

spread the wealth
Thirteen of the 19 players to dress in a game for the Spartans this season have already recorded at least one point, and eight have at least two points. No player has recorded a point in every game, but four have a point in three of the Spartans' four games - senior Dustin Gazley and juniors Trevor Nill, Brett Perlini, and Mike Merrifield.

you go to the box, two minutes by yourself, and you feel shame
Torey Krug was MSU's most-penalized player last season. At 5-9, he is MSU's smallest-stature defenseman - but was whistled for 27 penalties for 65 minutes.
In four games this season, Krug has been whistled for four penalties for 11 minutes - team highs in both categories.

block party
Michigan State has blocked 56 shots in four games, compared to 72 for its opponents. In the second game against Alaska (Oct. 23), the Nanooks blocked 30 MSU shots.
Sophomore captain Torey Krug has blocked 12 shots, while Matt Grassi and forward Chris Forfar have both put their bodies in front of eight.

smart kids
Drew Palmisano was named as Michigan State's CCHA Scholar-Athlete last season. One player from each team is selected, from which the CCHA Scholar Athlete of the Year is chosen. Palmisano is a finance major.
Two players - defensemen Tim Buttery and Brock Shelgren - were named Big Ten Conference Distinguished Scholars. The pair, along with Palmisano, Trevor Nill, Dustin Gazley, and Matt Crandell, were Academic All-Big Ten picks.

goalie u
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. Drew Palmisano kept the streak alive with his Second Team All-CCHA honor in 2009-10.