Spartans Start Playoffs In Alaska

3/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

March 3, 2011

CCHA FIRST ROUND: Michigan State at Alaska
Dates	Fri.-Sun., March. 4-6 Best of Three
Game Times	(Fri/Sat) 11:05 p.m. EST \| (Sun) 10:05 p.m.
Location	Fairbanks, Alaska.. \| Carlson Center (Cap. 4,595; 200x100)
Televison	none
Radio	WJIM 1240 AM
Tickets	Ticket Info
Game Notes	Download PDF
Internet Coverage	Alaska Live Video Stream (b2 Network) Live Stats \| Live Audio
Social Media	@MSU_Hockey \| Facebook
Press Conference Video	Head Coach Rick
Press Conference Audio	Rick \| Torey \| Will \| Distinguished Spartan Award Winner Anson

storyline
Michigan State has finished the regular season in 10th place, and must travel to Alaska for the first round of the CCHA playoffs.

media darlings
There will be no television coverage of the series this weekend at Alaska. The Nanooks do provide a live video stream of the games through the B2 Network.
On the radio, all games will be carried by the Spartan Sports Network and will air on WJIM 1240 AM. The weekend tilts can also be heard on www.spartansportsnetwork.com. Scott Moore and Rob Woodward are in their sixth season together on the call of Spartan hockey.

series history

These two teams have played eight previous games in the CCHA Tournament, which includes MSU having a perfect 4-0 record against Alaska in first-round games. The Spartans are 6-2-0 against Alaska in CCHA Tournament games, and hold a 39-13-3 mark all-time.
The Spartans split with Alaska in the most recent series between the teams, which was played two weeks ago at the Carlson Center. The Spartans went 2-1-1 against the Nanooks in the four-game regular-season series.

the last meetings
MSU came away from the trek to Alaska two weeks ago with a split, losing 4-1 on Friday and owning a 6-2 victory on Saturday.
Scott Enders scored two third-period goals and also had an assist to break open a tight game as Alaska got the win Friday night. Daultan Leveille broke up the shutout with less than two minutes remaining in regulation for Michigan State, which struggled through a string of near-misses throughout the final two periods after a slow start to the game. The game was a 1-0 affair entering the third period, but the Nanooks blew it open with three third-period markers. Will Yanakeff made 26 saves.
Derek Grant had a career-best four point night (2 goals, 2 assists) and led six MSU players with multiple-point efforts as the Spartans salvaged the split. MSU had three third-period goals to put a tight game out of reach, and Drew Palmisano made 22 saves for the win. Andy Taranto had both Alaska tallies.

playoff picture
The first round of the CCHA Tournament this year consists of three best-of three series. Teams seeded 1-5 receive a bye; No. 6 Northern Michigan will host Bowling Green, and No. 8 Lake Superior State will host No. 9 Ohio State.
First-round winners will be re-seeded, and will travel to the top three seeds for the quarterfinals. The No. 4 (Western Michigan) and No. 5 (Ferris State) teams will face off in the quarterfinal round automatically. The quarterfinal games will all be played at campus sites, with those winners advancing to Joe Louis Arena for the championship weekend.

end of an era
Head coach Rick Comley announced his retirement from his position as head coach at Michigan State, effective at the end of the 2010-11 season. Comley, just the third coach in the modern history of the MSU program, made the announcement at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 25.
Highlights of his Michigan State tenure start with the 2007 National Championship, and include the 2006 CCHA Tournament title, and Great Lakes Invitational titles in 2004, 2006, and 2009. He has had 12 former MSU players skate in the National Hockey League, 15 All-CCHA performers, six All-Americans, and three Hobey Baker finalists. In addition, four have earned Academic All-America honors, and three of the five winners of the CCHA's Ilitch Humanitarian Award have played at MSU under Comley.
Overall, Comley has coached 10 Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalists, 15 All-Americans, four league players of the year, 26 first-team all-league selections, and 85 academic all-league selections.
Comley ranks among the top five coaches all-time in wins and top three among active coaches.

INJURY REPORT
Junior centerman Daultan Leveille suffered a leg injury in the Feb. 19 game vs. Alaska, and will subsequently miss the remainder of the 2010-11 season.
The first-round pick of the Atlanta Thrashers finishes his season with an 8-10-18 line, and has 60 points (23 goals, 37 assists) in 110 career games. Until the final weekend of the regular season, he had never missed a game in his collegiate career.

gaining ground
Comley owns a 783-613-110 (.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 874 and Jack Parker of Boston University has 851.

this week's popularity contest ...
Michigan State has been left out of both national polls the last 12 weeks, after at least receiving votes in each of the first 10 surveys of the season.

a look back
Michigan State finished the month of January with a 4-3-1 record, which was MSU's first month over .500 since October. The Spartans 4-11-0 record in November and December was a great contributor to the sub-.500 regular season. The Spartans were .500 or better in both January and February.

on a roll
Michigan State has won three straight games, and with the sweep of Bowling Green in the final regular-season weekend, MSU recorded its first series sweep at home since October 2009, when it downed Clarkson. It was the first sweep of a CCHA team at Munn since Oct. 26-27, 2007 vs. Northern Michigan.

balance
Since the holiday break, the Spartans have gotten balanced contributions across its roster. Sixteen different players have scored at least one goal, and three players (Brett Perlini, Torey Krug, Dean Chelios) the charge with six; three more have five goals (Dustin Gazley, Daultan Leveille, Derek Grant). Twenty-one players have at least one point, and five of the nine players who have appeared in all 18 games in the second half have double-digit point totals.

scoring surge
Since the start of the GLI, MSU has scored 51 goals, and scored at least four in seven of the 18 games. In this span MSU was shut out against Michigan on Jan. 8 and Miami on Jan. 22.
MSU is 8-2-2 when scoring four goals or more this season.

late tallies
In their last 18 games, the Spartans have scored 24 third-period tallies, more than two-thirds of the third-period goals it has scored this season (34).

seven = heaven
MSU's seven goals on Jan. 21 against Miami was the most for the Spartans since the 10-1 victory over Michigan Tech in the 2009 Great Lakes Invitational, and the most in a CCHA game since Jan. 4, 2008, an 8-2 decision over Lake Superior. It was the most the RedHawks had allowed since also allowing seven to Boston College in the NCAA semifinals last spring.

monthly reports
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. The Spartans had a 2-3-0 December, and were 4-3-1 in January. The Spartans snapped a four-game skid by winning three straight, and improved to 4-4-0 in February.

non-conference
Rick Comley owns a 42-30-7 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).
MSU's 2010-11 schedule has one independent (Alabama-Huntsville), four games against WCHA competition (Minnesota, Wisconsin, MIchigan Tech, and Colorado College in the GLI) in addition to the two-game set with Hockey East entry Maine.
This year, MSU went 4-2-2 against non-conference teams, with a win and tie each against Maine and UAH. The Spartans' also split the College Hockey Showcase, a win at Minnesota and a loss at Wisconsin. MSU's dropped a 5-4 decision to Colorado College in the GLI, but rebounded to down Michigan Tech, 5-3, in the consolation game.

ranking
MSU's nine games prior to the Dec. 30 game against Michigan Tech were against ranked teams, and the Spartans started 2011 with four of their first six against No. 7/8 Michigan, and No. 11/12 Miami. Overall, MSU is 7-9-2 against ranked opponents, but is 4-1-2 against teams ranked in the top 10 at the time of the game. The only loss against a top-10 opponent is MSU's 4-0 loss to the Wolverines on Jan. 8 at Yost Ice Arena.

still searching
Head coach Rick Comley has used 60 different forward line combinations this season in search of finding some consistent scoring.

four is a magic number
This year, MSU is 8-2-2 when scoring four goals or more, and is 7-14-2 in games scoring three or fewer. MSU is 14-4-2 when allowing three or fewer, and 1-11-2 when giving up four or more.
The GLI semifinal against Colorado College (12/29) was the first time this season that MSU scored four goals or more and lost; the second was the Feb. 12 game against Northern Michigan in which the Spartans held a 4-1 lead but lost, 6-5.

win `em close
MSU was 8-4-0 in one-goal games in 2009-10, and is 6-6-0 (with two overtime losses) in those games this season. Overall in 2010-11, the Spartans have tied four games, had 12 one-goal affairs, and six others which were two-goal games with empty-net tallies.

free hockey
Michigan State is 1-2-4 in overtime this season. The Jan. 7 game against Michigan was MSU's first and only overtime victory in seven chances this season, a 4-3 decision. The Spartans' last win in overtime came in December 2009 at Bowling Green - when then-freshman Torey Krug scored the game-winner, his first collegiate tally. Krug had a hat trick in this season's overtime victory.

big games
MSU had its largest single-game output in a calendar year with seven goals against Miami (1/21).
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.
With nine goals in the two games of the Great Lakes Invitational, it was the most goals the Spartans have scored in consecutive games this season. MSU had scored eight in the weekend set with Maine .

big periods
The Spartans entered the third period of the Jan. 14 game at Lake Superior in a scoreless tie, but put four goals on the board in the final frame for their largest scoring output in a single period this season. It was the most in a single period for the Spartans since scoring five in the second period against Michigan Tech in the 2009 Great Lakes Invitational.
MSU had three first-period tallies in the Feb. 12 game against Northern Michigan, the most it has had in a single game this season. It was the third time this year it put three on the board in the opening frame this year; the last time was against Minnesota in the College Hockey Showcase on Nov. 26

shoot out the lights
MSU put 52 shots on net in its Friday, Feb. 11 game against Northern Michigan. It was the most shots for the Spartans in a single game since Nov. 10, 2007, a 6-2 victory over Mercyhurst.
NMU goalie Jared Coreau made 50 stops in the contest. The last time a Spartan opposing goaltender had 50+ saves was when Michael-Lee Teslak of Michigan Tech made 57 in the Great Lakes Invitational semifinals in 2005.

you shoot, you score. Really.
The Spartans averaged 27.6 shots per game in their first 18 games, while averaging 31.1 in their last 18. This helps account for MSU's increase in scoring in the second half - the team averaged 2.33 goals per game in the first half, and are at 2.83 in the second. MSU's goals allowed - 2.83 in the first half, 2.72 per game in the second - remained nearly identical.

... which explains this
Michigan State limited Bowling Green to just 17 shots on net in both of their games in the regular season's final weekend - a season low for any of MSU's opponents this year.

nice shootin', tex
MSU's seven goals against Miami on Jan. 21 came on just 22 shots. It was the fewest Spartan shots to reach the net since the Dec. 3 game against Ferris State, a 3-2 victory.

shooting gallery, part i
MSU has outshot its opponents in just 13 of 36 games, including holding its opponents to 20 shots or less four times. Despite being on the short end of the shot margin in more than 2/3 of its games, opponents have 1097 shots this season, compared to 1057 for MSU - a shot discrepancy averaging just over one shot per game.
The Spartans allowed a season-high 47 shots to Miami on Jan. 22, and had surrendered 46 the previous night to the Red Hawks.
MSU's game total of 52 shots against Northern Michigan on Feb. 11 was its season best. The previous high was 46 shots against Michigan Tech (12/30) in the GLI.

brooms
MSU has been swept three times this season. Twice its happened on the road - both in the month of November - 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 was swept at home by Northern Michigan on Feb. 11-12 (2-4, 5-6), the first time since 2008 that a visiting team swept the Spartans on home ice.
Michigan State swept their first series of the season, 2-1 and 2-0, over Bowling Green to complete the regular season. MSU recorded its first series sweep since October 2009, when it downed Clarkson. It was the first sweep of a CCHA team since Oct. 26-27, 2007 vs. Northern Michigan.

scoreless
Overall, nine of MSU's 36 games this season have been shutouts - four for, and a school-record five against. MSU owns two shutouts against Ohio State, and has been shut out twice by both Ferris State and Michigan. MSU also shut out Alaska, and Bowling Green and was shut out by Miami.
Two of MSU's four shutouts of an opponent have come on the road - at Lake Superior (4-0) and Ohio State (2-0). Of MSU's five shutouts against, three have come at Munn Ice Arena (twice by Ferris State, Miami) and the other two in Ann Arbor - one each at Yost, and MIchigan Stadium.

powering up
On the season, MSU's penalty kill is 113-for-143, (.790), and ranks 11th in the CCHA. MSU has allowed seven of its 30 power-play goals against to Michigan in 16 chances in four games, but has killed off 106 of 127 (.835) in its other 32 games combined.
The Spartan power play is 26-for-1594 (.164) on the man advantage, good for seventh in the CCHA.

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

shorty
MSU has allowed five shorthanded goals this season, and scored two. MSU both scored and allowed a shorthanded goal in the OSU series - Derek Grant's empty-netter in the 2-0 win on Friday, and CJ Severyn's second-period goal in a 4-2 OSU victory.
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.

special specials
Twenty-eight of MSU's 93 goals scored this season have come in special teams situations - 26 on the power play, and two shorthanded. Of the 100 goals the Spartans have allowed, 30 have come with a man advantage and five shorthanded.

they're honored
Four MSU players have received weekly honors from the CCHA this season.The most recent is freshman netminder Will Yanakeff, who was the CCHA Goalie of the Week on Jan. 17 after the Lake Superior series.
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.
Torey Krug was named to the All-Tournament team at the Great Lakes Invitational.

conference leaders
Derek Grant is now 11th in the CCHA overall in scoring (32 points). Brett Perlini is 14th, with 29 points and is tied for sixth in the conference in goals (17), while Grant's 24 assists has him sixth in the league in that category.

offensive defenseman
Sophomore blueliner Torey Krug is making it hard on the league's coaches to not award him CCHA Offensive Defenseman honors and All-CCHA accolades. In league games only - the statistics on which the CCHA voting is conducted - Krug is the league's top-scoring defenseman with 10-9-19, and ranks tied for 20th in scoring, 15th in goals, fourth in power play goals (6) and sixth in power-play points (10).
In overall league scoring, Krug is tied for 17th in scoring (26 points), tied for 21st in goals (11), and 23rd in assists. He is also fourth in power-play points and second in power-play goals (7g, 7a, 14 pts) and is the top-scoring defenseman in the CCHA overall.
Nationally, he's making a name for himself as well - he is 19th in defenseman points per game (0.72), and is second among rearguards in goals (11). He is tied for seventh among all defensemen nationally in points, and is one of five defensemen in the country to have a hat trick this season. Among "western" conference blueliners (his competition for All-America honors), he's seventh in points per game, second in goals, and one of two with a three-goal effort.
Krug was named to the CCHA Preseason All-Conference Team; he received the third-most votes of any blueliner in the conference, garnering three first-place votes and 30 points. He was also named to the Inside College Hockey first-half team.

throw your hats
Torey Krug's hat trick on Jan. 7 against Michigan was MSU's first since Corey Tropp's against Bowling Green on Dec. 12, 2009. To his recollection, it is his first hat trick at any level of the game.
Of the 51 hat tricks scored this season in Division I hockey, only five have been recorded by blueliners - Krug and Justin Schultz of Wisconsin are the only two from western-based conferences.

historical presence
Torey Krug's power-play goal against Alaska on Feb. 19 gives him 11 on the season, the most goals for a defenseman since Tyler Howells had 10 in 2006-07. Howells also played a fair amount at forward that season.
He now sits in a three-way tie for ninth place in defenseman goals in a single season in the MSU annals, tied with AJ Thelen (2003-04) and Brad Fast (2002-3), with 11 in a season. Thelen and Fast both earned All-America honors in those seasons.
The school record for blueliner goals in a season is held by Steve Beadle, who had 21 goals in 1989-90.

HOT HANDS

• Dean Chelios has had points in six of his last seven games (3-3-6). He scored the first goal of the game against the Falcons in both games of this series . He has a 6-4-10 scoring line in the second half, after a four-point first semester.
• MSU got 17 saves from Drew Palmisano in Saturday's shutout victory. He has allowed two goals in his last two games, and has won back-to-back Saturday decisions. The shutout was the junior's second of the season and the team's fourth.
• Brett Perlini had a goal and an assist in the first period on Friday, his first multiple-point outing since Jan. 21 vs. Miami. It also matched his scoring output in the nine games since that contest against the RedHawks
• With a pair of assists in the opening 20 minutes of Friday's contest, Zach Golembiewski had his first career multiple-point game.
• Derek Grant had his eighth goal of the season in the third period of Saturday's game.

celebration of a century
Junior Matt Crandell is the second member of the junior class to hit the 100-career game mark this season, et against Ohio State. Classmate Daultan Leveille did it at Lake Superior State on Jan. 15. Brock Shelgren, with 97 career games, is the next likely member of the 100-game plateau. In fact, Shelgren could hit 100 games this weekend, if the series goes three games.

long time coming
Joey Shean's goal on Jan. 29, the game-winner against Michigan, was his first goal since Feb. 14, 2009 against Ohio State - the goals came nearly two calendar years apart.
Tim Buttery's second-period goal on Feb. 4 vs. OSU - also the game-winner - was his first since Oct. 16, 2009 at Maine.
Anthony Hayes netted his first goal of the season on Feb. 12 vs. Northern Michigan.

block party
MSU has blocked 415 shots in 36 games, compared to 480 for its opponents. In the second game against Alaska (Oct. 23), the Nanooks blocked 30 MSU shots, and Lake Superior blocked 31 in the 2-2 tie on Jan. 15.
Sophomore captain Torey Krug has blocked a team-high 64 shots, while Krug's defensive partner Matt Grassi has 36. Blueliners Brock Shelgren (51), Tim Buttery (32) Jake Chelios (25), and Matt Crandell (22) also register double-digits. Sophomore Chris Forfar leads the forwards (22).
Krug blocked eight shots in the most recent Alaska series, Buttery blocked a career-best five shots against Colorado College on Dec. 29, Shelgren had his career-best (5) against LSSU on Jan. 14, and Grassi turned in his career and a season team-best seven against the Lakers on Jan. 15.

giving back
MSU junior alternate captain Trevor Nill was among a record 25 players nominated for the 2011 BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award; on Feb. 15, he learned that he is one of eight finalists for the 2011 award. The other finalists are Brooks Dyroff, Boston College; Alex Higgins, St. Michaels College ; Aleca Hughes, Yale ; Sam Kuzyk, Adrian; Tucker Mullin, St. Anselm; Whitney Pappas, Robert Morris; and Brigid O'Gorman, Connecticut College. The award will be presented on Friday, April 8 at the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn.

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.

a peek at 11-12
College Hockey, Inc., and the University of North Dakota announced on Feb. 23 that UND will host the annual Ice Breaker Tournament to open the 2011-12 season. The 15th annual Ice Breaker Tournament will feature four of the most storied programs in NCAA men's hockey, including North Dakota and Boston College, currently the top two ranked teams in the country, as well as Michigan State and Air Force. The 2011 Ice Breaker participants have combined to win 14 NCAA championships, led by UND's seven. Boston College has won four and Michigan State has won three. MSU (2007) and Boston College (2008, 2010) have won three of the last four NCAA titles. Michigan State is appearing in the IceBreaker for the fourth time. The Spartans first appeared in the inaugural1997-98 tournament, downing Boston University and Wisconsin to capture the title. MSU hosted the event in 2004, dropping a 4-3 decision to Findlay before rebounding with a 5-4 victory over Minnesota-Duluth. The Spartans' most recent appearance came in Boston in 2009, falling to host Boston University (2-1) in the final after dispatching Massachusetts, 3-1, in the semis.