Neil’s Notebook: Spartans Ready to Challenge No. 3 Notre Dame

By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer

EAST LANSING – For the last two weeks, Michigan State has had to prepare for teams that like to attack, play with great pace and are always looking to transition from defense to offense as quickly as possible.

First, it was Penn State and bunch of shot-happy Nittany Lions.

And then it was Michigan which strives to enters the zone with speed and make quick passes and find open players for one-timers.

The Spartans did well against both high-tempo teams, splitting a series at Penn State and sweeping the Wolverines, gobbling up one victory at each venue – Yost Arena and Munn Arena.

This weekend, however, MSU (5-5 overall, 3-1-0-0 Big Ten) faces a different challenge against a team known for shutdown defense, superb goaltending, opportunistic offense and for being difficult to play against.

Notre Dame skates into Munn Arena at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday ranked No. 3 in the nation in both major polls and with only one loss on its resume.

What's normal for the Irish (8-1-1 overall, 4-1-1-0 Big Ten) is their stingy 2.0 goals-against average. What's a little unusual is their goal-scoring prowess 10 games into the season. Notre Dame is averaging 3.8 goals a game, which ranks No. 7 in the nation.

"They're very good defensively, but they've good transitionally. When they get a chance, it's boom – they're going to go at you fast,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "They're patient with how they play but when they go and strike, they have enough talent to make you pay.''

The Irish are coming off a series split at Wisconsin in which they suffered their first loss last Friday, 3-0, a game in which they didn't mount much of an attack. But they rebounded in the series finale, edging the Badgers, 5-4, in overtime.

"They present a different challenge. Penn State is going to test you every time up and down the ice but Notre Dame is different,'' Cole said. "If you fall asleep on either of them, they'll make you pay.''

Make you pay, as in the puck will be in the back of your net.

The Nittany Lions will do it in dazzling style. Notre Dame will do it without much flash and splash, causing the opposition to wonder "what just happened.''

In six games last season, Notre Dame outscored the Spartans, 15-6, and went 5-0-1, including a pair of shutouts (1-0, 2-0) in a Big Ten first-round playoff series.

"They're different styles (from Penn State and U-M) and you have to be able to adapt and adjust and that's another fun part of it,'' Cole said. "Getting your guys ready and hope they can do that because Notre Dame will. They're going to play their way for 60 minutes.

"They're a heckuva team with good balance in scoring and defensively very good, and with (senior) Cale Morris in net. He's as good as anyone in the country. They present a tough challenge. It'll be another milepost and we'll see how we react to that challenge.''

Morris has led the Irish to two consecutive Big Ten playoff championships the last two seasons. And two years ago, he was named Big Ten Goaltender of the Year and Player of the Year, Mike Richter Award winner as best goalie in college hockey, was a Hobey Baker finalist and a First Team NCAA West All-American.

And in that season, Morris led Notre Dame to the Frozen Four championship game, with the Irish losing to Minnesota-Duluth, 2-1.

"He's probably the best goalie in college hockey,'' MSU senior forward and co-captain Sam Saliba said. "I played against him in juniors when he was at Waterloo (of the U.S Hockey League).

"He's a solid goalie and we have to get traffic (around him). He sucks up a lot (of pucks) but it's tough to stop the puck when you can't see it. That's a big key for us.''

After an impressive and confidence-building last two series, the Spartans are eager to finally have some success against the Irish. But they know that discipline, patience and structure are crucial if they want to continue their solid run.

"I thought we've played them pretty tough the last two years. The reason why they've come out on top is that they're more disciplined in their structure,'' Saliba said. "There's been a lot of times we're close with them for two, two-and-a-half periods and for whatever reason, we had lapses in our structure and it feeds into them.

"I think we're headed into a weekend where we're in a good spot. I thought we were good with our structure coming off last weekend. It's going to be even more important to stick to that discipline.''

MSU's last victory against Notre Dame came in the last game of the 2017-18 regular season – a 4-3 win on the road. The Spartans overcame deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 (early in the third period) and scored twice midway through the final period, with defenseman Jerad Rosburg, then a sophomore, scoring the winning goal.

"As I recall, it was high-scoring game and we capitalized on the chances we got and made the most of our special teams,'' Rosburg said. "Guys were jumping that night, we had energy and once we got one, we fed off it and got a few more. Hopefully, we can replicate that and do it again.''

For Rosburg, patience, playing smart and not getting frustrated dealing with Notre Dame's style are a must this weekend.

"Notre Dame doesn't give you a lot. They just wait for you to screw up and then capitalize on your turnovers,'' he said. "You have to be patient against them. They can frustrate you playing that system.

"You can't force anything. That's when they get you to turn the puck over and they capitalize on odd-man rushes. We have to take what they give us, capitalize on power play plays and play good on the penalty kill. Then, we'll be in the game and have a good chance.''

The Spartans are coming into their third Big Ten series with the most confidence they've had all season. That's what happens when you've had some success on the road (4-3) and against one of the top teams in the nation in Penn State and vs. your rival.

"The boys are feeling good, the morale is high and our confidence is high,'' Rosburg said. "At the same time, we're playing a different team and we have to prepare differently.

"We're feeling good but we have to stay the course and realize how we had success against Michigan and take that forward.''

10_16_18_MSUHK_NotreDame

THE RIVALRY: The Spartans hold a 62-51-12 edge in a series which started with four games in the 1920s. And Notre Dame won them all – 3-1 and 3-1 in 1923, 11-0 a week later in 1923 and 3-1 again in 1927. The series resumed 43 years later in 1970 with the Spartans getting some payback with a 10-5 victory on Dec. 11 in South Bend.

The series has seen several one-sided stretches. From February, 1973, to February 1976, MSU went 10-1-1 vs. the Irish. But from February, 1976, to January, 1978, Notre Dame held the upper hand at 10-2.

The teams didn't play for nine seasons from 1984-1992 after Notre Dame dropped varsity hockey and went to a club program. When the series resumed, the Spartans went 13-0-3 from 1992-1997.

MSU went on another dominating run from 1999-2008, going 18-4-5.

But then things changed with Notre Dame holding the upper hand. It started the year after MSU won the NCAA championship in 2007. The Irish defeated the Spartans, 3-1, in the NCAA West Regional final in Colorado Springs on March 29, 2008.

Starting with that victory and to the present, Notre Dame is 19-3-3 against MSU, including going 5-0-1 last season.

The last time the Spartans swept the Irish was on Feb 3-4, 2006 – 3-2 and 2-1 at Notre Dame.

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SCOUTING THE IRISH: Notre Dame is a veteran team with five seniors and four juniors in the lineup regularly. But eight sophomores also play key roles. Four freshmen have seen ice time and that includes backup goalie Ryan Bischel, who started the first three games of the season when senior standout Cale Morris was sidelined with an injury.

Three seniors and one junior top the Irish in scoring. Senior forward Cal Burke leads with four goals and nine assists for 13 points while senior forward Mike O'Leary is second with 12 points (5-7).

Junior forward Colin Theisen (4-5-9) and senior Cam Morrison (2-7-9) are tied for third.

Freshman forward Trevor Janicke has five goals and shares the goal-scoring lead with O'Leary. Janicke is the fifth-leading scorer with eight points.

The defense is led by senior Torey Dello, juniors Matt Hellickson, and Pierce Crawford, sophomores Spencer Stastney, Nick Leivermann and Nate Clurman.

In goal, Morris is 5-1-1 with a 2.52 goals-against average and a .913 saves percentage. Bischel is 3-0 with two victories over Air Force and one vs. Lake Superior State. He has a 2.00 GAA and a .929 saves percentage.

In three Big Ten series, Notre Dame tied (2-2) and won (5-3) at Minnesota, swept Ohio State (3-2 in OT and 2-1) at home and lost (3-0) and won (5-4 in OT) at Wisconsin last weekend.

The Irish went 4-0 against Air Force and LSSU. Notre Dame still has three non-conference series coming up – home-and-home with Bowling Green, Boston College and Western Michigan.

A huge Big Ten showdown series is coming up Dec. 13-14 when Notre Dame hosts Penn State.

Coach Jeff Jackson, a 1978 MSU graduate, is in his 15^th season at Notre Dame and has a record of 327-192-58. Jackson, who coached at Lake Superior State for five season and won NCAA titles in 1992 and 1994, is in his 21^st season as a college coach and has a career record of 509-244-83. He also won a NCAA championship in 1988 when he was an assistant at LSSU.

LETHEMON IS NO. 1 STAR: Goalie John Lethemon was not only honored by the Big Ten as the No. 1 star from last weekend but the MSU senior is also the NCAA's No. 3 star of the week.

Lethemon made 38 and 35 saves and allowed only three goals in Michigan State's 4-3 and 3-0 sweep of Michigan. It was Lethemon's second shutout in his last four games. He blanked Penn State 2-0 in the first game of the series in University Park, Pa., on Nov. 8.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound netminder from Northville has a 5-2 record, a 2.31 goals-against average and a .936 saves percentage, which is 9^th in the nation.

Last week, senior center Patrick Khodorenko was selected as the No. 1 star in the Big Ten.

This week, the conference's No. 2 and No. 3 stars were a pair of forwards from Penn State – senior Nate Sucese and junior Evan Barratt.

The NCAA.com three stars: 1. Dartmouth sophomore forward Drew O'Connor; 2. North Dakota sophomore goalie Adam Scheel; 3. MSU senior goalie John Lethemon.

Michigan State vs. Michigan

POWER PLAY RANKED HIGH: Despite not getting many power-play opportunities over the last four games, MSU still has one of the best power plays in the nation. The Spartans are converting on 31.2 percent of their chances and that's fourth-best in the nation. Only Cornell (42.3 percent), Brown (35.3) and Penn State (32.6) are ranked higher.

MSU had no power plays in its 2-0 win at Penn State two weeks ago, and then went 2-for-5 in a 6-4 loss in the series finale. Against Michigan last week, the Spartans were 1-for-2 in the 4-3 win at Yost Arena and 0-for-1 in the 3-0 victory at Munn Arena.

Michigan State has scored 10 power-play goals in 32 chances. Patrick Khodorenko, Mitchell Lewandowski and defenseman Dennis Cesana lead MSU with two power-play goals apiece.

PENALTY KILLING IN SYNC: The Spartans' penalty killing has shown a vast improvement over the last four games, allowing only one power-play goal in 14 opponents' opportunities.

MSU started the season allowing at least one goal in its first six games. After giving up five power-play goals in two games against Cornell, the Spartans PK was only 67 percent successful at 10 goals allowed in 32 chances.

But the penalty-killing units have turned it around against Penn State and Michigan. The Nittany Lions went 0-for-4 and 1-for-2 and the Wolverines were 0-for-3 and 0-for 5. For the Spartans, that's 92.8 percent efficiency

"It's a little like ballet or ballroom dancing where everyone has to be moving the same way, and if not, mistakes are easy to see,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "With five penalty killers, including the goalie, it seemed like we had four guys moving and one guy a little off, and as soon as the puck ended up in that area, we paid for it.

"That's been better and we're reading off each other. I think our forecheck has been a lot better and we've got some stops so that teams haven't been in our zone for two minutes. It's hard to kill that long with just one clear.

"If you get three clears on a penalty kill, you don't get scored on very often. So if we get a stop, we get a good scrum in the corner and work out of it and get the puck 200 feet a couple times, that kills a lot of it. We've done a much better job of that.''

MSU's main sets of penalty killers include senior Sam Saliba and freshman Jagger Joshua and juniors Tommy Apap and Brody Stevens. And the defensive pairings are Jerad Rosburg and Dennis Cesana, Tommy Miller and Butrus Ghafari and Cole and Christian Krygier.

"I think structurally we're getting better, and there's more sacrificing in blocking more shots,'' Saliba said. "We're doing a good job of supporting when we have a chance to jump at loose pucks in the corners and clearing it 200 feet. It makes it harder for their power play when you break the puck 200 feet into their zone.

"I think we have two pretty good units to kill with myself and Jagger and Tommy and Brody. The anticipation has been high. We're jumping on loose pucks pretty quick and it's allowing us to get those clears.

"It's a huge momentum change in a game. The past two years, our opponents would gain momentum off a power-play goal. If we're not allowing it, we're gaining momentum.''

LINE ADJUSTMENTS: Junior Brody Stevens has joined the Spartans' top line with senior Patrick Khodorenko and junior Mitchell Lewandowski. Freshman Nico Müller started the season on the top line and now he's playing right wing with center Tommy Apap and fellow freshman Jagger Joshua on the left.

But Müller also sees playing time with Khodorenko and Lewandowski when Stevens finishes up killing a penalty with Apap. Stevens has been with Khodorenko and Lewandowski for the last five games, starting with the second Cornell contest.

"I don't really know if it's long-term or not,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said of the line adjustments. "Nico played there early and he's a heckuva hockey player and he grades out in so many areas and he's still putting up points.

"He still plays half the time with (Khodorenko and Lewandowski). After a penalty kill and Patrick and Lewie are coming out, Muller jumps in because Brody kills a lot of penalties. The decision there was to take a little pressure off Nico and let him be a freshman and relax a bit.''

The Spartan coach said Stevens makes the No. 1 unit tough to play against because of his aggressiveness.

"It gives them a little weight on the line. Brody is a guy you have to pre-scout and be ready for him,'' Cole said. "He's coming hard and fast and backs teams off and that doesn't let them match up against Patrick's line with just guys that skate well. You're definitely going to get some forecheck in there, and when Lewie is going – I tell him he's our best forechecker when he's playing the right way – that gives that line a different element.

"Brody is good enough to make plays and score some goals. And great at giving them a little room.''

IN THE BIG TEN: In addition to the MSU-Notre Dame series, No. 6 (USCHO poll)/No. 5 (USA Hockey) Penn State plays host to No. 11/11 Ohio State and Minnesota and No. 16 Wisconsin collide in Madison.

The Nittany Lions (9-2-0 overall, 5-1-0-0 Big Ten) are coming off a sweep at Minnesota (4-6-2, 1-3-2-2). The Buckeyes (6-3-1, 2-2-0-0) were idle last weekend.

The Badgers (6-6-0, 1-3-0-0) split a home series with Notre Dame and came within a half-puck length of a sweep. In overtime last Saturday, freshman Cole Caufield came in a breakaway and slipped the puck past goalie Cale Morris but the puck stopped on the goal line but not over the line. It was cleared out of danger by the Irish and they got possession and sailed down the ice and scored for a 5-4 victory.

MSU center Patrick Khodorenko is tied for fifth in Big Ten overall scoring with six goals and seven assists for 13 points in 10 games. He's tied with Notre Dame's Cal Burke (4-9-13).

Penn State's Nate Sucese leads the conference with 18 points (6-12). Wisconsin freshmen Alex Turcotte (6-9-15) and Cole Caufield (9-6-15) are tied for second, and teammate Linus Weissbach (3-11) is fourth.

Caulfield is the leading goal scorer in the Big Ten and is tied with five others for the most goals in the nation.