Neil’s Notebook: Saliba’s Move to the Wing Ignites Spartans
1/23/2020 9:53:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
EAST LANSING – Sam Saliba has always made an impact during his four seasons at Michigan State.
This season – his senior year – he's making even more of an impact, and he's having a lot more fun.
During his Spartan career, Saliba's been a strong leader, a standout penalty killer and defensive forward, and this season he's added to his repertoire with key contributions on offense.
Saliba, 24, a 5-foot-11, 183-pound right wing/center from Lincolnshire, Ill., is MSU's hottest goal-scorer with five goals in his last six games.
He has nine goals and five assists for 14 points in 24 games, ranking fourth in team scoring behind linemates Patrick Khodorenko (25 points) and Mitchell Lewandowski and defenseman Dennis Cesana (15).
"I'm having lot of fun. Obviously, it's a lot of fun when you produce and help the team win,'' Saliba said. "This is new territory for me – playing the (right) wing. I've been a center my entire career.
"I switched over this year and it's been fun playing with Patty and Lewie and (earlier this season) with Josh (Nodler) and Lammer (Logan Lambdin).''
What's also new territory for Saliba is playing meaningful and crucial games in late January on a team with a legitimate chance to win the Big Ten regular-season title and making the NCAA Tournament.
The Spartans are winning, they're tied for second place, one point behind first-place Ohio State, and ready to play the most important series in several years when they play host to Penn State this weekend.
Saliba says "this is probably the biggest series" he and his fellow seniors have played in during their four seasons at Michigan State.
The No. 19 Spartans (12-11-1 overall, 8-5-1-0 Big Ten, 25 points) and No. 9/9 Nittany Lions (16-7-1, 8-5-1-0, 25 points) meet at 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday at Munn Arena.
"We're excited. That's what we want in January - meaningful series at home,'' Saliba said. "It's extremely huge. You have two teams tied for second place and a point out of first. Obviously, we haven't had this opportunity in the last few years.
"We have 10 games left in the Big Ten – two against Penn State and Ohio State at home. Collecting points is huge. And to be able to get four, five or six points (during a weekend) is huge down the road for winning the Big Ten's regular season and (NCAA) seeding.''
Saliba, who has never missed a game at MSU, had a solid freshman season with 10 goals and eight assists for 18 points. Six goals came on the power play. He had six goals and nine points as a sophomore and four goals and 10 points last season.
Saliba served as an alternate captain as a sophomore, the team captain as a junior and this season is co-captain with junior center Tommy Apap.
"I wanted to come into this season with more of a shot-first mentality, and get pucks to the net,'' Saliba said. "I think I've done a good job with that, and I'm seeing pucks go into the net.''
Saliba's scoring run started with goals in three straight games – vs. Michigan Tech and Ferris State in the Great Lakes Invitational, Dec. 30-31, and against Minnesota, Jan. 10. He scored one goal in both games at Wisconsin last weekend.
MSU coach Danton Cole points to offseason training and playing on the wing as the key factors in Saliba's overall improvement and offensive success.
"Sammy had a great spring with training just in terms of plyos and weights. (Strength and conditioning coach) Mike Vorkapich does a great job for us,'' Cole said. "Sammy had some tremendous gains and that carried over into the summer and he showed up (in late summer) in tremendous shape.
"He made that improvement from a junior to a senior, which is great to see. That's what we want to see in our guys. As a leader, to continue to get better every year.''
The Spartan coach said moving Saliba from center to right wing and then pairing him with Khodorenko and Lewandowski has opened up Saliba's game on offense.
"He's really benefitted from moving to the wing. Sammy is not a big guy and he took one for the team,'' Cole said. "He got some matchups in the Big Ten as a 5-foot-10 guy against some 6-2, 6-3 centers my first couple years here and did a great job.
"He still takes a lot of faceoffs. He's one of the best right-handed faceoff men in the country.
"Those two things – putting himself in a good position with conditioning and strength-wise in the spring and summer and playing where he's better suited (are big factors). He never complains. Sometimes, late in game, I need him to take an extra shift at center. He'd go do whatever we need him to do.''
Saliba said the spring and summer conditioning programs had him feeling good and confident coming into final season at Michigan State.
"Our training program has been really helpful since (Coach Cole) and the staff came in,'' he said "And in working with my trainer when I was home for two months.
"And you have to credit coach for putting me on the wing and opening up the offensive side of my game. It's helped playing with Patty and Lewie. I think one of my skills in hockey is being able to find open space and being able to jump into the right holes at the right time, and my finishing ability around the net. It's come to fruition this season.''
Said Cole, "He makes mature plays, he's smart defensively and he's putting the puck in the net now, which is sorely needed.''
The line of Khodorenko, Lewandowski and Saliba will counted on heavily over the next five weeks, starting with the showdown with Penn State this weekend.
"I think Sam is just more of a shooter this year. He's shooting the puck whenever he gets a chance in the slot,'' Khodorenko said. "He's putting himself in a better position and shooting the puck quicker.
"He worked on his shot a lot over the summer and that's definitely helped. Hopefully, he can keep that up because we need every goal we can get.''
THE RIVALRY: Penn State holds a 14-10-4 edge in the series which started with a 5-3 Michigan State victory on Jan. 25, 2013. Early on, the Spartans went 6-2-2 in first 10 games between the teams. But the Nittany Lions dominated the next 10 games with an 8-0-2 edge from December, 2015, to January, 2019. MSU is 3-2 vs. Penn State in the last five games.
The teams split in their first meeting this season at Penn State in early November. The Spartans won the first game, 2-0, and the Nittany Lions held on for a 6-4 victory in the series finale.
SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS: Penn State is 5-4-1 in its last 10 games going back to Nov. 30. The Nittany Lions lost and tied last week in a home series against Michigan. They got routed 6-0 in the first game and then let leads of 2-0 and 4-3 slip away and ended up tied, 4-4, in the series finale. U-M scored in the 3-on-3 overtime to earn the extra point in the Big Ten standings
PSU is the fourth-highest scoring team in the nation, along with Sacred Heart, both averaging 3.83 goals per game. Surprisingly, the Nittany Lions have been shut out four times this season – by Alaska 4-0, MSU 2-0, Notre Dame 3-0 and Michigan, 6-0.
They still put a lot of shots on goal, shooting from almost everywhere on the ice. They lead the nation with an average of 38.33 shots on goal.
"The bottom line with them is that they're going to come at you and throw a lot of pucks on net,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "If you can somewhat control their transition you have a chance. If you don't control their transition, you have no chance.
"That tends to be common with a lot of team. But if you look at their top three lines and numbers, they have (3-4) guys with 100 career points. You just don't see that in college hockey anymore.''
Penn State has three forwards with more than 100 career points and two more closing in on 100. Senior Nate Sucese has 130 points, senior Dennis Smirnoff has 113 and senior Brandon Biro 109. Senior Liam Folkes has 95 and junior Evan Barratt has 89.
Sucese and Barratt are the top two scorers in the Big Ten at this point in the season. Both Sucese and Barratt have nine goals and 19 assists for 28 points. Junior Limoges is five points back with eight goals and 15 assists for 33 points and is fifth in the scoring race.
Penn State has seven other players with 10 points or more, including junior defenseman Cole Hults (4-16-20), Biro (7-11-18), Folkes (9-8-17), Smirnov (7-10-17), junior Sam Sternschein (11-5-16), sophomore Aarne Talvitie (5-10-15) and Nikita Pavlychev (4-6-10), the 6-foot-7, 212-pound center from Yaroslavl, Russia.
"You have to take care of the puck when you have it, don't feed their transition when they have it, and do a good job deflecting and making sure you have numbers at your blue line,'' Cole said.
The Nittany Lions' power play is second in the nation at 28.6 percent.
Defensively, Penn State is allowing 2.50 goals per game, which is 22nd in the nation and 4th in the Big Ten. Its penalty killing is at 86.5 percent, 11th in the nation and No. 1 in the Big Ten.
In goal, senior Peyton Jones has a 14-6-0 record, a 2.56 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. He's 4th in the Big Ten in GAA and save percentage.
The Nittany Lions are a veteran team with a nation-leading 19 seniors and juniors on the roster and 14 see regular action. They're definitely going to have a new look next season.
Coach Guy Gadowsky is in his 8th season at Penn State and has a 141-117-20 record and his 20-season career record is 314-315-57. He coached at Alaska Fairbanks and Princeton before starting the program at Penn State.
Gadowsky has led the Nittany Lions to two NCAA Tournament berths – in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Unless Michigan State plays Penn State in the playoffs, these two games will be the last time the Spartans' seniors will see the Nittany Lions.
"They've been a lot of fun, very exciting games,'' MSU senior right wing and co-captain Sam Saliba said. "Both places have good crowds and a fanbase supporting them.
"We're two different types of teams. They're run-and-gun and we're a little more structured and an opportunistic type team. It makes for good weekends and battles.''
Michigan State and Penn State have never played each other with more at stake than this weekend's series. Each team is well aware what a sweep would do and what losing both games would mean.
"It's a big weekend for us. It's at home, it's a great team coming in and we'll have great crowds,'' Cole said. "The best way to look at it is it's an unbelievable opportunity. The door is open. You just have to push on it and take it.''
SWEEPS TOUGH TO ACHIEVE: Big Ten coaches are often quoted about how hard it is to sweep a conference series. The loser of the first game always seems to be desperate and motivated the next night and there's a good chance the series will end up in a split.
There have been 24 Big Ten series played thus far this season and 10 ended in splits, six where one team went 1-0-1 and eight resulted in sweeps.
Michigan State has two sweeps – vs. Michigan, Nov. 14 and 16, and against Wisconsin, Dec. 6-7. The Spartans went 1-0-1 against Notre Dame, Nov. 22-23, and have been swept once in conference play – at Ohio State, Nov. 30-Dec. 1.
Penn State and Ohio State have also swept two conference series. The Nittany Lions have not been swept and OSU has been swept once.
Michigan and Notre Dame have swept one series and Minnesota and Wisconsin have zero sweeps.
In the last two series, MSU has had the opportunity to sweep a series on Saturday night but came up short and had to settle for splits. The Spartans lost to Minnesota, 1-0, after winning the first game 4-1 two weeks ago. Last week, MSU blanked Wisconsin, 4-0, in the first game but fell short in the series finale, losing 3-1, with the game decided with just 2:08 to play.
"It's huge. We were able to get a couple of those in the first half and that gave us a little separation with some of the teams,'' Coach Danton Cole said of the importance of series sweeps. "We need to get a couple of those here in the last 10 games, and not just for the Big Ten standings but with the national computer rankings.
"I think the mentality is there. I don't think it's a lack of effort or understanding. I think the guys realize the opportunity they have. There's a lot of work to do. It's not easy to get over some of those humps. You have to get something out of the weekend, so if you can get 4, 5 or 6 points, it goes a long way.''
After facing Penn State, the Spartans are off next weekend and then play four series in February – at Minnesota, vs. Michigan at home and in Detroit, home against Ohio State and at Notre Dame to close the season.
It won't be easy to sweep any of those teams, and it won't be easy for those teams to sweep the Spartans. But the team that can somehow grab six points on the weekend a couple of times, and avoid getting swept, will likely end up at or near the top of the standings.
"We have a great opportunity to do something we haven't done in the Big Ten and that's to get home ice (for the playoffs),'' Cole said. "We have a great opportunity to win the Big Ten and we have a good opportunity to make the NCAAs.''
LETHEMON BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT: MSU senior goalie John Lethemon allowed just two goals last weekend in the series split at Wisconsin. He earned his fifth shutout of the season with a 4-0 victory in the first game and only gave up two goals in Saturday's 3-1 loss, with the third goal scored into an empty net.
After another solid weekend, in which he stopped 39 and 35 shots, respectively, Lethemon was named Big Ten First Star of the Week. It's the fourth time his season he's been among the conference's three stars.
Lethemon has earned first-star recognition three times. He's also earned a second star.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound netminder from Northville, Mich., has allowed one goal or fewer in three of his last five games and two or fewer in each of those five contests.
Lethemon, 23, leads the Big Ten in conference games in goals-against average (1.57), save percentage (.954) and shutouts (four).
Overall, in 22 games and 20 starts, Lethemon is 12-8-1, with a GAA of 1.87, a save percentage of .943 and five shutouts.
Lethemon is 2nd in the nation in save percentage and shutouts. He's 8th in goals-against.
Minnesota State's Dryden McKay is No. 1 in three categories – GAA (1.25), save percentage (.946) and shutouts (7).
This week's No. 2 and 3 Big Ten Stars are Ohio State forward Tanner Laczynski and Michigan goalie Strauss Mann.
IN THE BIG TEN: First-place Ohio State (15-6-3 overall, 8-4-2-0 Big Ten, 26 points) plays at sixth-place Minnesota (8-10-4, 3-5-4-3, 16 points) on Friday and Saturday. The No. 6/6 Buckeyes are coming off a win and a tie (shootout loss) against Notre Dame. The Gophers played an exhibition game last Saturday against the U.S. Under-18 team and lost 2-1.
Minnesota has played two fewer games – 12 – than the six other teams in the Big Ten.
Seventh-place Wisconsin (9-12-1, 4-9-1, 14 points) plays at fourth-place Notre Dame (10-10-4, 5-6-3-2, 20 points) on Friday and Saturday.
Fifth-place Michigan (10-11-3, 5-7-2-1, 18 points) plays the U.S. Under-18 team in an exhibition game on Saturday at Yost Arena.
Patrick Khodorenko, MSU's top scorer with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points, is tied for third in the Big Ten's overall scoring race. Tanner Laczynski of Ohio State also has 25 points – 7 goals and 18 assists.
Only Penn State's Nate Sucese and Evan Barratt are ahead of Khodorenko and Laczynski, each with 9 goals and 19 assists for 28 points.
MSU goalie John Lethemon's .943 save percentage is No. 1 in the Big Ten, and he's a very close second in goals-against average. Lethemon's is 1.87 and conference leader Tommy Nappier of Ohio State is at 1.86. Nappier has missed the last three games due to a lower body injury.
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
EAST LANSING – Sam Saliba has always made an impact during his four seasons at Michigan State.
This season – his senior year – he's making even more of an impact, and he's having a lot more fun.
During his Spartan career, Saliba's been a strong leader, a standout penalty killer and defensive forward, and this season he's added to his repertoire with key contributions on offense.
Saliba, 24, a 5-foot-11, 183-pound right wing/center from Lincolnshire, Ill., is MSU's hottest goal-scorer with five goals in his last six games.
He has nine goals and five assists for 14 points in 24 games, ranking fourth in team scoring behind linemates Patrick Khodorenko (25 points) and Mitchell Lewandowski and defenseman Dennis Cesana (15).
"I'm having lot of fun. Obviously, it's a lot of fun when you produce and help the team win,'' Saliba said. "This is new territory for me – playing the (right) wing. I've been a center my entire career.
"I switched over this year and it's been fun playing with Patty and Lewie and (earlier this season) with Josh (Nodler) and Lammer (Logan Lambdin).''
What's also new territory for Saliba is playing meaningful and crucial games in late January on a team with a legitimate chance to win the Big Ten regular-season title and making the NCAA Tournament.
The Spartans are winning, they're tied for second place, one point behind first-place Ohio State, and ready to play the most important series in several years when they play host to Penn State this weekend.
Saliba says "this is probably the biggest series" he and his fellow seniors have played in during their four seasons at Michigan State.
The No. 19 Spartans (12-11-1 overall, 8-5-1-0 Big Ten, 25 points) and No. 9/9 Nittany Lions (16-7-1, 8-5-1-0, 25 points) meet at 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday at Munn Arena.
"We're excited. That's what we want in January - meaningful series at home,'' Saliba said. "It's extremely huge. You have two teams tied for second place and a point out of first. Obviously, we haven't had this opportunity in the last few years.
"We have 10 games left in the Big Ten – two against Penn State and Ohio State at home. Collecting points is huge. And to be able to get four, five or six points (during a weekend) is huge down the road for winning the Big Ten's regular season and (NCAA) seeding.''
Saliba, who has never missed a game at MSU, had a solid freshman season with 10 goals and eight assists for 18 points. Six goals came on the power play. He had six goals and nine points as a sophomore and four goals and 10 points last season.
Saliba served as an alternate captain as a sophomore, the team captain as a junior and this season is co-captain with junior center Tommy Apap.
"I wanted to come into this season with more of a shot-first mentality, and get pucks to the net,'' Saliba said. "I think I've done a good job with that, and I'm seeing pucks go into the net.''
Saliba's scoring run started with goals in three straight games – vs. Michigan Tech and Ferris State in the Great Lakes Invitational, Dec. 30-31, and against Minnesota, Jan. 10. He scored one goal in both games at Wisconsin last weekend.
MSU coach Danton Cole points to offseason training and playing on the wing as the key factors in Saliba's overall improvement and offensive success.
"Sammy had a great spring with training just in terms of plyos and weights. (Strength and conditioning coach) Mike Vorkapich does a great job for us,'' Cole said. "Sammy had some tremendous gains and that carried over into the summer and he showed up (in late summer) in tremendous shape.
"He made that improvement from a junior to a senior, which is great to see. That's what we want to see in our guys. As a leader, to continue to get better every year.''
The Spartan coach said moving Saliba from center to right wing and then pairing him with Khodorenko and Lewandowski has opened up Saliba's game on offense.
"He's really benefitted from moving to the wing. Sammy is not a big guy and he took one for the team,'' Cole said. "He got some matchups in the Big Ten as a 5-foot-10 guy against some 6-2, 6-3 centers my first couple years here and did a great job.
"He still takes a lot of faceoffs. He's one of the best right-handed faceoff men in the country.
"Those two things – putting himself in a good position with conditioning and strength-wise in the spring and summer and playing where he's better suited (are big factors). He never complains. Sometimes, late in game, I need him to take an extra shift at center. He'd go do whatever we need him to do.''
Saliba said the spring and summer conditioning programs had him feeling good and confident coming into final season at Michigan State.
"Our training program has been really helpful since (Coach Cole) and the staff came in,'' he said "And in working with my trainer when I was home for two months.
"And you have to credit coach for putting me on the wing and opening up the offensive side of my game. It's helped playing with Patty and Lewie. I think one of my skills in hockey is being able to find open space and being able to jump into the right holes at the right time, and my finishing ability around the net. It's come to fruition this season.''
Said Cole, "He makes mature plays, he's smart defensively and he's putting the puck in the net now, which is sorely needed.''
The line of Khodorenko, Lewandowski and Saliba will counted on heavily over the next five weeks, starting with the showdown with Penn State this weekend.
"I think Sam is just more of a shooter this year. He's shooting the puck whenever he gets a chance in the slot,'' Khodorenko said. "He's putting himself in a better position and shooting the puck quicker.
"He worked on his shot a lot over the summer and that's definitely helped. Hopefully, he can keep that up because we need every goal we can get.''
THE RIVALRY: Penn State holds a 14-10-4 edge in the series which started with a 5-3 Michigan State victory on Jan. 25, 2013. Early on, the Spartans went 6-2-2 in first 10 games between the teams. But the Nittany Lions dominated the next 10 games with an 8-0-2 edge from December, 2015, to January, 2019. MSU is 3-2 vs. Penn State in the last five games.
The teams split in their first meeting this season at Penn State in early November. The Spartans won the first game, 2-0, and the Nittany Lions held on for a 6-4 victory in the series finale.
SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS: Penn State is 5-4-1 in its last 10 games going back to Nov. 30. The Nittany Lions lost and tied last week in a home series against Michigan. They got routed 6-0 in the first game and then let leads of 2-0 and 4-3 slip away and ended up tied, 4-4, in the series finale. U-M scored in the 3-on-3 overtime to earn the extra point in the Big Ten standings
PSU is the fourth-highest scoring team in the nation, along with Sacred Heart, both averaging 3.83 goals per game. Surprisingly, the Nittany Lions have been shut out four times this season – by Alaska 4-0, MSU 2-0, Notre Dame 3-0 and Michigan, 6-0.
They still put a lot of shots on goal, shooting from almost everywhere on the ice. They lead the nation with an average of 38.33 shots on goal.
"The bottom line with them is that they're going to come at you and throw a lot of pucks on net,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "If you can somewhat control their transition you have a chance. If you don't control their transition, you have no chance.
"That tends to be common with a lot of team. But if you look at their top three lines and numbers, they have (3-4) guys with 100 career points. You just don't see that in college hockey anymore.''
Penn State has three forwards with more than 100 career points and two more closing in on 100. Senior Nate Sucese has 130 points, senior Dennis Smirnoff has 113 and senior Brandon Biro 109. Senior Liam Folkes has 95 and junior Evan Barratt has 89.
Sucese and Barratt are the top two scorers in the Big Ten at this point in the season. Both Sucese and Barratt have nine goals and 19 assists for 28 points. Junior Limoges is five points back with eight goals and 15 assists for 33 points and is fifth in the scoring race.
Penn State has seven other players with 10 points or more, including junior defenseman Cole Hults (4-16-20), Biro (7-11-18), Folkes (9-8-17), Smirnov (7-10-17), junior Sam Sternschein (11-5-16), sophomore Aarne Talvitie (5-10-15) and Nikita Pavlychev (4-6-10), the 6-foot-7, 212-pound center from Yaroslavl, Russia.
"You have to take care of the puck when you have it, don't feed their transition when they have it, and do a good job deflecting and making sure you have numbers at your blue line,'' Cole said.
The Nittany Lions' power play is second in the nation at 28.6 percent.
Defensively, Penn State is allowing 2.50 goals per game, which is 22nd in the nation and 4th in the Big Ten. Its penalty killing is at 86.5 percent, 11th in the nation and No. 1 in the Big Ten.
In goal, senior Peyton Jones has a 14-6-0 record, a 2.56 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. He's 4th in the Big Ten in GAA and save percentage.
The Nittany Lions are a veteran team with a nation-leading 19 seniors and juniors on the roster and 14 see regular action. They're definitely going to have a new look next season.
Coach Guy Gadowsky is in his 8th season at Penn State and has a 141-117-20 record and his 20-season career record is 314-315-57. He coached at Alaska Fairbanks and Princeton before starting the program at Penn State.
Gadowsky has led the Nittany Lions to two NCAA Tournament berths – in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Unless Michigan State plays Penn State in the playoffs, these two games will be the last time the Spartans' seniors will see the Nittany Lions.
"They've been a lot of fun, very exciting games,'' MSU senior right wing and co-captain Sam Saliba said. "Both places have good crowds and a fanbase supporting them.
"We're two different types of teams. They're run-and-gun and we're a little more structured and an opportunistic type team. It makes for good weekends and battles.''
Michigan State and Penn State have never played each other with more at stake than this weekend's series. Each team is well aware what a sweep would do and what losing both games would mean.
"It's a big weekend for us. It's at home, it's a great team coming in and we'll have great crowds,'' Cole said. "The best way to look at it is it's an unbelievable opportunity. The door is open. You just have to push on it and take it.''
SWEEPS TOUGH TO ACHIEVE: Big Ten coaches are often quoted about how hard it is to sweep a conference series. The loser of the first game always seems to be desperate and motivated the next night and there's a good chance the series will end up in a split.
There have been 24 Big Ten series played thus far this season and 10 ended in splits, six where one team went 1-0-1 and eight resulted in sweeps.
Michigan State has two sweeps – vs. Michigan, Nov. 14 and 16, and against Wisconsin, Dec. 6-7. The Spartans went 1-0-1 against Notre Dame, Nov. 22-23, and have been swept once in conference play – at Ohio State, Nov. 30-Dec. 1.
Penn State and Ohio State have also swept two conference series. The Nittany Lions have not been swept and OSU has been swept once.
Michigan and Notre Dame have swept one series and Minnesota and Wisconsin have zero sweeps.
In the last two series, MSU has had the opportunity to sweep a series on Saturday night but came up short and had to settle for splits. The Spartans lost to Minnesota, 1-0, after winning the first game 4-1 two weeks ago. Last week, MSU blanked Wisconsin, 4-0, in the first game but fell short in the series finale, losing 3-1, with the game decided with just 2:08 to play.
"It's huge. We were able to get a couple of those in the first half and that gave us a little separation with some of the teams,'' Coach Danton Cole said of the importance of series sweeps. "We need to get a couple of those here in the last 10 games, and not just for the Big Ten standings but with the national computer rankings.
"I think the mentality is there. I don't think it's a lack of effort or understanding. I think the guys realize the opportunity they have. There's a lot of work to do. It's not easy to get over some of those humps. You have to get something out of the weekend, so if you can get 4, 5 or 6 points, it goes a long way.''
After facing Penn State, the Spartans are off next weekend and then play four series in February – at Minnesota, vs. Michigan at home and in Detroit, home against Ohio State and at Notre Dame to close the season.
It won't be easy to sweep any of those teams, and it won't be easy for those teams to sweep the Spartans. But the team that can somehow grab six points on the weekend a couple of times, and avoid getting swept, will likely end up at or near the top of the standings.
"We have a great opportunity to do something we haven't done in the Big Ten and that's to get home ice (for the playoffs),'' Cole said. "We have a great opportunity to win the Big Ten and we have a good opportunity to make the NCAAs.''
LETHEMON BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT: MSU senior goalie John Lethemon allowed just two goals last weekend in the series split at Wisconsin. He earned his fifth shutout of the season with a 4-0 victory in the first game and only gave up two goals in Saturday's 3-1 loss, with the third goal scored into an empty net.
After another solid weekend, in which he stopped 39 and 35 shots, respectively, Lethemon was named Big Ten First Star of the Week. It's the fourth time his season he's been among the conference's three stars.
Lethemon has earned first-star recognition three times. He's also earned a second star.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound netminder from Northville, Mich., has allowed one goal or fewer in three of his last five games and two or fewer in each of those five contests.
Lethemon, 23, leads the Big Ten in conference games in goals-against average (1.57), save percentage (.954) and shutouts (four).
Overall, in 22 games and 20 starts, Lethemon is 12-8-1, with a GAA of 1.87, a save percentage of .943 and five shutouts.
Lethemon is 2nd in the nation in save percentage and shutouts. He's 8th in goals-against.
Minnesota State's Dryden McKay is No. 1 in three categories – GAA (1.25), save percentage (.946) and shutouts (7).
This week's No. 2 and 3 Big Ten Stars are Ohio State forward Tanner Laczynski and Michigan goalie Strauss Mann.
IN THE BIG TEN: First-place Ohio State (15-6-3 overall, 8-4-2-0 Big Ten, 26 points) plays at sixth-place Minnesota (8-10-4, 3-5-4-3, 16 points) on Friday and Saturday. The No. 6/6 Buckeyes are coming off a win and a tie (shootout loss) against Notre Dame. The Gophers played an exhibition game last Saturday against the U.S. Under-18 team and lost 2-1.
Minnesota has played two fewer games – 12 – than the six other teams in the Big Ten.
Seventh-place Wisconsin (9-12-1, 4-9-1, 14 points) plays at fourth-place Notre Dame (10-10-4, 5-6-3-2, 20 points) on Friday and Saturday.
Fifth-place Michigan (10-11-3, 5-7-2-1, 18 points) plays the U.S. Under-18 team in an exhibition game on Saturday at Yost Arena.
Patrick Khodorenko, MSU's top scorer with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points, is tied for third in the Big Ten's overall scoring race. Tanner Laczynski of Ohio State also has 25 points – 7 goals and 18 assists.
Only Penn State's Nate Sucese and Evan Barratt are ahead of Khodorenko and Laczynski, each with 9 goals and 19 assists for 28 points.
MSU goalie John Lethemon's .943 save percentage is No. 1 in the Big Ten, and he's a very close second in goals-against average. Lethemon's is 1.87 and conference leader Tommy Nappier of Ohio State is at 1.86. Nappier has missed the last three games due to a lower body injury.
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