Spartans Ready for Irish Series

Nov. 17, 2010

No. 17/RV Michigan State at No. 11/11 Notre Dame
Dates	Friday-Saturday, Nov. 19-20
Game Times	(F) 7:35 p.m. \| (S) 5:05 p.m.
Location	South Bend, Ind \| Joyce Center (Cap. 2,713; 200x85)
Televison	none
Radio	(F) WJIM 1240 AM \| (S) WVFN 730 AM
Tickets	Notre Dame Ticket Info
Game Notes	Download PDF
Internet Coverage	Notre Dame All-Access (Video Stream) \| Live Audio \|
Social Media	@MSU_Hockey \| Facebook
Press Conference Video	Head Coach Rick
Press Conference Audio	Rick \| Brett \| Derek \| Jake

storyline
Michigan State makes just its second road trip of the season, traveling to South Bend to take on Notre Dame.

media darlings
There will be no television for this weekend's series.
On the radio, Friday's contest will air on WJIM 1240 AM, and Saturday's 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 stream as part of Notre Dame's All-Access package on its website.

series history
The Irish have been a more than worthy adversary for the Spartans in the last few seasons - the teams traded NCAA Regional Final victories in 2007 (MSU) and 2008 (ND), and the Spartans are now winless in their last eight games (0-5-3) with Notre Dame, the second-longest active winless streak against any opponent.
MSU is 59-36-10 all-time against Notre Dame, and is 21-22-7 in games played in South Bend. Notre Dame is 3-0-1 in the last four games against MSU at the Joyce Center.

home sweet home, but not for long
MSU hostied Ohio State last weekend for its fourth home series in five weekends. The Spartans opened with weekend sets against Maine, Alaska, and Alabama-Huntsville, then were at Western Michigan before the two-game set with Ohio State.

scheduling quirk
The Spartans have just four home games in November and December combined after six contests at Munn Arena in October. They will play three and four home games in January and February, respectively.

scheduling quirk, part two
This two-game set with Notre Dame is one of three that was formerly a home-and-home series that will now be played in one venue this season. MSU will be at home against Bowling Green in late February, and play two-game sets at Western Michigan and Notre Dame.

scheduling quirk, part three
Beginning on Tuesday (Nov. 23), MSU will play three of its four games against Ferris State in a five-game stretch. The Spartans will host the Bulldogs on Nov. 23 and Dec. 4, and will play in Big Rapids on Dec. 3. In between, MSU will play the final College Hockey Showcase in Minneapolis and Madison, Wis.
Starting with the Big Chill at the Big House on Dec. 11, MSU could potentially face off with Michigan in four of five games - the Big Chill game, in the second round of the GLI (Dec. 30), and in a home-and-home January 7-8.

last time out
MSU is coming off a split with Big Ten rival Ohio State. MSU held a 3-1 lead in Friday's game before allowing a pair of third-period Buckeye goals and the game-winner to Alex Szczechura at 1:23 of overtime. The Spartans recorded a 4-0 shutout of Ohio State in the second game of the weekend, their first shutout since Dec. 4, 2009 against Northern Michigan (1-0) . It was the first Spartan shutout at Munn since Nov. 14, 2009, when MSU downed Michigan, 2-0 .

first night formalwear
Michigan State has three ties this season, and all have come in the first games of two-game sets. The Spartans tied Maine, 4-4, in the first game of their series with the Black Bears, and tied Alaska (1-1) and Alabama-Huntsville (4-4) in the first games of those series as well.

smooches for your sister
MSU is tied for the second-most ties in the country - its three is behind Minnesota State-Mankato, Boston University, and Merrimack, which have four ties each. Eleven schools have three ties on their ledgers this season, giving college hockey 14 schools with three or more ties this season - a quarter of the 58 teams which field Division I hockey. By league, Hockey East schools have tied 26 games, the WCHA 21, the CCHA 18, and Atlantic Hockey and the ECAC 15 each.

deadlocks
MSU has tied three of its eight games this season, well on pace to record more than the six stalemates it recorded last season. All three of the Spartans' ties have come at Munn Ice Arena. Of last year's six ties, 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.

for starters
The Spartans were undefeated through their first six games for the first time since 1998-99. MSU was 4-0-2 that season, and started 5-0-2 before losing to Ohio State on Nov. 13.

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.

new faces, all in a row
Michigan State is coming off a stretch of three straight series against rookie head coaches. MSU played a set with Alabama-Huntsville and first-year head coach Chris Luongo, who played for the Spartans (1986-90), as well as with Western Michigan, who has first-year mentor Jeff Blashill. Last weekend, the Spartans will host Ohio State and their first-year head coach Mark Oseicki.

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.

this week's popularity contest ...
Michigan State fell one spot in the USCHO.com national top-20 poll, MSU went to 17th from 16th. In the USA Hockey/USA Today poll, MSU is the top team receiving votes, finishing just outside the survey's top 15 for the second straight week.

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 772-599-109 (.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 856 and Jack Parker of Boston University has 838.

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 ... them, too
Sophomore winger Derek Grant was named the CCHA Offensive Player of the Week on Nov. 15 after a five-point weekend against Ohio State. Grant had a goal - his first of the season - and an assist in MSU's overtime loss, and had three helpers the next night in a 4-0 shutout victory. It was the first Offensive Player of the Week honor in his career.
Drew Palmisano earned CCHA Goaltender of the Week honors for his performance in the Alaska series (Oct. 22-23). Junior defenseman Brock Shelgren was named the CCHA Defenseman of the Week after the Maine series. 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 40-28-7 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.
So far, MSU is 2-0-2 against non-conference teams, with a win and tie each against Maine and UAH. The Spartans' next non-conference action comes Thanksgiving weekend in the College Hockey Showcase.

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 up four goals in four of its games this season - in a 4-4 ties with both Maine and Alabama-Huntsville, in a 4-1 victory over Alaska, and most recently a 4-0 shutout win over Ohio State.

three is a magic 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.
This year, MSU is 2-0-2 when scoring four goals or more, and is 2-3-3 in games scoring three or fewer. MSU is 4-1-1 when allowing three or fewer, and 0-2-2 when giving up four or more.

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, and is 2-2-0 in those games this season.

you miss 100% of the shots you don't take
MSU has outshot its opponents in five of 10 games, including holding its opponents under 20 shots twice.
Michigan State was outshot in 25 of its 38 games last season, but on the year 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.

we hadn't had much use for brooms...
MSU was swept at Western Michigan (Nov. 5-6) by 4-3 and 3-1 scores. MSU had taken at least a point out of every CCHA series last season - one of just three teams to do so . The WMU series was MSU's first point-less weekend since the final regular-season weekend against Notre Dame in February of 2009.
MSU had two goals waved off in the Saturday game against Western Michigan. The first came in the second period when play was erroneously allowed to continue after the puck hit the rafters, the second less than two minutes into the third period due to a quick whistle.

powering up
Michigan State allowed six power play goals in its first three games (13-for-19 on the kill, .684), and has allowed just three in its last seven contests combined (26-for-29, .897).
MSU's penalty kill was a perfect 10-for-10 last weekend against OSU, has killed 12 consecutive penalties, and has improved to 81.2% this season.
The Spartan power play was 3-for-7 in the OSU series, and is now at 20% on the year (10-of-50). The Spartans rank second in the CCHA and 21st nationally.
MSU has potted two man-advantage tallies in four different games this season.

home sweet (conference) home
Since the start of the 2009-10 season, MSU has lost just twice at Munn Arena - and the opponent in both games was Ohio State.
Last year's lone home CCHA loss came 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 had not lost a conference game at home since that Ohio State contest, a stretch of five games (4-0-1) - until falling to the Buckeyes on Nov. 12 (4-3 in OT).

at the dot
As a team, Michigan State is better than 50% on faceoffs (334-327, .505) this season. Of the Spartans most frequently lining up for a faceoff, Daultan Leveille (102-83) is at 55%. Brett Perlini (30-25) and Lee Reimer (38-21) are also better than .500.

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 jumpd out to a 14-6-2 first-half ledger (.681), and its second-semester record was 5-7-4 (.438).

special specials
Eleven of MSU's 29 goals this season have come in special teams situations - 10 on the power play, and one shorthanded. Of the 24 goals the Spartans have allowed, nine have come with a man advantage.

free hockey

MSU is now 0-1-3 in overtime games this season. Michigan State played to a 4-4 deadlock with both Maine and Alabama-Huntsville, but the teams did not do a shootout following a scoreless overtime period in either contest. The Spartans lost their lone 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.
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.

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 in the Alaska series. Jake Chelios had his first career two-point game on Oct. 23 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.

making an impression
It took first-year player Jake Chelios three games to get on the scoreboard for the first time, but since breaking the ice (so to speak), he has had points in five of his seven games played.
Chelios had a power-play goal in each of the two games against Ohio State (Nov. 5-6). He is the team's top-scoring first-year player, and he is now second on the team in goals with four . Chelios also ranks seventh in the conference in rookie scoring.
On top of the scoring prowess, Chelios has also been rapidly improving not only while adjusting to college hockey, but also playing a new position. All throughout junior hockey, Chelios had played forward - he had expressed an interest in switching to play defense to start his college career. His father, 26-year NHL veteran Chris Chelios, made the same switch at age 19 as well.

waiting for the call
Only one sophomore - winger Kevin Walrod - has yet to score a collegiate goal. He had three assists last season.
Walrod has missed the last four of the last five games with injury.

spread the wealth
Every player who has appeared in at least six games for the Spartans - and 18 of the 22 skaters to dress in a game for the Spartans overall - have already recorded at least one point, and 13 have at least two points.

streakin'
Torey Krug has an assist in seven straight games, the team's longest active point-scoring streak. Coming into the season, his personal longest point-scoring streak was just two games.

perls of wisdom
Brett Perlini's first-period goal and third-period empty netter on Nov. 6 against Ohio State were his seventh and eighth tallies of the season, coming in his 10th game. Perlini scored seven goals in 20 games a year ago, and entered his junior season with nine career tallies.
Perlini is the team's leading scorer with 11 points, while eight players behind him have between 4-9 points.

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 10 games this season, Krug has been whistled for six penalties for 15 minutes - team highs in both categories. However, in the last four games, he has been assessed just one minor penalty.

block party
Michigan State has blocked 109 shots in 10 games, compared to 143 for its opponents. In the second game against Alaska (Oct. 23), the Nanooks blocked 30 MSU shots.
Sophomore captain Torey Krug has blocked a team-high 22 shots, while Krug's defensive partner Matt Grassi has nine. Blueliner Brock Shelgren has put his body in front of 16.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Dean Chelios

Jake Chelios

Derek Grant

Matt Grassi

Torey Krug

Jeff Lerg

Daultan Leveille

Drew Palmisano

Brett Perlini

Lee Reimer

Brock Shelgren

Kevin Walrod

Greg Wolfe

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