Spartans Hit The Road For Ferris Series

1/25/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

Jan. 25, 2012

No. 16 Michigan State vs. No. 13/14 Ferris State
Dates	Friday-Saturday, Jan.27-28, 2012
Game Times	7:05 p.m.
Location	Big Rapids, Mich.; Ewigleben Ice Arena (Cap. 2,493; 200x85)
Televison	none
Radio	WJIM 1240 AM
Tickets	Ticket Info
Game Notes	Download PDF (MSU Notes)
Internet Coverage	Live Stats \| Live Audio
Social Media	@MSU_Hockey \| Facebook
Press Conference Video	Head Coach Tom Torey
Press Conference Audio	Head Coach Tom \| Torey

STORYLINE
MSU travels for the first time in 2012, heading to Big Rapids to take on Ferris State. The series will feature two teams which boast some of the longest current unbeaten streaks in the country - Ferris' unbeaten streak is second in the country, at six games (4-0-2), while the Spartans are fourth nationally with no losses in their last four contests (2-0-2).

MEDIA DARLINGS
On the radio, all games will be carried by the Spartan Sports Network. Both contests will air on WJIM 1240 AM. Scott Moore and Rob Woodward are in their seventh season together on the call of Spartan hockey.
There is no television for this weekend's games.
Live audio on the internet can be found at www.spartansportsnetwork.com

THE ALL-TIME SERIES
The two teams have not played a regular-season series on back-to-back nights at the same site since March 5-6, 1999 (the teams split in East Lansing). MSU leads the all-time series 66-28-15, which includes a 27-11-8 mark in games played in Big Rapids. The squads met four times last season; Ferris came away with three wins, two by shutout (1-0 and 3-0) in the games played in East Lansing. MSU won 3-2 and lost 2-1 in Big Rapids.

LAST TIME OUT
Michigan State scored twice in the final 70 seconds to post a 4-2 victory the Lakers on Friday.
Mike Merrifield, Brett Perlini, and Kevin Walrod had single scores for the Spartans, while Torey Krug added an empty netter and also had an assist. Will Yanakeff had a career-best 45 saves in the victory.
A Laker goal with under five minutes to play on Saturday sent MSU to overtime for the fifth straight series, and the Spartans finished in a 2-2 tie with Lake Superior on Saturday evening. The Lakers skated away with the extra point in the standings with a 2-1 victory in the shootout.
The teams were tied 1-1 after the opening frame, as Dean Chelios was able to get a stick on a loose puck in the crease and net his fifth of the season. There was no scoring in the second period, but the Spartans owed a big debt for that to Yanakeff, who stopped a penalty shot midway through the period.

Greg Wolfe gave the Spartans a 2-1 lead at 12:28 of the third period, but the Lakers tied the game at 15:41. Zach Sternberg carried the puck up the right side and sent it netward from the half wall. Fred Cassiani was in front to deflect the puck past Yanakeff's blocker hand at the far post for his second of the weekend.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Ferris State is under the tutelage of Michigan State graduate Bob Daniels `82. The Bulldogs are unbeaten in their last six games, (4-0-2), and are 15-8-3 on the season - which includes an impressive 9-1-2 mark on their home ice.
Ferris is a defense-first team, featuring a pair of impressive netminders in senior Taylor Nelson (.922 Sv%, 2.25 GAA) and freshman CJ Motte (2.07 GAA, .923). The Bulldogs also have a pair of double-digit goal scorers in Jordie Johnston (14-9-23) and Kyle Bonis (12-4-16).

ROSTER REPORTS
From its opening-day roster of 27 athletes, the Spartans have lost three skaters to injury for the season, and one player (senior Kyle McMahon) left the team for personal reasons. Freshman Justin Hoomaian (leg injury) played the opening five games of the season, but will miss the remainder of the season. He has applied for a medical redshirt.
Freshman Branden Carney fractured his C1 and C2 vertibrae on Thursday, Nov. 3. Carney returned to campus in late November, and is enrolled for spring semester. He remains under the care of neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Bill.
On Oct. 25, junior Zach Golembiewski decided to end his competitive hockey career on the advice of medical professionals after the discovery of an underlying issue that was hindering any improvement after a back injury.
The Spartans added freshman Nathan Phillips to the roster for the spring semester. The 6-1, 165-pound goaltender most recently played for Winnipeg South Blues.

SMART KIDS
The Spartan hockey team turned in a combined semester grade point average of 3.0613, the highest single-semester GPA since the department's Student-Athlete Support Services (SASS) started keeping records in 1997. Additionally, the team now has a cumulative GPA of 3.0805, the second-highest cumulative GPA in the same time frame.
Ten current players received Academic All-Big Ten honors in spring 2011 for maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better.
MSU had 17 of its 25 varsity athletic teams achieve a 3.0 GPA in the fall 2011 semester.

THIS WEEK'S POPULARITY CONTEST
The Spartans check in at No. 16 in the USCHO.com poll and are receiving votes in the USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today survey. MSU has been ranked in at least one poll since Nov. 21.

IN THE STANDINGS
The Spartans sit in eighth place in the CCHA standings, but have games in hand on six teams in the league. The Spartans are just six points out of first place, and four out of second.

STATE OF STATE
In MSU's last two home series (against Northern Michigan and Lake Superior), MSU came away with a win and a tie. In the Spartans' six-game homestand, they went 2-2-2. Over the next three weekends, MSU has two road series (at Ferris State and Ohio State) and a home-and-Joe series against archrival Michigan.
With 13 victories and no fewer than 12 games remaining in the regular season and playoffs, the Spartans are two wins shy of matching its victory total in 2010-11 and six shy of matching 2009-10's wins (19). MSU last had a 20-win season in 2007-08 (25-12-5).
Of its 10 remaining regular-season games, the Spartans have six on the road, three at home, and one at a neutral site (Joe Louis Arena). MSU is 8-3-4 at home, 3-4-0 on the road, and 2-2-0 at neutral sites.

MAIDEN VOYAGE
Former Spartan skater (1982-85) and assistant coach Tom Anastos takes the reigns of the MSU hockey program for the 2011-12 season, becoming just the sixth head coach in program history. Anastos spent the previous 13 seasons as the commissioner of the CCHA.
Anastos is one of nine new head coaches in college hockey in 2011-12, not including Penn State (which will begin play next season with Guy Gadowsky at the helm).
Of those nine new coaches, Anastos is one of the three that faced a ranked team in his coaching debut with his new team. Providence's Nate Leaman's maiden voyage was a win over No. 17 Boston University, while Princeton's Bob Prier skated to a 2-2 tie with then-No. 3/6 Yale.

THE RACE TO TEN
Of MSU's four head coaches in the modern era, it took Tom Anastos the fewest games of any of them to reach his first 10 wins. Win #10 for Rick Comley came in game #20, a January game vs. Alaska. It took Ron Mason 27 games to get to 10 wins, and it took Amo Bessone 34 contests - he did not get his 10th career victory at MSU until his second season as the head coach.
Among college hockey's nine new coaches this season, Anastos was also the first to 10 victories, on Dec. 3.

STICKING IT OUT FOUR YEARS
MSU has nine seniors on the roster this season, the largest senior class since the 1977-78 campaign under Amo Bessone, which had 10.

NON-CONFERENCE
In the Rick Comley era, the Spartans owned a 42-32-7 record in games against non-conference teams. (This includes regular-season, tournament, and NCAA Tournament games). Last year, MSU went 4-2-2 against non-conference teams, and is currently 5-1-1 this season against teams from the other four leagues. MSU played one non-conference game, the GLI final, against league archrival Michigan.
MSU's 2011-12 schedule has three games against WCHA competition (two against Minnesota, and against Michigan Tech in the GLI) in addition one against Hockey East frontrunner Boston College. The Spartans also had a two-game set against Robert Morris at Munn, and one game against Air Force for three total games against Atlantic Hockey.

WE'LL PLAY THE BEST
This season, MSU will play 24 games against nine teams in this week's USCHO Top 20 poll. So far, MSU is 6-3-4 in games played against Top 20 competition, and 3-1-1 against teams ranked in the top five at the time of the game.

Tough ROAD IN ...
The 12 opponents MSU has played this season are a combined 151-115-40 (.559) this season. Eight of them have a dozen or more wins, and only two - Michigan Tech and Bowling Green - are under .500. Minnesota, which MSU beat and tied, leads the country with 17 victories. In addition, the Spartans have played the leaders in three of the five Division I conferences (MSU does not have an ECAC team on its schedule this season, while Air Force and Robert Morris (tied for third) trail Mercyhurst in the Atlantic Hockey standings.)

... TOUGHER ROAD OUT
MSU has five two-game series remaining, all in conference play. Four of those five opponents are currently among the top seven in the pairwise ranking, the main tool used in selecting the NCAA Tournament field. Ohio State (4), Notre Dame (55), Michigan (6), and Ferris State (7) remain on MSU's schedule, and join Boston College (T-8), Northern Michigan (10), Minnesota (13), Miami (14) Western Michigan (17), and Lake Superior (T-20) as MSU opponents which appear in the PWR top 20.
MSU is tied for 14th in the most recent PWR, which would could very well have the Spartans as one of the last teams out of the tournament if the tournament selections were released today.

MILESTONE
MSU recorded its 10th victory of the season on Dec. 3. It is the earliest MSU has owned 10 victories since the 2007-08 season, when win No. 10 came on Dec. 1 vs. LSSU.

BACK ON TRACK
The Spartans snapped a four-game winless streak overall and five-game winless streak in CCHA games with the tie (and shootout win) and victory over Northern Michigan (Jan. 13-14). It was MSU's longest losing (0-3-0) and winless streak (0-3-1) this season. MSU is currently unbeaten in its last four games, with a win and tie in the last two series with NMU and Lake Superior State.

HOME SWEET HOME
MSU had three straight CCHA weekends at home to start January (Miami, Northern Michigan, and Lake Superior), and went 2-2-2 in those games.
On the season, MSU is 8-3-4 in games at Munn Ice Arena, with the losses coming against CCHA-leading Ohio State and Miami (twice).

AHEAD OF THE PACE
MSU went .500 or better in each of the first three months of the season. The Spartans are already at 13 victories, after posting a total of 15 last year. MSU is 2-2-2 in January, with one series remaining.
The last time MSU was .500 or better in each of the first three months of the season was in the 2007-08 campaign. The Spartans are 1-2-1 in January, with four games remaining.

SEARCHING FOR STABILITY
Last year, the Spartans employed 60 different forward line combinations in search of consistent scoring. Through 26 games, there have been 24 different combinations, the same defensive pairs have been used in 22 of 26 games, and only six line combinations have been used for a single game.

MAGIC NUMBER: 3
The Spartans are 1-7-1 when scoring two or fewer goals, and 12-2-3 when scoring three or more.

SHOOTING GALLERY
MSU has been outshot this season in 13 of 26 games, and overall, MSU is -108 in total shots, an average of just over four shots per game. MSU outshot its opponents in just 14 of 38 games last season, including holding its opponents to 20 shots or less four times.

LACKING POWER
The Spartans have not scored a power-play goal in their last seven games, a total of 26 chances against. MSU is 14-of-96 (14.6%), and ranks sixth in the league.
SHUT `ER DOWN
Michigan State's penalty kill was perfect again in the LSSU weekend, and improved to 84-of-94 on the season, good for third nationally and second in the CCHA at 89.4%..
Over the last 12 games dating back to Dec. 1, 2011, the Spartans have allowed just three power-play goals, and all were with two-man advantages. Both Michigan Tech (Dec. 29) and Miami (Jan. 7) scored 5x3 goals, and Michigan's game-tying goal in the final minute of the third period was on the power play, and with their goalie pulled for an extra attacker (6x4). MSU's last power-play goal allowed 4x5 was to Minnesota on Nov. 26.
Since Dec. 1, MSU's penalty kill has gone 33-of-36 (.917).

BROOMS
Michigan State has been swept twice this season: on the road at Lake Superior (Oct. 14-15), and at home against Miami (Jan. 6-7). In between, the Spartans registered three weekend sweeps of their own, against Robert Morris (Oct. 28-29), Western Michigan (Nov. 11-12), and Bowling Green (Dec. 2-3).
In 2010-11, MSU recorded its first and only sweep of the season in the final regular-season weekend against Bowling Green.

FREE HOCKEY
MSU has played overtime in each of its last five weekends, and five of its last nine games overall. The Spartans are 0-2-4 in their last five OT games since downing Air Force in the second game of the season.

CHOIR BOYS
Michigan State is one of the least penalized teams in the country. Of 58 Division I teams, the Spartans are 53rd (11.4 PIM/game) and 11th in the CCHA.

FIRSTS
MSU is 9-3-1 when scoring first and 4-6-3 when allowing its opponent to do so. MSU has allowed the first goal of the game in each of the last six contests and last eight conference games overall - MSU is 3-3-2 in those eight games.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Through 26 games, there are 19 skaters who have appeared in six games or more. Of those 19 players, 18 have at least three points and one goal.

SLIMMEST OF MARGINS
Six of MSU's 11 losses on the season are by a single goal. MSU is 4-6-0 in one-goal games this season. 16 of MSU's 24 games this season have been decided by two goals or less.

WHITEWASH
MSU was shut out for the first time this season in the Jan. 7 loss to Miami (4-0). It was the first time the Spartans had been shut out in nearly a calendar year - the last time was Jan. 22, 2011 - a 4-0 loss to Miami at Munn.

LEADERSHIP
Junior defenseman Torey Krug is the fifth player in MSU history to wear the captain's "C" on his jersey for two seasons. Last year, he was the program's first solo captain as a sophomore in team history. The alternate captains are senior Trevor Nill and junior Anthony Hayes. Nill is in his second season as an alternate captain, while this is the first captain's role for Hayes at MSU.
Krug had a goal and an assist, was a +4, and had eight blocked shots in the win and tie against Lake Superior State. Krug played in his 100th career game on Friday against the Lakers, and he is the team's active career leading scorer (67 points). He is an impressive +18 this season, which leads the CCHA and ranks fourth in the country. Krug was a first-team All-CCHA player last season, and was also named the league's Best Offensive Defenseman.

CONFERENCE HONORS
Senior netminder Drew Palmisano earned his second CCHA Goaltender of the Week honors on Jan. 3, his second award of the season.
Palmisano set a new Great Lakes Invitational record by making 90 saves over two games, stopping 90 of 94 shots faced (.957) with a 1.82 GAA. Palmisano made 45 stops each night, as the Spartans dropped the GLI final game in a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime decision to Michigan. Palmisano was one short of his career-best of 46 saves each night; his career high came against Michigan as a freshman.
Palmisano's earlier award came on Nov. 28 for his performance against Minnesota. He stopped 75 of 82 shots against in a win and tie against the No. 2/3 Gophers.
Freshman winger Brent Darnell was named the CCHA Rookie of the Week after a four-point performance in the Spartans' sweep of Bowling Green (Dec. 5). He had a goal and three assists (+3) for the Spartans as they swept the Falcons, their third series sweep of the season and second of a CCHA opponent.
Senior defenseman Brock Shelgren and sophomore goaltender Will Yanakeff were named the CCHA Defensive Player and Goaltender of the Week, respectively, after the Nov. 11-12 Western Michigan series.
Shelgren had a team-best eight blocked shots - including a career-best seven on Friday - in the Spartans' sweep of the Broncos. Shelgren was a +4 on the weekend and contributed three assists, including the helper on the game-winner in Saturday's contest.
Yanakeff made a career-best 38 saves in Friday's victory, and another 28 on Saturday in helping the Spartans to a two-game road sweep WMU. On the weekend, Yanakeff stopped 66 of 70 shots against (.943).
Lee Reimer was named the CCHA Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 31. Reimer had a hat trick and a five-point night in Saturday's win over Robert Morris (6-2), which came on the heels of a two-assist effort in Friday's 5-2 victory. Reimer's seven-point, +7 effort is far and away his career best for a single weekend's offensive output. Reimer and his linemates combined for nine goals and 14 assists (23 points) on the weekend, and were a +22.

POINT PRODUCTIVITY
The Spartans now have 10 players who have at least 10 points on the season - matching last season's total. Six players have already posted numbers for career-best offensive seasons thus far.

CONFERENCE SUPERLATIVES
Lee Reimer is tied for fourth in the league in scoring (25 points), and second in assists (17), and Mike Merrifield is 12th in goals and tied for second in the league in goals per game (0.56). He also ranks third in the league in game-winning goals. Matt Berry is 11th in freshman scoring 6-6-12, while Kevin Walrod is tied for first in shorthanded points (1-1-2).
Torey Krug ranks second among league defensemen in scoring with a 6-12-18 line, while fellow blueliner Matt Crandell is 10th among blueliners in scoring (14 points).

LEAPS AND BOUNDS
Matt Crandell has 14 points this season, his single-season career best. He is one of six Spartans to check in with a career-best offensive season.
With 20 points (8g, 12a), Greg Wolfe has bettered his freshman year total of 11 points, and sits at third on the team with +10. Lee Reimer owns a 8-17-25 scoring line, and has already well eclipsed his freshman season total of seven points (2g, 5a). Among defensemen. senior Brock Shelgren owns a 3-9-12 scoring line; his previous best single-season point total was seven points as a junior, and he has bettered his single-season assist mark (6). Shelgren is on course to surpass his three-season total of 16 points (5g, 11a).
Two players have eclipsed their carer numbers in this season alone. Mike Merrifield had a 4-4-8 line last season, and career numbers of 6-6-12 in two and a half seasons on the Spartan roster. Despite missing eight games this season with injury, he has surpassed his career goal total (10) and currently has a 10-5-15 scoring line in just 18 games. Kevin Walrod had 11 points in his first two years (3-8-11), but this season boasts eight goals (good for second on the team in that category) and seven assists for 15 points.

SCORING IN BUNCHES
Junior Kevin Walrod had his third career two-goal game (and second of the season) on Nov. 25 against Minnesota. The winger has 11 career goals, and six of them have come in his three two-goal efforts. He has five games with a single goal, including the game-winner last Friday against Lake Superior State.

MERRI-LY WE ROLL ALONG
Mike Merrifield returned to the lineup on Jan. 13 after missing four games with injury, and has a pair of goals in his four games back. Merrifield leads the squad with 10 goals this season, and he is second in the CCHA in goals per game (0.56).
MSU is 11-3-4 with Merrifield in the lineup, and 2-6-0 in games which he has been sidelined with injury. He missed the first four games in October with a lower-body injury, and four in December/January with an upper-body injury.

ONE-ON-ONE
Sophomore netminder Will Yanakeff stopped 77 of 81 shots against in the series with the Lakers last weekend, including a career-best 45 saves on Friday. Yanakeff stopped a second-period penalty shot in Saturday's game, the second he has faced in his career. He has stopped both - the previous was last February's game against Michigan at Joe Louis Arena.

HE BERRY'S `EM
Freshman Matt Berry has delivered the shootout-winning goal in both of MSU's two shootout victories this season. The first-year winger leads all freshmen with a 6-6-12 scoring line, and he has gone 2-1 in shootouts.
Berry's two shootout goals is tied with Brett Perlini and Greg Wolfe for fourth at MSU all-time; Andrew Rowe leads the list with four, while Matt Schepke and Kurt Kivisto each scored three shootout goals.

MORE ON SHOOTOUTS
MSU lost the shootout, 2-1, to Lake Superior last Saturday night, its first shootout loss in three tries this season. It had been over a calendar year since MSU last lost a shootout - MSU's last loss had come on Jan. 15, 2011, at Lake Superior after a 2-2 tie. Will Yanakeff was in net for both of those games.
Jan. 13 was MSU's second shootout of the season, against Northern Michgian. Drew Palmisano stopped the second and third NMU shootout attempts, and got a little help from his crossbar on the the first. He's made saves on five of the six shootout attempts he has faced this season. Palmisano made three shootout saves against Michigan on Dec. 10.
In Palmisano's four years, he has been in nine shootouts, with a 4-5 record. He has made saves on 18 of 31 attempts against, with 11 goals allowed. As a senior, he is 2-0 with five saves and zero goals allowed.

BLOCK PARTY
Torey Krug and Brett Shelgren, who have been MSU's top defensive pair in 25 of 26 games, have a combined 125 of MSU's 397 blocked shots this season, ranking first and second individually (Krug has 49, Shelgren 76). Tim Buttery has 50 blocks, and Matt Crandell 34.

BESTS GET RESULTS
Will Yanakeff's 45 saves against Lake Superior on Jan. 20 was a career-best performance for the sophomore. His previous high was 40, which came earlier in the season against Miami.
Drew Palmisano has three 40+-save games this season. He had 45 in each game of the GLI in addition to 40 in a 4-3 win over Minnesota on Nov. 25. His career best is 46 stops, against Michigan on Jan. 29 of his freshman season.

ONE, TWO, OR BOTH?
Head Coach Tom Anastos has been asked throughout the season whether he will pick one of the team's goaltenders as his primary starter, or employ a platoon; he has maintained that he does not have a strict philosophy, and that the play of the goalies during the week and the previous games will determine who gets the start.
Drew Palmisano opened the season with 30 saves against the aggressive, talented Boston College offense, and has had three games this year with 40+ saves. Palmisano has played 13 of MSU's 24 games, and owns a 5-5-3 record, 2.68 GAA and .918 save percentage.
Will Yanakeff played both games against the Lakers last weekend. In 13 games this season, he owns a 2.38 GAA and .924 save percentage, and a 8-4-1 mark on the season.

CELEBRATION OF A CENTURY
Both Torey Krug and Chris Forfar played in their 100th career games last Friday against Lake Superior.
Brett Perlini played in his 100th career game on Dec. 3 against Bowling Green. He is the fourth player this season to reach the milestone: Trevor Nill skated in his 100th career game on Nov. 18, Tim Buttery played in his 100th career game against Ohio State on Oct. 20, Brock Shelgren did it in the season opener vs. Boston College; Daultan Leveille and Matt Crandell registered their 100th last season.

CONSISTENT EFFORTS
Brett Perlini owns the team's active point-scoring streak, at three games; he also has points in 14 games this season, a team high. Torey Krug and Greg Wolfe have points in 13 of MSU's 26 games this season, Kevin Walrod has points in 11, and Brock Shelgren and Matt Crandell each have points in 10 games.

MULTIPLICITY
Lee Reimer leads the squad in multiple-point games, with seven; Brett Perlini has five, and Mike Merrifield, Torey Krug, and Greg Wolfe each have four.

GOALIE U
Since the 1980-81 season, all but one Spartan starting goaltender has earned all-league honors at one point in their career. (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.

UNCOMMON PATH
Freshman Tanner Sorenson is a rare species in college hockey - the player who enters college directly after playing for his high school team. Sorenson played for Shattuck St. Mary's, winning a 18-U Tier I National Championship in 2011. Since the 1991-92 season, Sorenson is just the third MSU player to skate for his high school team in the season before enrolling at MSU - Brian Clifford (1991-95) and Chris Mueller (2004-08) both played for the Nichols School in their hometown of Buffalo. Both Clifford and Mueller also played a split season, playing for both their high school and the local AAA team during their senior years. Sorenson played solely for Shattuck last year.

EXTENSION
Olympia Entertainment in partnership with Michigan State University and the University of Michigan announced in November that the agreement which ensures a Spartans-Wolverines game is held annually at Joe Louis Arena has been extended through the 2013-14 hockey season.
The archrivals have squared off in regular season action at JLA in at least once per year since 1990, with Michigan having earned ten victories to Michigan State's nine over that time; four of the games ended in a tie.

FACES OF THE FUTURE
Tom Anastos has announced that three players signed National Letters of Intent in the fall signing period and will join the Spartans in the fall of 2012. Forward Ryan Keller (Farmington Hills, Mich./Sioux Falls (USHL), Defenseman John Draeger (Faribault, Minn./Shattuck St. Mary's) and goaltender Jake Hildebrand (Butler, PA/Cedar Rapids (USHL) will join three previous signees - forward Matt DeBlouw (Chesterfield, Mich./Muskegon USHL) and defensemen Rhett Holland (Calgary, Alberta / Okotoks (AJHL) and Travis Walsh (Lansing, Mich./Muskegon (USHL) on the Spartan roster for next season.
DeBlouw (37), Draeger (71) and Holland (192) all appear on the NHL Central Scouting Mid-Term rankings.

PRO ASPIRATIONS
MSU had 11 former skaters on 2011 opening-night rosters in the National Hockey League, and 15 players have played at least one game in the NHL this season: Ryan Miller and Corey Tropp (Buffalo), Drew Miller and Justin Abdelkader (Detroit), Tim Kennedy and Mike Weaver (Florida). Jim Slater (Winnipeg), Shawn Horcoff, Jeff Petry and Corey Potter (Edmonton), David Booth (Vancouver), Duncan Keith (Chicago), Adam Hall (Tampa), Chris Mueller (Nashville) and John-Michael Liles (Toronto).