MSU Readies for Great Lakes Invitational

Dec. 27, 2010

THE 46th ANNUAL GREAT LAKES INVITATIONAL
Dates	Wed.-Thurs., Dec. 29-30, 2010
Game Times	(W) 4:05 p.m.; (Th.) 4:05/7:35 p.m.
Location	Detroit, Mich. Joe Louis Arena (Cap. 20,058; 200x85)
Televison	Championship game only: FSN Detroit DirecTV Ch. 636
Radio	WJIM 1240 AM
Tickets	Ticketmaster
Game Notes	Download PDF
Internet Coverage	Live Audio
Social Media	@MSU_Hockey \| Facebook

storyline
he Spartans come into the 46th annual Great Lakes Invitational as the defending champions, and will take on Colorado College in the semifinals on Wednesday afternoon.

media darlings
Thursday's championship game will air live in high definition on FSN Detroit, with Ken Daniels calling the action from Joe Louis Arena. FSN Detroit can be found on DirecTV Channel 636.
On the radio, both Great Lakers Invitational contests will air on WJIM 1240 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.

series history
Michigan State won its last contest against Colorado College - a 3-1 decision in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament in Colorado Springs at the World Arena. That MSU victory snapped a three-game Tiger winning streak in the series;
Overall, Michigan State is 34-45-1 all-time against Colorado College, which includes a loss in the 2005 Great Lakes Invitational Championship contest - the last time the teams met in this tournament.

GLI HISTORY
The Spartans come into the 46th annual Great Lakes Invitational as the defending champions, and will take on Colorado College in the semifinals on Wednesday afternoon. Michigan State will be looking for its 13th GLI title in 2010, the 36th season in which the Spartans will participate in this holiday tradition. MSU is 44-27-1 (.618) all-time in the event, the highest winning percentage of the three traditional participants.
MSU has appeared in the GLI final in 11 of the last 13 years (and 14 of the last 17), and has won 12 tournament titles, its most recent in 2009. The Spartans have won seven of the last 13 titles, with North Dakota (2001), Boston University (2002), Boston College (2003), Colorado College (2005), and Michigan (2007, 2008) winning the others.
The Spartans are 10-6 under Rick Comley in the GLI, which included the 2004, 2006, and 2010 titles. MSU has been in the championship game in six of the the last seven seasons.

scheduling quirk
The Spartans had 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
The two-game set with Notre Dame in mid-November 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.
The early December series against Ferris State was one of just two home-and-home series remaining on MSU's schedule, due to the scheduling quirks of an 11-team league. The Spartans will play Michigan on Jan. 7-8 as well.

scheduling quirk, part three
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.
MSU played three games against Ferris State in a five-game and 12-day stretch in late November/early December.

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.

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.

tough sledding
MSU had a tough November, winning just twice in nine outings. One of its seven losses came in overtime, two were one-goal games, and two others were two-goal margins thanks only to a late empty-netter.

splits
Michigan State has split each of its last two series, and has three splits overall on the season. MSU also had a win and a tie in three other series, and was swept twice.

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 has fallen out of the national polls the last two weeks, after at least receiving votes in each of the first 10 surveys of the season.

survey says ...
The 2010-11 CCHA Pre-Season polls found Michigan State picked fourth by the conference coaches and third by the league's media.
For the third time in four years, the coaches and media disagreed 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 capsule
The Spartans returned 19 players from a 19-13-5 team in 2009-10 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 Daultan 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 in 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 774-605-109 (.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 858 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.

they're honored
Three MSU players have received weekly honors from the CCHA this season. 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. Drew Palmisano earned CCHA Goaltender of the Week honors for his performance in the Alaska series (Oct. 22-23), and Derek Grant was named the CCHA Offensive Player of the Week on Nov. 15 after a five-point weekend against Ohio State.

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.
Krug was named to the Inside College Hockey first-half team.

non-conference
Rick Comley owns a 41-29-7 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).
Michigan State was 5-3 against non-conference competition in 2009-10. 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 3-1-2 against non-conference teams, with a win and tie each against Maine and UAH. The Spartans' also split Thanksgiving weekend in the College Hockey Showcase, a win at Minnesota and a loss at Wisconsin. MSU's final non-conference action comes this week at the Great Lakes Invitational: on Wednesday against Colorado College. The Spartans could play Michigan Tech in the second round.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK
A year ago at this time, the Spartans were 12-6-2 and had gotten off to a hot 9-3-2 mark in conference play. MSU was scoring 2.8 goals per game in advance of a 16-goal output at the Great Lakes Invitational, and leading scorer Corey Tropp had a 16-11-27 scoring line. This season, MSU is 6-9-3 and has been shut out three times, and is averaging 2.33 goals per game. MSU is allowing 2.8 goals per game this season ... nearly a full goal more than the 1.9 it had allowed per game at this time last year.
While the 2009 GLI roster had six players in double-figure points, this year's has a comparable five - but three of last year's six double-figure scorers (Tropp (27), Jeff Petry (16), and Andrew Rowe (12)) are now playing in the American Hockey League. Petry went on to earn All-America honors, and he and Tropp were both All-CCHA selections.

still searching
Head coach Rick Comley has used 40 different line combinations this season in search of scoring, compared to 16 at the start of the GLI a year ago. Last season, there were just seven different pairs of defensemen, compared to 11 this season.

four is a magic number
This year, MSU is 3-0-2 when scoring four goals or more, and is 3-8-3 in games scoring three or fewer. MSU is 6-3-1 when allowing three or fewer, and 0-6-2 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 3-3-0 in those games this season - and played a pair of them last weekend against Ferris State (W 3-2, L 0-1 in OT).
Overall in 2010-11, the Spartans have tied three games, had six one-goal affairs, and three others which had empty-net tallies.

free hockey
Michigan State is now 0-2-3 in over time this season after suffering a hard-luck, 1-0 OT decision against Ferris State on Dec. 4 at Munn Ice Arena. The overtime winner was a deflection off a defender's stick in front. MSU split with the Bulldogs, winning a 3-2 game in Big Rapids on Friday.

big games
Michigan State allowed six goals to Notre Dame on Nov. 19, the most since a 7-3 loss to Wisconsin in the College Hockey Showcase last November.
Just a week later, the Spartans scored a season-best five goals in the game at Minnesota, the most since Feb. 26, 2010 when MSU posted a 5-2 victory over Bowling Green. MSU then allowed five goals to Michigan in the Big Chill.
MSU's three-goal opening period against the Gophers tied its season-high for goals in a period, matching the three it put on the board in the first period against Ohio State on Nov. 13.

shooting galleries
MSU has outshot its opponents in just six of 18 games, including holding its opponents under 20 shots twice. Despite being on the short end of the shot margin in more than 2/3 of its games, opponents have 520 shots this season, compared to 498 for MSU - a difference of just 22 shots.
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.

a first
MSU outshot Michigan, 34-29, in the Big Chill game - yet lost the game, 5-0. It was the first game this season that MSU outshot an opponent and lost. The Spartans are 3-1-2 when putting more shots on the board in a contest.

We hadn't had much use for brooms...
MSU has been swept twice this season - at Western Michigan (Nov. 5-6) by 4-3 and 3-1 scores, and Nov. 19-20 at Notre Dame (2-6, 2-4).
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.

scoreless
Ferris State has shut out MSU twice this season, and both have come at Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans had gone two calendar years without being whitewashed at home - the last had been Oct. 16, 2008 - a 3-0 loss to UMass-Lowell.
The first shutout came on Nov. 23, when the teams skated through a 1-0 Ferris State lead through 56 minutes of play before the Bulldogs got the backbreaker and added an empty-net tally. On Dec. 4, the teams played a scoreless regulation, and Ferris State got a fluke overtime winner when a cross-slot pass deflected off a defender.
Michigan State has now suffered shutouts in in its last two games, as the Spartans dropped the Dec. 11 game at Michigan, a 5-0 decision. It was just the second time in school history that the Spartans had been shut out in back-to-back games in the same season: the first was in 2009, on Feb 21 (vs. Bowling Green 4-0) and Feb. 27 (vs. Notre Dame, 5-0).

powering up
Michigan went 3-for-4 on the power play in MSU's most recent contest, the worst kill for the Spartans in a game all season. MSU allowed three goals in five chances to Maine in the season opener and six power play goals in its first three games (13-for-19 on the kill, .684) overall, but had allowed just seven extra-man markers in its next 14 contests (50-for-57, .877). In its six games prior to the Big Chill, the Spartans had allowed just power-play tallies in 23 chances (87%).
On the season, MSU's penalty kill is 64-for-80, (.800), and ranks seventh in the CCHA.
The Spartan power play is 14-for-80 (.175) on the man advantage, good for third in the CCHA.

doubling up
MSU has potted two man-advantage tallies in four different games this season.

shorty
The Spartans allowed shorthanded goals to Notre Dame in each of their two games (Nov. 19-20), including Saturday's game-winner with just under two and a half minutes remaining in regulation. The empty-net goal was also a shorthanded marker, giving MSU three shorthanded tallies against in the series. The Spartans allowed just five shorthanded goals all of last season.

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).

special specials
Fifteen of MSU's 42 goals scored this season have come in special teams situations - 14 on the power play, and one shorthanded. Of the 51 goals the Spartans have allowed, 16 have come with a man advantage and three shorthanded.

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.

irish welcome
Freshman goalie Will Yanakeff saw his first collegiate action on Nov. 19 at Notre Dame, coming in to play the third period in relief of Drew Palmisano. The rookie stopped 12 of 13 shots in that third peirod. He got the starting nod a night later, and made 19 saves against three goals in a 4-2 loss.

big spot pretty quick
In his first collegiate start on Nov. 20, freshman goalie Will Yanakeff faced a penalty shot against ND's Ben Ryan just 22 seconds into the game. Yanakeff made a right leg -pad save; it was the first saved penalty shot for MSU since Feb. 2, 2008, when Jeff Lerg stopped Nebraska-Omaha's Bill Bagron in a 4-2 Spartan victory.

tough bounce
With a late shorthanded goal standing as the game-winner, Will Yanakeff became just the seventh netminder since 1980 (of 21) to fail to record a victory in his first collegiate start at Michigan State. Drew Palmisano won his first MSU starting assignment, on Oct. 17, 2008 against UMass-Lowell.

another brick in the wall
Drew Palmisano was credited with 17 first-period saves at Ferris State on Dec. 3, a season best for a single-period effort and two shy of his career record.

carrying the load
Drew Palmisano has seen more time in net than all but three goaltenders in the country. Alaska's Scott Greenham (1095:32) is the top goalie in terms of minutes, followed by Ferris State's Pat Nagle (10:79:04) and Nebraska-Omaha's John Faulkner (1045:43). Palmisano has played 17 of MSU's 18 games, and has logged 1017:25; both Greenham and Faulkner have started all 18 of their team's games, while Nagle has played 18 of FSU's 19 contests.

doubling up
Brett Perlini's two-goal effort on Dec. 3 against Ferris State was his third of the season and the fourth of his career. He has 11 goals, his first time in double-digits in his career.

what a difference a year makes
Brett Perlini, who entered the 2009 Great Lakes Invitational with zero points in two games played, currently leads the Spartans with 11 goals and 16 points.

pretty goals don't count for more
Freshman centerman Greg Wolfe's scored his first collegiate goal on Nov. 19 at Notre Dame. It was a bit of a fluky score - a shot rang off the glass behind the goal cage and flipped high into the air, was missed by a pair of opposing players trying to swat at it, and it instead fell straight down, caromed off the shaft of Wolfe's stick and beat the goalie five-hole.

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 had points in five of his next nine 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 fourth on the team in goals with four .
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, and one so far this year.

streakin'
Sophomore captain Torey Krug had the game-winner in the Dec. 3 game at Ferris State. He now has five goals on the season, nearly double his freshman output with half a season to play. He is second on the team (and ranks 13th in the CCHA overall) in scoring with 15 points, ranks eighth in assists. He is the league's top-scoring blueliner (0.83 ppg), and is 10th nationally in that category. He has points in 11 of 18 games this season, a team best (shared with Brett Perlini).

eclipse
Torey Krug's Nov. 20 tally at Notre Dame was his third of the season, matching his total number of goals from a season ago.
Brett Perlini scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season in the Dec. 3 game at Ferris State. He had nine career goals entering the season.

consistency
Brett Perlini and Torey Krug have each recorded a point in 11 of MSU's 18 games this season, a team best. Derek Grant has points in 10 games, while Dustin Gazley checks in with eight.

doubling up
Dustin Gazley's two-goal outing against Minnesota gave him his first scores since Nov. 5 at Western Michigan. He recorded his fourth career two-goal game, and first since March 7, 2009 at Northern Michigan.

this will look good later
Ten of Derek Grant's 14 points have come in CCHA games. 11 of Brett Perlini's (six goals, five assists) came in conference contests. Torey Krug has 4-4-8 in CCHA tilts, and two of those goals stood as game-winners.

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 18 games this season, Krug has been whistled for 10 penalties for 23 minutes - second in infractions behind Dustin Gazley's 11, and ranked first in penalty minutes.

block party
Michigan State has blocked 198 shots in 18 games, compared to 228 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 31 shots, while Krug's defensive partner Matt Grassi has 15. Blueliners Brock Shelgren (25), Tim Buttery (15) and Jake Chelios (13) also register double-digits. Trevor Nill (13) and Chris Forfar (11) are the Spartan forwards with 10 or more.

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.