Neil’s Notebook: Spartans Pass Exhibition Test, Ready for Regular Season to Begin
10/8/2018 9:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
EAST LANSING – It been seven months and one week since Michigan State last played a hockey game. And about seven months and two weeks since the Spartans last tasted victory.
So, Sunday's 3-1 victory over the University of Windsor at Munn Arena was special for the 21 returning players and also rewarding for the seven freshmen on the 2018-19 edition of the Spartans.
And so what if it was "only" and exhibition game and the win doesn't count in MSU's overall record.
It was a game in which the Spartans got to work on finding the right combinations up front and back on defense and one filled with situational play – power plays (5) and penalty kills (7). All in all, it was another step in getting ready for the start of the regular season this weekend.
When the game ended, the Spartans sang the MSU Fight Song in their locker room and enjoyed the feeling of winning, knowing of course that it was a tune-up for the next six or seven months.
"When we win, we sing,'' second-year Spartan coach Danton Cole said. "The guys have put in a lot of work. If you go back to all the workouts and practices they did in the spring and summer, and we haven't played a game in a while. You want that (winning) habit to be there. That's a special song to us, so we win, we sing.''
Michigan State broke a 1-1 tie with two goals in the second period – by Mitchell Lewandowski and linemate Patrick Khodorenko on a power play – and held on to defeat the Lancers, who failed to score on four power plays in the second period and three in the third.
The Spartans' Cody Milan scored a power-play goal late in the first period while Taro Hirose, the third member of the KHL line (Khodorenko, Hirose, Lewandowski) assisted on all three MSU goals.
"As you build through camp and the first six weeks of the school year and kind of work your way into the Green and White game, you want to get a little more game-like as you go, and then as you jump into (an exhibition game), you want a good test and (experience) a lot of situations,'' Cole said. "We were able to do that tonight.
"It served a lot of purposes – power play, penalty kill and both goalies looked good. We did some things and now we have some (video) and teaching points for ourselves in getting ready for Northern.''
The Spartans open the regular season with a non-conference series against No. 20-ranked Northern Michigan at 7 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Munn Arena.
"We were able to get all 25 skaters into the game. You want to get Khodorenko's line ice time and get them ready, and Sam Saliba's line (with Logan Lambdin and freshman Wojciech Stachowiak) and, at the same time, this is our one exhibition game where we can get guys in,'' Cole said. "Guys want more ice time than they got tonight but team-wise, this was great.''
Since this was an exhibition game, there's no limit on the number of players dressed. MSU used five lines and an extra forward and four defensive pairings and an extra defenseman and played two of its three goaltenders.
Sophomore John Lethemon started and played the first period and 11:22 of the second period but faced only four shots – three in the opening period, giving up one goal, and one in in the second. Freshman Drew DeRidder was a lot busier, facing 12 shots – five in the second half of the middle period and seven in the third period. He did not give up a goal.
The Spartans outshot Windsor, 41-16. The Lancers' only goal came with 30 seconds left in the first period as Ethan Skinner capped a long rush into the MSU zone by firing the puck off the end boards to the left of the net and then raced in and tapped in the rebound at the side of the net.
Windsor, which plays in the Ontario Universities Athletics conference, is now 3-4 overall. The Lancers were coming off a 7-4 victory at home against Wilfrid Laurier on Friday night.
Michigan State had 41 shots on goal, including 18 in the first period, but Cole thought his team passed up some shots to make an extra pass or two.
"I think we turned down some shots. When we were playing well, we kept putting the puck on net,'' he said. "Hirose, Khodorenko and Lewandowski get a little more leeway. They can make those plays – the second and third passes. But the rest of the guys have to continue to generate more shots.
"We had some great rebound chances and two or three, we just missed the net on the second shot. That's how you have to generate offense. You just have to keep shooting.''
KHL LINE EXCELS: The Spartans' high-scoring unit of junior Patrick Khodorenko, junior Taro Hirose and sophomore Mitchell Lewandowski may not be in mid-season form but they looked a lot like they did last season – creative, dangerous and entertaining.
They combined for 13 shots on goal and six points on Sunday against Windsor. Hirose had three assists and three shots on goal, Lewandowski had a goal and an assist and fired five shots on net, while Khodorenko scored a goal and had five shots on the Lancers' goaltenders.
"Those guys make it easy to play with. They're in the right areas to give them the puck,'' Hirose said of his linemates. "It was good to see that we picked up where we left off. We're all motivated to do better than we did last year. That year (together) makes it a lot easier. You know where they're going to be, what sort of plays they like to run. We're definitely looking to improve and this is a good first step for us.''
Last season, Hirose led MSU in scoring with 12 goals and 30 assists for 42 points. Lewandowski, the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year, was second in points (34) and first in goals (19), while Khodorenko was third in scoring with 13 goals and 19 assists for 32 points. All three played in all 36 games in 2017-18.
"Our chemistry is building every day. We're still trying to play off each other and get better,'' said Lewandowski, who scored on a breakaway Sunday, set up by a perfect pass from Hirose. "I'm lucky to play with two special players like that.''
Cole liked what he saw from the KHL line and is eager to see MSU's second and third lines develop into scoring threats.
"Scoring-wise, that's great for (Khodorenko, Hirose and Lewandowski). They'll have games like that,'' he said. "It would have been nice to see some of the other guys rewarded. There were some good chances that we didn't finish. There was probably five or six, at least, great chances off of rebounds.
"We had a couple partial breakaways where we had good shots. You want to see those go in. For us to make the next step, secondary scoring has to come.''
Now, the focus is getting prepared for the first series of the regular season against an experienced, solid Northern Michigan team, which is ranked No. 20 in the U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) preseason poll and was picked second in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association coaches' preseason poll, behind No. 1 Minnesota State.
"There's a lot of areas we can improve on. We took too many penalties tonight, especially with the new slashing rules,'' Hirose said. "We have to be aware of those things.
"This last month has taken forever to go by, and I'm just looking forward to playing some real games. Being around this team every day, I think you'll see how much harder we're working and the changes that we've been making over the last few years.''
CESANA STANDS OUT: Freshman defenseman Dennis Cesana had a solid outing his first official game as a Spartan. He anchored the power play, showed his deft puck-moving abilities and his hard and accurate shot set up MSU's first goal late in the opening period.
Cesana's shot from the point in the middle of the ice, on a power play, was deflected past Windsor goaltender Paolo Basttisti by senior forward Cody Milan to give MSU a 1-0 lead.
Cesana was on the ice for Patrick Khodorenko's power-play goal midway through the second period, boosting MSU's lead to 3-1.
"To get out there and play in front of the fans and in a game here for the first time was pretty cool,'' said Cesana, 20, a 5-foot-9, 189-pound, right-hand shot rookie from Providence, R.I. "It was a great experience going out of the tunnel for the first time.
"You don't get this opportunity very often. And it's cool that the coaches trust me,'' Cesana said of the responsibility he's been given on the power play and in providing offense while playing 5-on-5. "It's been fun playing with Taro, Patty and Lewie and Miles on the power play. They're extremely talented players.''
Cesana spent the last two seasons playing for the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. As the captain, he was the highest-scoring defenseman in the AJHL with 14 goals and a league-high 61 assists for 75 points, fourth overall in the league.
Two years ago, Cesana had 52 points (12-40) in 59 games for the Bandits.
"He's a mature player back there,'' Spartans coach Danton Cole said. "Running a power play, there's a lot more that goes into it than having a big shot or passing the puck well. It's usually what the guys do without the puck, where they position themselves and how they move once they get the puck.
"He's really mature and advanced. He's going to continue to get better. There's a lot more options for us. We ran the power play to Taro (Hirose's) left side, facing the goaltender, instead of his (right) side, but we'll still run it the other way, too. Dennis is good, he understands the game with a good IQ and good hands – a good combination.''
RADIO SHOW DEBUT: The first Danton Cole Radio show is from 7-8 p.m. on Tuesday at Reno's East Sports Bar and Grill in East Lansing. It'll be broadcast by WJIM-AM (1240) and is available on the internet at SpartanSportsNet.com and through the SSN 24/7 mobile app.
FIRST FOR BRIND'AMOUR: Former MSU standout forward Rod Brind'Amour, who played in the NHL for 20 seasons, earned his first NHL coaching victory on Friday as his Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-1, in Columbus.
In addition, former MSU defenseman Wes McCauley was one of the referees in the game.
Brind'Amour is in his first season as Carolina coach after serving seven years as an assistant. He played 10 seasons for the Hurricanes, winning the Stanley Cup in 2005-06.
Brind'Amour played one season at Michigan State – 1988-89 – and had 27 goals and 32 assists for 59 points. He was the Spartans' 5th-leading scorer. After helping his team reach the NCAA Final Four, Brind'Amour turned pro with the St Louis Blues. He went on to play for the Philadelphia Flyers and then the Hurricanes.
McCauley, in his 14th season as an NHL referee, is considered one of the best – if not the best – officials in the league. He played at MSU from 1989-1993.
IN THE BIG TEN: Six of the seven conference teams made their season debuts over the weekend but only Minnesota and Michigan played regular-season games. In addition to MSU, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Penn State and Michigan were involved in exhibition games.
In a match-up of Top Ten teams, No. 13 Minnesota and No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth, the defending NCAA champion, played to a 1-1 tie on Saturday in Duluth. On Sunday in Minneapolis, the Gophers skated to a 7-4 victory, scoring three unanswered goals in the first period.
No. 4 Michigan lost its regular-season opener to Vermont, 5-2, on Saturday in Ann Arbor, but rebounded for a 7-4 exhibition victory on Sunday over the University of Waterloo (Canada), also at Yost Arena.
Wisconsin rolled past the University of Victoria (British Columbia), 8-2, on Sunday in Madison. The Badgers outshot Victoria 72-15.
No. 16 Penn State, playing at home, scored a late third-period goal to edge Brock University (Ontario), 3-2, on Saturday.
Notre Dame, ranked No. 2, ran into a highly skilled U.S. National Team Development Program's Under-18 Team and suffered a 4-1 loss on Sunday in South Bend.
This weekend's Big Ten schedule:
No. 20 Northern Michigan at Michigan State. In other Friday-Saturday series, No. 12 Boston College plays at Wisconsin and No. 3 Ohio State is at Arizona State and Notre Dame plays Mercyhurst on Friday in the IceBreaker Tournament in Erie, Pa. The tourney includes Miami and Providence.
Penn State plays host to No. 17 Clarkson on Thursday and Friday, while Michigan plays another exhibition game – on Friday against the U.S. Under-18 Team at Yost Arena. Minnesota has the weekend off.
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
EAST LANSING – It been seven months and one week since Michigan State last played a hockey game. And about seven months and two weeks since the Spartans last tasted victory.
So, Sunday's 3-1 victory over the University of Windsor at Munn Arena was special for the 21 returning players and also rewarding for the seven freshmen on the 2018-19 edition of the Spartans.
And so what if it was "only" and exhibition game and the win doesn't count in MSU's overall record.
It was a game in which the Spartans got to work on finding the right combinations up front and back on defense and one filled with situational play – power plays (5) and penalty kills (7). All in all, it was another step in getting ready for the start of the regular season this weekend.
When the game ended, the Spartans sang the MSU Fight Song in their locker room and enjoyed the feeling of winning, knowing of course that it was a tune-up for the next six or seven months.
"When we win, we sing,'' second-year Spartan coach Danton Cole said. "The guys have put in a lot of work. If you go back to all the workouts and practices they did in the spring and summer, and we haven't played a game in a while. You want that (winning) habit to be there. That's a special song to us, so we win, we sing.''
Michigan State broke a 1-1 tie with two goals in the second period – by Mitchell Lewandowski and linemate Patrick Khodorenko on a power play – and held on to defeat the Lancers, who failed to score on four power plays in the second period and three in the third.
The Spartans' Cody Milan scored a power-play goal late in the first period while Taro Hirose, the third member of the KHL line (Khodorenko, Hirose, Lewandowski) assisted on all three MSU goals.
"As you build through camp and the first six weeks of the school year and kind of work your way into the Green and White game, you want to get a little more game-like as you go, and then as you jump into (an exhibition game), you want a good test and (experience) a lot of situations,'' Cole said. "We were able to do that tonight.
"It served a lot of purposes – power play, penalty kill and both goalies looked good. We did some things and now we have some (video) and teaching points for ourselves in getting ready for Northern.''
The Spartans open the regular season with a non-conference series against No. 20-ranked Northern Michigan at 7 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Munn Arena.
"We were able to get all 25 skaters into the game. You want to get Khodorenko's line ice time and get them ready, and Sam Saliba's line (with Logan Lambdin and freshman Wojciech Stachowiak) and, at the same time, this is our one exhibition game where we can get guys in,'' Cole said. "Guys want more ice time than they got tonight but team-wise, this was great.''
Since this was an exhibition game, there's no limit on the number of players dressed. MSU used five lines and an extra forward and four defensive pairings and an extra defenseman and played two of its three goaltenders.
Sophomore John Lethemon started and played the first period and 11:22 of the second period but faced only four shots – three in the opening period, giving up one goal, and one in in the second. Freshman Drew DeRidder was a lot busier, facing 12 shots – five in the second half of the middle period and seven in the third period. He did not give up a goal.
The Spartans outshot Windsor, 41-16. The Lancers' only goal came with 30 seconds left in the first period as Ethan Skinner capped a long rush into the MSU zone by firing the puck off the end boards to the left of the net and then raced in and tapped in the rebound at the side of the net.
Windsor, which plays in the Ontario Universities Athletics conference, is now 3-4 overall. The Lancers were coming off a 7-4 victory at home against Wilfrid Laurier on Friday night.
Michigan State had 41 shots on goal, including 18 in the first period, but Cole thought his team passed up some shots to make an extra pass or two.
"I think we turned down some shots. When we were playing well, we kept putting the puck on net,'' he said. "Hirose, Khodorenko and Lewandowski get a little more leeway. They can make those plays – the second and third passes. But the rest of the guys have to continue to generate more shots.
"We had some great rebound chances and two or three, we just missed the net on the second shot. That's how you have to generate offense. You just have to keep shooting.''
KHL LINE EXCELS: The Spartans' high-scoring unit of junior Patrick Khodorenko, junior Taro Hirose and sophomore Mitchell Lewandowski may not be in mid-season form but they looked a lot like they did last season – creative, dangerous and entertaining.
They combined for 13 shots on goal and six points on Sunday against Windsor. Hirose had three assists and three shots on goal, Lewandowski had a goal and an assist and fired five shots on net, while Khodorenko scored a goal and had five shots on the Lancers' goaltenders.
"Those guys make it easy to play with. They're in the right areas to give them the puck,'' Hirose said of his linemates. "It was good to see that we picked up where we left off. We're all motivated to do better than we did last year. That year (together) makes it a lot easier. You know where they're going to be, what sort of plays they like to run. We're definitely looking to improve and this is a good first step for us.''
Last season, Hirose led MSU in scoring with 12 goals and 30 assists for 42 points. Lewandowski, the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year, was second in points (34) and first in goals (19), while Khodorenko was third in scoring with 13 goals and 19 assists for 32 points. All three played in all 36 games in 2017-18.
"Our chemistry is building every day. We're still trying to play off each other and get better,'' said Lewandowski, who scored on a breakaway Sunday, set up by a perfect pass from Hirose. "I'm lucky to play with two special players like that.''
Cole liked what he saw from the KHL line and is eager to see MSU's second and third lines develop into scoring threats.
"Scoring-wise, that's great for (Khodorenko, Hirose and Lewandowski). They'll have games like that,'' he said. "It would have been nice to see some of the other guys rewarded. There were some good chances that we didn't finish. There was probably five or six, at least, great chances off of rebounds.
"We had a couple partial breakaways where we had good shots. You want to see those go in. For us to make the next step, secondary scoring has to come.''
Now, the focus is getting prepared for the first series of the regular season against an experienced, solid Northern Michigan team, which is ranked No. 20 in the U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) preseason poll and was picked second in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association coaches' preseason poll, behind No. 1 Minnesota State.
"There's a lot of areas we can improve on. We took too many penalties tonight, especially with the new slashing rules,'' Hirose said. "We have to be aware of those things.
"This last month has taken forever to go by, and I'm just looking forward to playing some real games. Being around this team every day, I think you'll see how much harder we're working and the changes that we've been making over the last few years.''
CESANA STANDS OUT: Freshman defenseman Dennis Cesana had a solid outing his first official game as a Spartan. He anchored the power play, showed his deft puck-moving abilities and his hard and accurate shot set up MSU's first goal late in the opening period.
Cesana's shot from the point in the middle of the ice, on a power play, was deflected past Windsor goaltender Paolo Basttisti by senior forward Cody Milan to give MSU a 1-0 lead.
Cesana was on the ice for Patrick Khodorenko's power-play goal midway through the second period, boosting MSU's lead to 3-1.
"To get out there and play in front of the fans and in a game here for the first time was pretty cool,'' said Cesana, 20, a 5-foot-9, 189-pound, right-hand shot rookie from Providence, R.I. "It was a great experience going out of the tunnel for the first time.
"You don't get this opportunity very often. And it's cool that the coaches trust me,'' Cesana said of the responsibility he's been given on the power play and in providing offense while playing 5-on-5. "It's been fun playing with Taro, Patty and Lewie and Miles on the power play. They're extremely talented players.''
Cesana spent the last two seasons playing for the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. As the captain, he was the highest-scoring defenseman in the AJHL with 14 goals and a league-high 61 assists for 75 points, fourth overall in the league.
Two years ago, Cesana had 52 points (12-40) in 59 games for the Bandits.
"He's a mature player back there,'' Spartans coach Danton Cole said. "Running a power play, there's a lot more that goes into it than having a big shot or passing the puck well. It's usually what the guys do without the puck, where they position themselves and how they move once they get the puck.
"He's really mature and advanced. He's going to continue to get better. There's a lot more options for us. We ran the power play to Taro (Hirose's) left side, facing the goaltender, instead of his (right) side, but we'll still run it the other way, too. Dennis is good, he understands the game with a good IQ and good hands – a good combination.''
RADIO SHOW DEBUT: The first Danton Cole Radio show is from 7-8 p.m. on Tuesday at Reno's East Sports Bar and Grill in East Lansing. It'll be broadcast by WJIM-AM (1240) and is available on the internet at SpartanSportsNet.com and through the SSN 24/7 mobile app.
FIRST FOR BRIND'AMOUR: Former MSU standout forward Rod Brind'Amour, who played in the NHL for 20 seasons, earned his first NHL coaching victory on Friday as his Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-1, in Columbus.
In addition, former MSU defenseman Wes McCauley was one of the referees in the game.
Brind'Amour is in his first season as Carolina coach after serving seven years as an assistant. He played 10 seasons for the Hurricanes, winning the Stanley Cup in 2005-06.
Brind'Amour played one season at Michigan State – 1988-89 – and had 27 goals and 32 assists for 59 points. He was the Spartans' 5th-leading scorer. After helping his team reach the NCAA Final Four, Brind'Amour turned pro with the St Louis Blues. He went on to play for the Philadelphia Flyers and then the Hurricanes.
McCauley, in his 14th season as an NHL referee, is considered one of the best – if not the best – officials in the league. He played at MSU from 1989-1993.
IN THE BIG TEN: Six of the seven conference teams made their season debuts over the weekend but only Minnesota and Michigan played regular-season games. In addition to MSU, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Penn State and Michigan were involved in exhibition games.
In a match-up of Top Ten teams, No. 13 Minnesota and No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth, the defending NCAA champion, played to a 1-1 tie on Saturday in Duluth. On Sunday in Minneapolis, the Gophers skated to a 7-4 victory, scoring three unanswered goals in the first period.
No. 4 Michigan lost its regular-season opener to Vermont, 5-2, on Saturday in Ann Arbor, but rebounded for a 7-4 exhibition victory on Sunday over the University of Waterloo (Canada), also at Yost Arena.
Wisconsin rolled past the University of Victoria (British Columbia), 8-2, on Sunday in Madison. The Badgers outshot Victoria 72-15.
No. 16 Penn State, playing at home, scored a late third-period goal to edge Brock University (Ontario), 3-2, on Saturday.
Notre Dame, ranked No. 2, ran into a highly skilled U.S. National Team Development Program's Under-18 Team and suffered a 4-1 loss on Sunday in South Bend.
This weekend's Big Ten schedule:
No. 20 Northern Michigan at Michigan State. In other Friday-Saturday series, No. 12 Boston College plays at Wisconsin and No. 3 Ohio State is at Arizona State and Notre Dame plays Mercyhurst on Friday in the IceBreaker Tournament in Erie, Pa. The tourney includes Miami and Providence.
Penn State plays host to No. 17 Clarkson on Thursday and Friday, while Michigan plays another exhibition game – on Friday against the U.S. Under-18 Team at Yost Arena. Minnesota has the weekend off.
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