SpartanMag.com - So far, so good; No. 20 hockey team faces WMU

October 30, 2009

Ricardo Cooney

EAST LANSING - In the not so distant past, it was not uncommon for Michigan State's hockey team to be nationally ranked and have one or two players sprinkled among the top scorers in Division I hockey.

And after last year's 10-win season, it looked like it might be a long time before the MSU program would regain some respect in not only the nation but in its own league.

Well, it looks like those days of national prominence have returned to the Spartan lockerroom.

At 4-2-0 (1-1-0 Central Collegiate Hockey Association), the Spartans, who will face Western Michigan (4-0-0, 0-0-0) in a home-and-home series on Friday and Saturday are clawing their way back into the national spotlight.

"I think early, it was obvious that we were going to be a lot better,'' MSU coach Rick Comley said. "I think week by week, it's a question of developing some depth. But it looks like we can play with everybody. We don't get overwhelmed. We don't get run out of the building. The fact that we continue to come back when we get scored on looks to be a good quality of this team too.

"We just have to continue to grow and win games right now.''

After opening the season with a sweep over Clarkson, the Spartans hit the road and earned splits in series against Maine and then-No. 1 Miami.

Tough places to play against teams that play very well at home.

As a result, MSU enters its series with the Broncos ranked No. 20 in the country, while boasting the nation's leading scorer in junior Corey Tropp (6-6--12) and the country's top freshman point-getter in Derek Grant (4-5--9).

While all three accomplishments are something to celebrate and enjoy after last season's debacle - brought on by a myriad of unfortunate events - this is a team, despite boasting a lineup that uses nine freshmen, that is determined to not only exorcise the demons of last year but build on this early success for a possible return to the NCAA Tournament.

In Western, the Spartans are facing a team that has opened its season with series sweeps against Mercyhurst and Alabama-Huntsville, two teams not considered A-list opponents right now.

But considering the fact that WMU has always played MSU tough in the past, despite the Spartans all-time series lead of 59-27-8, this should be a good test for a team starting to show signs of returning the program to a level of national respect.

"I think it will be a heck of a series,'' Comley said. "(Western) has always had good goaltending, they're 4-0 and I think they're a little bit deeper (in talent) than what I've seen in the last couple of years. We know how tough it is down there, that's why the Friday game is really big.''

And while a sweep would be nice, it doesn't seem possible unless the Spartans can generate some more offense from members of its other three lines.

Right now, the top line of Tropp, Grant and senior captain Nick Sucharski are carrying the team offensively.

Comley knows, especially the way opposing coaches will start to match up their best defensive line against the Spartans top line, that if MSU can't start developing more scoring chances from at least its second and third lines, that it will be difficult to get on a good run in the victory column.

"That top line is pretty good and the top line they are on has been pretty darn good,'' Comley said. "We need to get some more balanced scoring.''

Still, despite that being an early worry, there's no doubt that the Spartans early success is no fluke.

In three previous weekends, MSU has shown the propensity to play hard, play physical and with a sense of urgency and skill that Spartan fans have not seen since the 2007-08 nearly got back to Frozen Four a year after winning the national championship.

Those are qualities though that seem to be developing with a young team that despite carrying 20 freshmen and sophomores but has already shown the maturity necessary to come back after an opening night loss against the No. 1 team in the country and salvage a split on the following night.

"It's just another opportunity for a young team to grow,'' Comley said. "When you're playing as many freshmen and sophomores there's going to be some ups and downs but I've been very pleased with the development, the attitude, the acceptance and I want more and more competition (in practice and games). We still have some unsettled roster spots.

"The encouraging this is, the freshmen that we brought in have been able to play and fill voids in our team. To plug some glaring weaknesses from a year ago. There's growth from returning players. It's a bigger stronger more competitive team. We have a long way to go but I'm confident this can be a very good team.''

SPARTANS TO WATCH: When you have the nation's leading scorer and the nation's leading freshman scorer, this is an easy one. Keep your eyes on Tropp and Grant. Opponents know they now have to. They're becoming well worth the price of admission.

BRONCOS TO WATCH: With maybe the coolest name in college hockey, sophomore forward J.J. Crew was named Offensive Player of the Week for his four-goal and two-assist performance against Mercyhurst to open the season for WMU, while newcomer Trevor Elias followed up, taking home the CCHA Rookie of the Week Award after his performance against Alabama-Huntville. Of course, there's senior goalie Riley Gill (3-0-0, 1.67 GAA), who always seems to play well against the Spartans.

WHAT'S IN A NAME: gol - em - BEW - ski.

Apparently, you can have as many pronunciation guides as you want, but that still doesn't mean a seasoned announcer is still going to be able to say freshman winger Zach Golembiewski's name correctly.

First, there's all those vowels that would serve him well in a game of Wheel of Fortune. If you include the first name, there's six. Then there's all those letters. We'll just stick with the last name for this one: 12.

With all of those letters and vowels to deal with, it's no wonder that one PA announcer had to make a pregame apology right over the stadium airwaves.

"I was in St. Louis when I was playing in the NAHL two years ago,'' Golembiewski said. "I was in the starting lineup and they went to pronounce my name, 'Zach Gola ...' and over the air, they were like, 'sorry Zach, I can't pronounce your last name.' That's probably the best one so far.''

LOOSE PUCKS: The MSU-WMU series will reunite a pair of former linemates in MSU's Grant and Western's Elias. Last season as members of the British Columbia Hockey League's Langley Chiefs, the duo combined for 39 goals, 77 assists and 116 points in a combined 78 games ... Dating back to the 1995-96 season, the Spartans are undefeated on Halloween night. In four previous Halloween games, MSU has beaten Notre Dame twice, 6-2 in 1995 and 5-1 in 1997, Ferris State, 8-0 in 2003, and Western Michigan last season, 3-1 ... At Munn Ice Arena, where the two teams will meet Friday night, MSU holds 33-5-4 record. At the Broncos Lawson Arena, the Spartans are just 23-20-2. Against current Bronco coach Jim Culhane, MSU has been on the losing end of the series at 8-10-4.

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