Michigan State University Athletics
Spartans Seeking Alaskan Goal Rush
2/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Feb. 4, 2010
Michigan State embarks on its longest road trip of the season when it travels to Fairbanks to tangle with Alaska. The 12th-ranked Spartans, currently in second place in the CCHA standings, will look to extend their lead over third-place Ferris State prior to a bye week.
No. 12/2 Michigan State at. --/RV Alaska
Date/Time: Feb. 5-6, 2010; Carlson Center, Fairbanks, Alaska
Audio: WJIM 1240 AM (F); WVFN 730 AM (S); all audio can also be heard at www.spartansportsnetwork.com
Television: Comcast Local (Digital Ch. 900 in Lansing area) (S)
Download MSU Hockey Notes (PDF)
Podcasts: Rick | Torey | Dustin
media darlings
Saturday's game will air locally on Comcast (Digital channel 900). On the radio, Friday's game will air on WJIM 1240 AM; Saturday will air on WVFN 730 AM. The radio call can also be heard on www.spartansportsnetwork.com.
state of the union
Michigan State has split the last two weekends, and went 3-3-2 in the month of January. MSU still sits in second place in the CCHA standings. Many of the teams around MSU in the standings have two games in hand on the Spartans, who will be idle the week after returning from Alaska.
The Spartans are coming off a split with archrival Michigan, and finished their season set with UM with a 3-1 record. MSU won a 3-2 game on Friday, and battled back from a 3-0 deficit in the Saturday tilt before falling, 5-4.
series history
MSU is 37-11-1 all-time against the Nanooks, and is 14-5-1 at the Carlson Center. The Spartans are unbeaten in their last two weekend trips to Alaska (3-0-1), which includes a pair of 3-1 wins in November 2007, their last games there.
how we got here
Michigan State puts in a 19-hour travel day on Wednesday - the Spartans depart Munn Arena at 5 a.m. to bus to Detroit to fly to Fairbanks, which includes layovers in Seattle and Anchorage. The team will arrive in Fairbanks at 8 p.m. local time (midnight at home in East Lansing), and get in a light skate and dinner before finally calling it a day. The Spartans will practice on Thursday
recapping the action
Michigan State settled for a split in its series with Michigan last weekend, winning, 3-2 at Munn Arena and falling, 5-4 at Joe Louis Arena.
In Friday's game, the Spartans jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a goal in each period, capped by Corey Tropp's second power-play goal of the night at 2:51 of the third period. The game got chippy from there, with 43 penalty minutes whistled in the third period alone. Carl Hagelin cut the defecit to 3-1 with a 5-on-3 power play goal at 3:50, and Louie Caporusso added a power-play marker at 16:40; that was as close as Michigan would get, however, thanks to strong play from sophmore Drew Palmisano, who was the game's second star (behind Tropp) with 22 saves.
On Saturday, it was the Wolverines who had a 3-0 lead, with all three markers coming in the first period. The Spartans got back into it with a pair of goals in the second period from Andrew Rowe (shorthanded) and Brett Perlini. Jeff Petry knotted the score just 50 seconds into the third, and Dean Chelios scored at 13:09 to give MSU its first lead of the night.
Matt Rust countered just over two minutes later for UM, knotting the game at four with a shorthanded marker; Chris Brown got the eventual game-winner with 2:07 remaining in regulation when he kept hammering at a loose puck in the crease until it found its way into the back of the net.
one of many positive comparisons
Michigan State won more first-semester games (14) than any other in the eight-year tenure of head coach Rick Comley. It's the most victories for an MSU team on January 1 since the 1999-2000 team had 15 wins - which also included a GLI championship.
lets hope for a parallel
Michigan State's two roughest months, schedule-wise, are November and January. MSU had identical 3-3-2 records in both months. The Spartans followed up their November with a 5-1-0 December - and MSU will play six games in the month of February.
another sign that 2009 was the exception, not the rule
The Spartans secured their 10th victory of the season on Friday Dec. 4 with a 1-0 win over Northern Michigan - a milestone they reached on Feb. 20 last season with a 3-2 win over Bowling Green. MSU owns 12 wins against CCHA teams, bettering its conference win total (7) from last season.
on the pond
MSU will play four regular-season games on an Olympic ice sheet during the 2009-10 season (200x100) - the December set at Northern Michigan, and this weekend's series at Alaska. MSU went 1-1 in early December at NMU. With the exception of the games at Northern Michigan, the team has played all other 28 games on NHL ice (200x85).
non-conference
Michigan State is 5-3 against non-conference competition this season, sweeping Clarkson, splitting a series at Maine, getting swept in the College Hockey Showcase by Wisconsin and Minnesota, then capturing the GLI with victories over Michigan Tech and Rensselaer. Rick Comley owns a 38-28-5 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 21-14-4 over the last four years (2005-09.) This season, MSU was 1-1 against Hockey East, 3-0 against ECACH, and 1-2 against the WCHA.
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.
Oct. 10 - Dave Kelley (1973-77)
Oct. 17 - Ron Clark (1972-75)
Nov. 6 - Kevin Miller (1984-88)
Nov. 28 - Joe Blackburn (1997-01)
Jan. 8 - Bob Brawley (1964-67)
Jan. 9 - Eldon VanSpybrook (1958, 1960)
Jan. 16 - Paul Hruby (1956-59)
Jan. 23 - Ken Paraskevin (1977-81)
Jan. 29 - Tom Tilley (1984-88)
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. This year, a total of three players have missed just 33 games, which includes senior Jay Sprague missing the first 24 games of the season with injury. He has been cleared to play as of mid-January.
gaining ground
Comley captured his 750th career victory on Friday, Oct. 9 with a 6-1 victory over Clarkson. He now owns a 766-598-104 (.564) 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 835 and Jack Parker of Boston University has 826. The Feb. 7, 2009 victory over Ferris State (1-0) was the 150th victory for Comley at MSU.
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.
Currently in cluster play, MSU has emerged as the leader of the pack. MSU is 4-2-2, Notre Dame is 3-2-3, Michigan is 2-4-0, and Bowling Green is 1-4-1.
heft in the schedule
MSU is 4-1-1 against teams ranked in the top ten this season, and 4-3-2 against ranked teams overall.
speaking of rankings ...
The Spartans are No. 12 in both the USCHO poll and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine survey. MSU has twice owned a No. 6 ranking (Nov. 16 and Jan. 11), which is the program's highest ranking since March 10, 2008 when they also held down the No. 6 spot. The Spartans have spent 12 weeks ranked in the national polls this season.
the irish don't like streaking
MSU's two longest unbeaten streaks this season were halted when MSU faced off with Notre Dame. The Spartans had an undefeated streak of eight straight conference wins snapped on Nov. 22 against Notre Dame, the longest streak since MSU did not lose (5-0-3) in the month of January 2008. The Spartans had a six-game unbeaten streak on the line when they faced off with the Irish on Jan. 15, and Notre Dame again halted the streak, this time with a 5-2 victory.
getting a hang of this road game thing
Michigan State won its fifth road game of the season on Dec. 11 at Bowling Green, three more than it won in all of last year. MSU is 6-4-0 in road tilts this season.
january grind
Michigan State had its hands full with conference games in January - it opened with resurgent Lake Superior, followed by a home-and-home with Notre Dame and a home set with Ohio State. It wrapped up January action with a home-and-Joe series against Michigan, pushing MSU's record to 3-3-2 mark in the first month of the calendar year. MSU has not recorded a sub-.500 month in the 2009-10 season.
consistency
Michigan State has scored four goals or more only 11 of its 30 games. The Spartans are averaging 3.3 goals per game. Only once this season, however, has MSU scored four goals or more and lost - that happened in MSU's most recent outing, against Michigan at Joe Louis Arena (Jan. 30) when the Spartans fell to their archrival, 5-4.
famine and feast
The Spartans average 6.57 goals per weekend set. MSU was limited to just a pair of goals in its two-game November series with Notre Dame (Nov. 19/22), its lowest scoring ouput in a weekend this season. With 16 goals scored in the GLI, the Spartans scored its most goals in two consecutive games since netting 19 in two games against Ferris State on March 2-3, 1990 (6-4, 13-1). Michigan State has scored seven goals in five of its 11 conference weekends this season, including four of the last five.
backbreakers
Michigan State has scored in the first or final minute of a period 10 times this season, compared to just three times for their opponents (excluding empty-net goals).
win `em close
22 of MSU's 30 games this season have been settled by two goals or less, and 11 were one-goal affairs, including each of MSU's games against Michigan last weekend (and three of the four meetings of the teams overall). Of the seven that were two-goal margins or more, four involved an empty-net goal.
you miss 100% of the shots you don't take
Michigan State has been outshot in 20 of its 30 games thus far, but on the season has been outshot only by a 896-841 margin, a total of 55 shots. MSU is averaging 28.0 shots per game, and allowing an average of 29.9. 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 3.3 goals over 30 games (and allowed just 2.5).
sloppy seconds
Michigan State has scored the first goal of the game in eight of its last 11 contests. Michigan State is 13- 3- 3 when scoring the first goal, and 4-6-1 when allowing the opponent to do so.
only wear a tie at home
Michigan State has four ties this season, and all four have been home games. MSU is 8-2-4 at home, and 6-4-0 on the road.
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 82-40-13 mark in the second half (61.6%). (This does not include spring 2010).
With MSU's a 14-6-2 first-semester record, it has surpassed the 2007-08 squad for most wins under Comley in the opening semester. Those Spartans had the then-best first-half record under Comley (12-5-2, 68.4%), and were 13-7-3 in the 2008 portion of the schedule (63%).
consistency
Michgian State's lineup has not only been fairly consistent thanks to the relative health of the team, but also because Rick Comley has changed his previous philosophy of playing almost all players early on in the season. In fact, the Spartans have employed just 24 different sets of forward lines, with the two top lines playing 27 of the 30 games together.
MSU's defensive pairs have also seen few changes, as Torey Krug and Jeff Petry have played all 30 games together, Crandell and Shelgren for 23, and Josepeher and Grassi (who missed six games early in the season) for 21
Compare that to the 2007-08 campaign, when the most-utilized line (Tim Kennedy-Justin Abdelkader-Chris Mueller) played together for 19 games, and Kennedy and Abdelkader skated with Tim Crowder for another 16.
Last year's injury issues led to an astounding 80 different line combinations over the course of the season.
free hockey
Michigan State has played seven overtimes this season with an official record of 2-1-4. In the four ties, MSU has lost the shootout three times (to UNO, Notre Dame on Nov. 19, and LSSU on Jan. 9), then finally got a shootout win on Jan. 16 against the Irish. MSU has surpassed last year's total of six overtime contests. All three of MSU's overtime games that did not end in a tie have been decided by 3-2 margins.
hot hand
Drew Palmisano had made 30+ saves in five straight games, which included a season-best 43 against Ohio State on Jan. 23. It was just three less than his career high of 46, set last season against Michigan at Yost. That streak came to an end in the Michigan series. Against Notre Dame on Jan. 15, he broke his personal best for saves in a period, making 19 stops in the opening period in the game in South Bend.
more hot hands
Jeff Petry owns the team's longest point-scoring streak, with an assist in each if MSU's last five games and a 1-5-6 line.
Petry (1-2-3), Torey Krug (0-3-3), and Dustin Gazley (1-2-3) each had three points in MSU's series against Michigan.
weekly or monthly, he's the top rookie
The CCHA announced on Tuesday that defenseman Torey Krug has been named the CCM CCHA Rookie of the Month for January. It is the second time he has earned the award this season. Krug tallied two goals and six assists for eight points during January and averaged 2.5 blocks per game. He registered the game-winning goal, his second of the season, against Ohio State on Jan. 22. Krug's other marker came with less than three minutes remaining in a Jan. 9 matchup with Lake Superior and served as the game-tying goal. He also registered an assist on Derek Grant's game-winning goal against LSSU (Jan. 8).
The Livonia, Mich., native was also named CCM CCHA Rookie of the Week on Feb. 1 following a series split with archrival Michigan. Krug assisted on Corey Tropp's first-period power-play goal in a 3-2 win at Munn Ice Arena (Jan. 29). He followed that effort with two assists the next night as the Spartans fought back from a three-goal deficit to take a 4-3 lead over the Wolverines before falling, 5-4, at Joe Louis Arena.
he's had some "alone time"
Krug is also MSU's most-penalized player. At 5-9, he is MSU's smallest-stature defenseman - but he is the Spartans' most-penalized player, with 22 penalties for 55 minutes. Senior centerman Nick Sucharski is next at 17/45.
early impact
Michigan State freshmen have won three of the four CCHA Rookie of the Month awards in the 2009-10 season. Derek Grant was the Rookie of the Month for October, while Krug earned the honor in both December and January.
waiting for the call
Only one freshman - winger Kevin Walrod - has yet to score a goal this season. Walrod missed out on the MSU scoring extravaganza in the GLI, as he missed both games with illness.
block party
Torey Krug (59) owns the team lead in blocked shots, followed by Jeff Petry (49) and Brock Shelgren (32) and Matt Crandell (28).
strong genes
MSU's fourth line - the "Blood Line" of Dean Chelios and Trevor Nill, centered by Brett Perlini, has gotten strong results. The trio has skated together in seven of the last 10 games dating back to the GLI, and has a combined 10-12-22 scoring line and is a +20.
Why the "Blood Line"? All three have fathers who have skated in the NHL - Chris Chelios is still playing professional hockey and has logged 1,644 NHL games, Jim Nill played 10 years in the NHL and is currently the Asst. GM of the Detroit Red Wings, and Fred Perlini played for the Toronto Maple Leafs before a lengthy career in Europe.
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.
Tropp added a second hat trick on Dec. 12 against Bowling Green, a natural hat trick in which he scored at 19:17 of the second and at 3:37 and 13:22 of the third.
Tropp is the first Michigan State player to have two hat tricks in a season since Mike York had a pair in the 1998-99 campaign (he knocked in three on Dec. 26 against Northern Michigan and Jan. 8 against Miami). The previous season (1997-98), Sean Berens had three hat tricks - agaisnt Alaska-Fairbanks (Jan. 3), against Northern Michigan (Jan. 10) and Michigan (Feb. 20).
Tropp and Notre Dame's Calle Ridderwall are the only two players in the country this season with two hat tricks.
career bests all around
Ten of MSU's 12 returning players who have played in at least one game this season have already bettered their 2008-09 scoring numbers. The only ones who haven't are defensemen Tim Buttery (1-6-7 in 2008-09, 1-5-6 this year) and Brock Shelgren (1-5-6 in 2008-09, 0-2-2 this season.) Four of the five upperclassmen have already surpassed their career-best single-season numbers. The most recent to match his is Jeff Petry, who now has matched the 24 points he put up as a freshman, when he was a member of the CCHA's All-Rookie team. Corey Tropp had a 6-11-17 line as a freshman, and currently has 19-19-38. Andrew Rowe's 14 points (6g, 8a) as a sophmore has been shattered by his current 13-10-23, and linemate Dustin Gazley also had 14 points last season (7g, 7a). Gazley has a 8-11-19 line. Nick Sucharski had a 9-17-26 line a junior in 2007-08, and has 7-9-16 so far this season.
multiplicity
Corey Tropp started off his junior season with five multiple-point efforts in the first nine games, and has 11 multiple-point efforts in 30 games. He has scored goals in 14 of MSU's 30 contests, including six of the last 16.
clutch
When the Spartans need a big goal, look no further than MSU's top line. Both junior Corey Tropp and freshman Derek Grant have been on the ice for nine of MSU's 17 game-winning goals this season, the highest number on the team. Tropp has scored five game-winners and had the secondary assist on two others. Grant, on the other hand, has two game-winners, had the primary assist on two, and the secondary assist on two others. Grant has two game-tying goals as well, with an assist on a third. Tropp has the primary assist on two game equalizers. (Game-tying goals are defined as the goal scored in a tie game that brought the trailing team into a (final) tie score.)
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.
odds & ends
• Two former Spartans will represent their countries in the upcoming Olympic Games in Vancouver. Ryan Miller (Buffalo Sabres) will be the US netminder, while Duncan Keith (Chicago Blackhawks) will patrol the blueline for the Canadian squad. • Rod Brind'Amour has relinquished his captaincy of the Carolina Hurricanes in favor of Eric Staal (Jan. 20). Brind'Amour, who had the final say on the move, will remain an alternate captain. He had worn the C in Carolina since 2005.
next up
MSU will take a break after i its longest road trip of the season, and will be idle on Feb. 12-13. The Spartans resume CCHA play Feb. 19-20 when they engage in a home-and-home with Ferris State.
