Neil’s Notebook: B1G Season is Here and Starts Friday at Munn

By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer

EAST LANSING – Eight non-conference games are in the books for Michigan State. Five were on the road, three at home.

Some of those games went very well for the Spartans, like the four victories in the first five games. And some didn't turn out as well, like the last three games, losses on the road.

The focus now for MSU (4-4 overall) is the start of the 24-game Big Ten season and some formidable challenges against some of the best teams in the nation. Six Big Ten teams have been ranked in the top 13.

First up, Notre Dame. The Spartans and the 8^th-ranked Irish (5-4-1, 2-2 Big Ten) meet at 7 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Munn Arena.

"The Big Ten is here and now the real show starts,'' sophomore right wing Mitchell Lewandowski said. "You play get to play Notre Dame at home the first weekend so it'll be nice to have the home crowd and feed off their energy and get it going.''

After battling the Irish, Michigan State will play another three conference series heading into the Christmas break – at No. 19 Minnesota next weekend, home and on the road against No. 16 Michigan, Nov. 30-Dec. 1, and at Wisconsin, Dec. 7-8.

"They lost a few guys from last year but they're still a really solid team,'' Lewandowski said of Notre Dame. "They're very good offensively and defensively and their goaltending is really strong. (Junior) Cale Morris and (sophomore) Dylan St. Cyr are two great goalies.

"This is definitely a rivalry. Last season, they swept us at home so we have something to prove this weekend."

In its first year in the Big Ten as an auxiliary member in 2017-18, Notre Dame won 13 straight conference games to start the season and cruised to the regular-season title.

The Irish followed up by winning the Big Ten playoff championship, won two games in the NCAA Regionals and edged Michigan 4-3 in the Frozen Four semifinals in St. Paul, Minn., but fell one game short of a national title, losing to Minnesota Duluth, 2-1.

Notre Dame lost seven players from last season, including top scorers Jake Evans and Andrew Oglevie and key defensemen Jordan Gross and Dennis Gilbert. But there's a solid corps of returning players, led by forwards Cal Burke, Cam Morrison and Dylan Malmquist, high-scoring defensemen Bobby Nardella and goaltender Morris, an NCAA West First Team All-American last year.

Morris' 1.94 goals-against average was No. 1 in the Big Ten and 8^th overall, but his .944 saves percentage was tied for No. 1 nationally. He was named Big Ten Player of the Year and Goalie of the Year, and won the Mike Richter Award as the most outstanding goaltender in college hockey.

"Notre Dame has played a tough schedule and won some good games,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "Last weekend, they have an interesting series against Michigan where they lost (2-1) the first night and made a bunch of changes in their lineup and played well on Saturday (in a 6-2 victory).

"As we go into league play, we'll continue to work toward what we need to be. It'll be fun getting into Big Ten play. There are some good teams coming up and we'll find out a lot about ourselves.''

Under Coach Jeff Jackson, the Irish are known for playing efficient, stingy defense. They defend tenaciously, don't give many odd-man rushes and it's difficult to find open space in their defensive zone. Last season, Notre Dame allowed an average of 2.17 goals-per-game, which was 9^th in the nation and No. 2 in the Big Ten to Ohio State

"They're really consistent and don't beat themselves. They're going to take what the game gives them,'' Cole said. "It's a very mature way to play hockey. It's hard to convince guys that's the way to play, and Jeff Jackson does a great job with that.

"I talked to our guys about it the other day. It's like playing cards. With young guys, if they have a pair of 2s, they want to go all in on every hand. Well, there's a time you fold, time to go all in and a time to slow-play it. Notre Dame understands that. You have to understand the situation of the game.''

The Irish this season have played in high-scoring games (6-6 tie and 8-2 and 6-2 wins) and low-scoring affairs (2-1 win, 1-0 and 2-1 losses).

"They can score six goals and beat you or they can score one goal. They're a dangerous team,'' Cole said. "They're very good offensively, they defend extremely well and their goaltending is probably the best in the country, coming back with Morris and St. Cyr, who's a good goalie as well.''

While the Irish are coming off a split with Michigan, the Spartans are trying to move past getting swept at Arizona State in a non-conference series last weekend in Tempe, Ariz. They lost 5-4 and 2-0.

"Going into the Big Ten at 4-4 is not where we wanted to be. We have to keep pushing to get better,'' MSU sophomore center Patrick Khodorenko said. "We'll be a lot more competitive in the Big Ten this season. Notre Dame is a good team with a strong defense, and we have to find a way to put the puck in the net.

"They really step up on you at the blue line so you have to get the puck behind their defense and forecheck hard. We need to get behind them and outplay them in the D-zone. We have to get in front of their goalies and create chances.''

After playing five of their last six games on the road – two at Cornell, one at Ferris State and two at Arizona State – the Spartans are happy and eager to play back-to-back games in front of the home fans for the time since Oct. 12-13.

"We love playing at home. The fans are great and the student section gives us a lot energy, especially when we're winning,'' Khodorenko said. "It's really a fun environment to play in.''

Like his players, Cole said he's enjoys playing in the Big Ten because of the atmosphere, the competition and the rivalries.

"It's the excitement of the games. I think everyone, from talking to other coaches and the players, thought last year was a lot of fun in terms of the intensity and the compete level,'' the second-year Spartan coach said. "The venues we play in, the teams we play . . . it's a fun league to be in and when we get better, it'll be more fun to be in.''

THE RIVALRY: Michigan State holds a 62-46-11 edge over Notre Dame in a series which started with a 3-1 Spartan loss on Jan. 18, 1922. The Irish won the first four games through 1927 when the series stopped. The modern era started with a 10-5 MSU victory on Dec. 11, 1970 in South Bend. Notre Dame is 7-3 vs. the Spartans in the last 10 meetings. Last season, the Irish won 3-1 and 2-0 in early December at Munn Arena, and the teams split on the last weekend of the regular season in South Bend – Notre Dame winning 6-3 in the series opener and MSU earning a 4-3 win in the second game. The last time the Spartans defeated the Irish at Munn Arena was on Jan. 12, 2013, a 4-1 win in the last season of the CCHA. When the Big Ten started and the CCHA folded, Notre Dame joined Hockey East.

SCOUTING THE IRISH: Up until last Saturday at Michigan, Notre Dame was having trouble scoring goals with only six goals in its last five games and four losses in those five contests. After a 2-1 loss at U-M on Friday, the Irish fell behind 1-0 on Saturday before scoring six consecutive goals – two in the first period and four in the second – and went on to a 6-2 victory.

After routing Omaha, 8-2, on Oct. 20, the Irish were swept by then-No. 2/3 and now No. 1 Minnesota Duluth, 3-2, 3-1, in South Bend. Notre Dame then scored only two goals in a home split with Ohio State – a 1-0 loss and a 2-1 win. A 2-1 loss at Michigan followed before the Irish broke loose for six goals last Saturday.

Notre Dame started the season with a 6-6 tie (and shootout win) against Mercyhurst in the Icebreaker Tournament in Erie, Pa., on Oct. 12. In the title game, the Irish blanked Providence, 3-0. They followed their tournament win with a sweep at Omaha, 4-1, 8-2, and then struggled through a five-game stretch.

Despite losing seven key contributors from last season's Final Four runner-up team, Notre Dame has good experience with three seniors and four juniors among its top seven scorers.

Forward Cal Burke, a junior, leads the team in scoring with six goals and seven assists for 13 points, while senior defenseman Bobby Nardella is a point behind with five goals and seven assists for 12 points. Nardella is tied for third among the top-scoring defensemen in the nation.

Senior forward Joe Wegwerth shares the Notre Dame goal-scoring lead with Burke with six and has 10 points.

In goal, junior Cale Morris is 3-4-1 with a 2.25 goals-against average and a .927 saves percentage. Sophomore Dylan St. Cyr, who appeared in only five games in 2017-18 as Morris' backup, is 2-0 in two starts – against Omaha and Michigan. He has a 1.50 GAA and a .942 saves percentage.

Coach Jeff Jackson is in his 14th season as Notre Dame coach and 20^th in college hockey. He has a career record of 483-233-80 and has won two NCAA titles (1992, 1994) with Lake Superior State and one (1988) as an assistant with the Lakers. Jackson's record at Notre Dame is 301-181-55. He's led the Irish to the Frozen Four in 2008, 2011, 2017 and 2018.

Jackson graduated from Michigan State in 1978 with a degree in communications and earned an education degree in 1979.

101837

MSU-IRISH CONNECTIONS: Spartan head coach Danton Cole and assistant coach Chris Luongo played for Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson in junior hockey with the Detroit Falcons in the early 1980s. And Cole also played for Jackson during the 1983-84 season with the Fraser Flags of the Great Lakes Junior Hockey League. Cole and Luongo played for the Spartans from 1985-89, playing in four NCAA Tournaments, three Frozen Fours and winning the national championship as freshmen in 1986.

During his stay at the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor and then Plymouth, Cole coached three Notre Dame players - sophomore defenseman Matt Hellickson, freshman defenseman Spencer Stastney and freshman forward Jake Pivonka.

The Spartans' Patrick Khodorenko was a teammate of Notre Dame defenseman Hellickson for two seasons with the NTDP's U-17 and U-18 teams. Khodorenko also played midget hockey at Honeybaked in Detroit with Notre Dame goalie Dylan St. Cyr, and they were one year apart with the NTDP with Khodorenko on the U-18 team while St. Cyr was with the U-17s.

Meanwhile, MSU freshman forward Wojciech Stachowiak was teammates with Notre Dame forward Cam Burke and defenseman Charlie Raith last season with the Central Illinois Flying Aces of the U.S. Hockey League. They were coached by ex-Spartan Mike Watt.

3-ON-3 OVERTIME: Six Big Ten games have been played over the last two weeks but none have gone into overtime and then extended into the 3-on-3 format after a scoreless five-minute OT. But Spartans fans could be seeing that in the weeks ahead. Overtimes with each team going with three players should be entertaining, just like the NHL.

Under the old format, if there was no scoring in overtime, the game was considered a tie but, for Big Ten purposes, a shootout was held to determine which team earned two points in the standing for the shootout win and which team got one for the loss.

But after initially ruling that no league could use shootouts or 3-on-3 in overtime, the NCAA Rules Committee reconsidered last summer and allowed each league to decide for itself on its post-overtime format. For NCAA considerations, games tied after overtime are still considered ties in overall records.

All three Western leagues decided to break ties in league play, while the Eastern conferences stayed with their no-shootout or 3-on-3 format.

In the Big Ten, National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) and Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), if teams are still tied after a five-minute, 5-skaters-on-5, sudden death overtime, the teams play a five-minute 3-on-3 sudden-death overtime. If there's no scoring, there's a shootout to decide the extra point. The NCHC and WCHA have been using the 3-on-3 and shootout format for the last three seasons.

In the three Western conferences, a regulation or first overtime win is worth three points and losers get no points in the standings. The team winning the 3-on-3 OT or shootout earns two points while the loser gets one point.

Three-on-three and shootouts will not be used in non-conference games, although shootouts will be allowed in tournaments to decide which teams advance or the tourney championship.

In conference playoff series and the NCAA Tournament, tied games will be decided by overtimes – as many as it takes to decide a winner – except in league third-place games, which are decided in the normal five-minute OT or end in ties.

SPECIAL TEAMS SOLID: Eight games into the season, special teams have been a bright spot for Michigan State.

Despite going 0-for-8 on the power play and giving up two power-play goals in nine chances at Arizona State last weekend, the Spartans still have the best power play and penalty killing in the Big Ten.

MSU, which scored at least one power-play goal in its first six games, is 9-for-34 for a 26.5 percent rate of success. Michigan is second at 25.5 percent, while Penn State, the highest-scoring team in the conference (averaging 5.78 goals a game), is No. 5 at 20.6.

The Spartans' penalty killing is vastly improved this season. They're skated off 33 of 39 opponents' opportunities for 84.6 efficiency. Minnesota is No. 2 in the Big Ten at 83.8.

Notre Dame, MSU's opponent this weekend, is 6^th in the conference on the power play at 17.1 percent, while its penalty killing is also No. 6 at 78.9 percent.

"Penalty killing was something we had to improve on over last year,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "It's been at 85 percent so that's pretty good. We had a good weekend against Ferris State (7-for-7) and almost got out clean at Arizona State.

"They had a 5-on-3 (on Saturday) and didn't score on it, but they got one right after (the 5-on-3 expired) and that cost us. We put ourselves in that situation.''

Cole said one of the key factors in his team's penalty-killing success has been the play of junior goaltender John Lethemon.

"Our penalty killing has been pretty good and one of the biggest increases has been John Lethemon,'' Cole said. "His saves percentage killing penalties has been almost as high as 5-on-5. He's done a good job.''

Michigan State had several good chances on the power play at ASU, including a five-minute man advantage late in the second period on Saturday and trailing 2-0. The Spartans just didn't have the finishing touch with shots hitting the post, getting blocked, going wide or hitting the side of the net.

"Our power play hurt us a little last weekend in close 5-4 and 2-0 games by not getting anything out of it,'' Cole said. "But on the year, we're at 26 percent.

"You add those numbers up (PP and PK percentages) and that's 111 for a team like us. We were hoping to get over 100 last year and we didn't get there. We were close. We've reset it to 105.''

SPARTAN POTPOURRI: Center Patrick Khodorenko ranks No. 1 in the Big Ten and No. 2 nationally in power play goals with five. He had three against Ferris State in MSU's last victory – 5-3 on Nov. 2 at Munn Arena. Khodorenko is third in team scoring with five goals and two assists for seven points. Left wing Taro Hirose, who has at least one point in six of MSU's eight games, is the team scoring leader with five goals and nine assists for 14 points. Mitchell Lewandowski is second with three goals and six assists for nine points. . . .

Hirose is tied for third in Big Ten scoring with Penn State's Evan Barratt (5-9-14), two points behind Barratt's Nittany Lions teammates - Nikita Pavlychev (7-9-16) and Alex Limoges (7-9-16). Hirose has played in eight games while the PSU forwards have played 10.

Freshman defenseman Christian Krygier is expected to be back in the lineup against Notre Dame after missing last week's trip to Arizona State with an illness.

Defenseman Dennis Cesana leads all MSU freshmen in scoring with one goal and five assists for six points and ranks fourth in team scoring. Cesana had his second two-point game with a pair of assists last Friday at Arizona State.

101005

IN THE BIG TEN: No. 5 Penn State (8-1, 0-0) opens conference play with a home series against No. 16 Michigan (5-4, 1-1) on Friday and Saturday. The Nittany Lions have the best overall record in the Big Ten and are tied for the second-best winning percentage (.889) in the nation.

But Penn State has benefitted by playing its first eight games at home and finally going the road last Saturday and routing Robert Morris, 11-6. The Nittany Lions have swept Clarkson, Niagara, won a single game with Princeton, split with Arizona State and won at home vs. Robert Morris before completing the sweep away from Pegula Ice Arena.

Penn State is the highest-scoring team in the nation, averaging 5.78 goals per game. After this weekend's home series vs. Michigan, the Nittany Lions head out on the road for four straight games – at Ohio State next weekend and at Wisconsin, Nov. 30-Dec. 1.

PSU faces Michigan State for the first time on Jan. 11-12 at home and visits Munn Arena, Feb. 15-16.

In the other Big Ten series on Friday and Saturday, Wisconsin (5-5, 1-1) is at No. 6 Ohio State (6-3-1, 1-1). In non-conference play, No. 19 Minnesota (2-4-1 1-1) is home against St. Lawrence (1-8, 0-2 ECAC), which has lost six games in a row.

The Gophers are the only team in the latest USCHO.com top 20 poll with a losing record. Minnesota is the only team to defeat No. 1 Minnesota Duluth (8-1-1, 2-0 NCHC). The Gophers opened the season with a 1-1 tie at Duluth and a 7-4 victory over the Bulldogs in Minneapolis.