Neil’s Notebook: Apap and Stevens Providing Spartans Physicality and Offense

BY Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Michigan State is counting on the forward line of Patrick Khodorenko, Mitchell Lewandowski and Nicolas Müller to be an offensive force this season.

Khodorenko and Lewandowski teamed with Taro Hirose the last two seasons, and last year the unit developed into one of the best in the nation. Hirose tied for the national scoring lead with 50 points.

And so with Hirose now in the NHL with the Red Wings, Müller, a freshman, joins the line with the hopes of it leading the MSU offense.

But every team is eagerly seeking secondary scoring and through two exhibition games and two regular-season contests, center Tommy Apap and linemate Brody Stevens, a right wing, are showing potential of filling that role.

Apap and Stevens are off to a strong start with productive play at both ends of the ice and appear to be picking up where they left off in the second half of last season.

In MSU's 5-3 win and 2-0 loss at Northern Michigan, Apap scored two goals and had four shots on goal and Stevens had a goal and an assist and three shots. In the first game, Gianluca Estes played left wing with Apap and Stevens while in the second game Jake Smith held that spot.

Esteves joined the line for last Friday's 2-1 win over the U.S. Under 18 team and scored the winning goal on a breakaway in the third period.

Apap and Stevens played with then-senior Brennan Sanford last season and made a positive impact.

"The second half of last year, I thought they did an outstanding job together,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "We played a lot better in the second half of the season and I would give a lot of credit to them.

"They gave us a better matchup up and down the lineup. They allowed us to play the Khodorenko line against some other lines. We didn't have to match them up against the top lines all the time. "

Apap, known for his strong defensive game and as a key faceoff man, had three goals and six points in 36 games. Stevens had five goals and six points in 33 games, while Sanford finished his last season with four goals and nine points.

"I think it has to do with the confidence Tommy and I have in each other after playing together for a year and learning how each other plays and being able to make those plays where you don't know if he's there but you trust that he is,'' Stevens said of his line's positive start.

"And I think it has to do with the confidence the coaches have put in me and Tommy, giving us a bit of a leeway to make more plays.''

Apap and Stevens, and most likely with Esteves on left wing, will try to bring an offensive touch, along with their responsible defensive game, this weekend when the Spartans face Colorado College in a non-conference series at the Broadmoor World Arena. The teams meet at 9:30 p.m. (EDT) on Friday and at 8 p.m. (EDT) on Saturday.

"What they're really doing is all the little things that we talk about and they're doing them right,'' Cole said. "They're playing in straight lines, they're physical and they're playing on the other side of the defense and taking pucks to the net and shooting.

"If you look at their goals, they've been right around the net. That's where goals are scored. They happen to be our best forechecking line. They do the best job coming through the neutral zone. It's nothing fancy. Hopefully, that's contagious. They're doing a great job, and with that, their confidence comes. You can see both of them carrying the puck through the neutral zone where they haven't in the past.''

Apap, 23, a 6-foot-2, 208-pounder from Bloomfield Hills, and Stevens, 22, a 5-11, 192-pounder from Ann Arbor, are both juniors and even played together briefly as freshmen.

"We've been together so long that we know where each other is on the ice and that helps in the d-zone and offensive zone. It makes things a lot easier,'' Apap said. "We're definitely playing with more confidence than before when we were more of a checking line, but now we want to take our game to the next level.

"It's not like we're the fanciest players out here. We're not. But we know we can do some damage if we keep forechecking like we've done. We have to get more shots through – keep shooting the puck and go to the net.''

Apap said he and Stevens worked hard in the spring and summer trying to improve their offensive skills. They believe the work has made a difference.

"We did a lot of stuff in the off season with skill work,'' Apap said. "The repetitions give you more confidence. It's believing that maybe you can 'take this shot' or 'we can make this zone entry' instead of dumping it in.''

Despite the focus on providing offense, Stevens says their attention to detail in preventing goals hasn't changed.

"It starts with a defensive mindset. We never go out there expecting to score goals,'' he said. "We go out there expecting to block shots and play a defensive game. But if you play lock-down defense, that helps you get offensive spurts. Tommy and I talked all summer about working on our offensive talent and I think it's paid off.

"We log simple hockey. We don't want to confuse ourselves or each other. What have you heard since you were 5-years old? Go to the net if you want to score goals. That's what we do. Tommy had a nice rebound goal at Northern and a couple more chances on rebounds.

"I've always heard that you can't get mad if you're getting opportunities and we're getting scoring opportunities. And hopefully, they start going in more than they have been.''

THE MSU-CC RIVALRY: Colorado College leads the series 45-34-1. The first meeting between the teams was on Feb. 12, 1952 – a 3-0 victory for the Tigers in East Lansing. This is the first two-game series for MSU and CC since the Spartans swept 6-5 and 5-4 on Feb. 27-28, 1981, the last season Michigan State was in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

Since that series, the teams have played seven times with the Tigers holding a 4-3 edge. They've played three times in the NCAA Regional Tournament with MSU winning in Madison, Wis., in 1999 and in Colorado Springs in 2008 and the Tigers winning in Ann Arbor in 2002, Ron Mason's last game as Spartans' coach.

Colorado College is 2-0 against MSU in the Great Lakes Invitational. The Tigers won 6-3 in the GLI championship game in 2005 and edged the Spartans, 5-4, in the GLI semifinals in 2010 – the last meeting between the teams.

One of the most memorable games between the teams was a special New Year's Eve game in 1996 at Munn Arena. Both coaching staffs wore tuxedos and the Spartans won 6-2. A special fund-raising New Year's Eve part was held after the game at the Michigan Athletic Club and even then-CC coach Don Lucia attended the event.

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SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Colorado College was picked to finish 6th in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference pre-season poll, behind No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth, No. 2 Denver, No. 3 Western Michigan, No. 4. North Dakota and No. 5 St. Cloud State and ahead of No. 7 Omaha and No. 8 Miami. The Tigers have played just one series and split with Minnesota at home two weeks ago, winning 3-2 the first night and losing 4-3 in the second game.

Seniors Chris Wilkie and Nick Halloran lead the CC offense with five points apiece in two games. Wilkie has three goals and two assists and Halloran has no goals and five assists. The Tigers are fairly experienced with five seniors and six juniors in the lineup. However, the defense does include three freshmen, including Josiah Slavin, the brother of former Tiger and current Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jacob Slavin. Josiah was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the seventh round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

Senior transfer Ryan Ruck is in his first season as CC's starting goalie after spending the last four seasons at Northeastern. He played 37 games as a freshman and 37 as a sophomore but lost his starting job to standout Cayden Primeau the last two seasons. Primeau, the son of former Red Wing and veteran NHLer Keith Primeau, had two stellar seasons at Northeastern, and left school after last season to join the Montreal Canadiens organization.

Meanwhile, Ruck is very familiar with Michigan State. He was in goal for two Northeastern victories over the Spartans three and four years ago. He led the Huskies to a 2-1 victory on Dec. 19, 2015, in Boston and was in goal for Northeastern's 6-2 win over MSU on Dec. 18, 2016, at Munn Arena.

"I like the way they play. They move the puck and they really attack,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said of the Tigers. "It's interesting. They attack north and south and come at you, and a lot of times on the big sheet, teams do a lot of lateral passing.

"They have six or seven seniors playing every night and a couple of transfers. They're a veteran team.

"It'll be a good challenge for us and they'll be ready to avenge their series loss to us in 1981, the last time we played a series,'' Cole said with a laugh. "They skate really well.''

For the second time this season, Michigan State will be playing an Olympic-size rink which is the normal 200 feet in length but it's 100 feet wide instead of the usual 85 feet. In order to get used to the bigger surface and different angles and other issues, the Spartans practiced on the Olympic sheet at the Summit on Wednesday. MSU did the same thing before the Northern Michigan series two weeks ago.

"What affects you in the offensive zone, more psychologically, is that you feel like you have a lot of room but you're pretty far away from the net. What we've really concentrated on is making sure we keep attacking the net and not getting stuck on the perimeter – which I thought we did the second night at Northern.''

Mike Haviland is in his 6^th season as Colorado College coach and has a 53-117-17 record. He spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the Chicago Black Hawks from 2008-12, winning the Stanley Cup in 2010. He took over at CC in 2014-15 after serving as head coach of the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League in 2013-14.

FAMILIAR NAME: Colorado College's backup goaltender is freshman Matt Vernon, the son of former Red Wings and Calgary Flames goaltender Mike Vernon. Matt, 21, is 5-foot-11 and 164 pounds and was named 2018-19 North American Hockey League Goaltender of the Year for his standout play with the Aberdeen (South Dakota) Wings, the NAHL champion.

In his second season in Aberdeen, Vernon had a 40-9-2 record and a 1.94 goals-against average.

Mike Vernon played 17 seasons in the NHL and won Stanley Cups with the Flames in 1989 and Red Wings with 1997.

EX-TEAMMATES: Three Spartans were one-time junior teammates with three Colorado College Tigers. MSU sophomore goaltender Drew DeRidder and CC forward Erik Middendorf played for the U.S. U-18 team in 2017-18. Spartan freshman forward Josh Nodler and Tigers' freshman defenseman Connor Mayer were teammates with the Fargo Force of the U.S. Hockey League last season.

Meanwhile, sophomore forward Adam Goodsir of the Spartans and sophomore defenseman Bryan Yoon of the Tigers played together for the Tri City Storm of the USHL in 2017-18.

DONNELLY SKATES INTO HALL: Former Michigan State All-America forward Mike Donnelly will be inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame on Thursday and will be recognized during Saturday's Spartans-Penn State football game at Spartan Stadium.

Donnelly, now 56, played four years at MSU from 1982-86, and scored a Division I NCAA record 59 goals as a senior in 1985-86. His 59^th goal gave MSU the 1986 NCAA Championship with a 6-5 victory over Harvard in Providence.

As a senior, Donnelly had 59 goals and 38 assists for 97 points in 44 games. He finished his MSU career with 110 goals and 86 assists for 196 points in 156 games. He ranks tied for 15^th on MSU's all-time points list and fourth in career goals.

Donnelly, who's from Livonia, played 11 seasons of pro hockey, including NHL stops with the New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, Los Angeles Kings, Dallas Stars and New York Islanders. His best season was in 1992-93 when he had 29 goals and 40 assists for 69 points for the Los Angeles Kings.

After serving as a long-time scout for the Kings, Donnelly has worked in in player development for the Kings the last several years.

"I had the honor of playing with Mike the year he scored 59 goals,'' said MSU coach Danton Cole, who was a freshman in 1985-86. "I'm not sure I had anything to do with the 59 goals but being around that and winning a national championship and Mike scoring the winning goal in a 6-5 win over Harvard, that was a pretty amazing year, and it was a pretty amazing career for Mike.

"He's still really active with us and he's a great guy to have around. We're sorry we'll be missing (the induction) because we're on the road. But he's a great Spartan.

"He's the first member off that (NCAA championship) team to go into the Hall of Fame here at Michigan State, and hopefully there will be a few more.''

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IN THE BIG TEN: In the battle for bragging rights in the state of Minnesota, No. 20 (USCHO) Minnesota (3-1 overall) and No. 8 (USCHO)/No. 8 (USA Today-USA Hockey) Minnesota-Duluth (1-3) meet in a home-and-home series – Friday in Minneapolis and Saturday in Duluth.

The Gophers are coming of a 3-2, 4-2 home, non-conference sweep of Niagara, while the Bulldogs got swept at Wisconsin, 6-2, 3-1.

The No. 6/6 Badgers (3-1) play host to No. 13/12 Clarkson (2-1-1) on Friday and Saturday.

Michigan (2-1-1) and No. 18 Western Michigan (1-2-1) will play a home-and-home series – Friday in Ann Arbor and Saturday in Kalamazoo. The Wolverines are coming off a 4-0, 4-3 sweep of Lake Superior State.

Meanwhile, the Lakers (2-4) continue their strong non-conference schedule with a road series at No. 5/4 Notre Dame (2-0) on Friday and Saturday. LSSU, coached by former Spartan Damon Whitten, with MSU graduates Mike York and Zach Cisek serving as assistants, opened the season by sweeping Merrimack, then lost two close games with now-No. 1 Denver, 3-1, 4-3, and last weekend lost twice at Michigan.

Notre Dame had last weekend off after starting the season with a sweep of Air Force.

No. 12/9 Penn State (3-1) plays a single game this weekend against Robert Morris on Friday. The Nittany Lions were upset by Alaska 4-0 last Saturday, one day after routing the Nanooks 7-0.

Penn State starts the season with arguably the best home schedule in the nation with nine straight games and 11 of the first 13 at Pegula Arena. The Nittany Lions' first road trip is at Minnesota, Nov. 15-16. Next weekend, PSU plays host to Wisconsin in its Big Ten opening series and then stays home to face Michigan State, Nov. 8—9.

No. 16/15 Ohio State (2-1-1) is at Mercyhurst on Friday and Saturday. The Buckeyes split a non-conference series against Omaha, winning the first game 3-2 and losing the series finale 2-1.

Four games into the season, forward Nate Sucese of Penn State leads the Big Ten in scoring with two goals and eight assists for 10 points. The Nittany Lions' Brandon Biro (3-5) and Wisconsin teammates Alex Turcotte (3-5) and Linus Weissbach (1-7) are tied for second with eight points.

Badgers freshman Cole Caufield leads the conference in goals with six.