Hockey Media Day: The 3-2-1
EAST LANSING - Three things we learned, two questions and one prediction following Michigan State hockey’s media day on Wednesday.
1. The Spartans aren’t getting any respect and will need to earn it.
When you’re picked to finish last in your conference and you place no one on the preseason’s All-Big Ten Watch List, you literally have nowhere to go but up.
That’s the situation for first-year coach Danton Cole and a team that will feature eight newcomers.
The Spartans may have received more respect if they had last year’s leading scorer and captain Mason Appleton returning for the 2017-18 season, but he bolted in the spring to pursue his NHL dreams, signing an entry level contract with the Winnipeg Jets as a sixth round draft pick, 168th overall in 2015.
While the Spartans will begin the season with what is projected to be a pretty nondescript and unimpressive roster as the program attempts to begin a climb out of obscurity, MSU does have some bright spots on its roster.
Namely three of its top four scorers returning from last season - Taro Hirose (5-10, 160, Soph., Calgary), Sam Saliba (5-11, 178, Soph., Lincolnshire, Ill.) and Patrick Khodorenko (6-0, 210, Soph., Walnut Creek, Calif.)
But MSU only scored 226 points last season, while allowing 359 en route to a season where they finished just 7-24-4 and lost by a margin of three or more goals 12 times.
“I think most hockey players have a lot of pride, and you look at something like that, and it's great trying to prove the world wrong,” Cole said. “That can be a tremendous motivation. At the same time, I talk to them a lot about not worrying too much about praise or criticism. Borrow John Wooden a little bit, ‘don't get too high, don't get too low.’
“I certainly think that we had a few guys that should be on the watch list. I also tell them that reporters are wrong most of the time, so don't worry about predictions.
“(So) let's be a seventh (pick) every year. Who cares? We'll take care of business when it's time to take care of business. But it should motivate you as an athlete.”
2. Despite the emphasis on more offense, stopping the puck is still paramount.
Last season, MSU’s goalie tandem gave up an average of more than three-and-half goals a game
And for a team that had trouble scoring, goaltending, along with defense is going to have to be much better than it was last season.
MSU will have two options, senior Ed Minney (6-5, 208, Sr., Wind Gap, Pa.) who finished 5-14-3 last season and gave up 3.62 goals a game, while finishing with an .883 save percentage. Sophomore John Lethemon (6-2, 173, Soph., Northville, Mich.) who finished last year with 2-10-1 mark, gave up 3.58 goals a game, while closing the year with .873 save percentage.
“We set it up in a meeting and talked about it early on and said, ‘Hey, it's gotta be a good healthy competition,’” Cole said. “Hopefully they both have real good years this year. Hopefully they push each other.
“You want that competition, but it has to be friendly in the sense that John can't score goals on Ed and win the job and Ed can't screen John and win the job. They can only win the job or win their ice time by stopping shots, whether it's in practice or games,’. I think they'll have pretty good years. We've seen some good stuff. Ed had some injury problems the second half last year and played through them. Hopefully, he's over that. He's looked real good. He said it's the best he's felt in a couple of years. So that bodes well.
“And John has just worked hard right from the get-go.
“We have to have better goaltending, wherever we were at last year. If you're in the 800th (in save percentage) anywhere, you're probably not winning many games. So it starts there. There's five guys that can help them, but they're going to have to stop some pucks.’’
3. A really strong emphasis was put on culture change during the offseason.
Well, when you’ve lost as much as MSU has over the past two seasons - the Spartans have only won 17 games and tied eight while playing in 72 games - culture change becomes a huge narrative during your discussions in search of success.
And that’s no different for the Spartans as Cole and his staff embark on what looks like a momentous task in his first season. Of course this is where the player buy-in to the coach’s message becomes a huge part in turning the corner.
Much of the integration of that change is going to come from how strongly the team’s leaders - assistant captains Carson Gatt (6-1, 200, Sr., South Lyon, Mich.), Saliba and Brennan Sanford (6-1, 210, Jr., East Lansing) - can make sure everyone is on board throughout the season, even if immediate dividends aren’t apparent.
“Leadership, first and foremost, is very important,’’ Saliba said. “I expect to be a leader for young guys and help change this culture and get it back to where we want it to be. I know that anytime you go about changing a culture, it’s a group effort. It takes 25 guys to change a culture, not just three, not just the staff. Everyone’s got to buy into the message and really change.
“We want to get back to winning games and competing for championships.’’
Added Gatt: “It’s up to the players to change the culture. Coaches can say as much as they want and bark on us but eventually, it comes down to the players and comes down to us three leaders to make sure that we’re a part of this culture change and that it’s going in the right direction.’’
TWO QUESTIONS:
1. What numbers have to change for MSU to improve on last season?
Although this may seem like a simple answer in saying all of them, Cole has some definitive ideas on which numbers are of the utmost importance for a team that had just two players finish on the plus side last season in plus/minus, and whose power play produced just 24 goals against the opponent’s 42.
“Have to give up less goals, that's just an absolute imperative,” Cole said. “You can't give up three and a half, four goals a game. If you look at the Frozen Four last year, I think they were first, fourth, seventh and twelfth or somewhere around there. You just can't give up that many goals.
“Penalty kill has to be a lot better.
“Defense doesn't go into a slump. I don't think you need a lot of talent to play defense. You need a lot of attitude and a little cohesiveness. How you play, and effort, and some attitude things, can change that.
“It doesn't have to be defensive zone that keeps pucks out of your net. It can be how you forecheck. It can be how you play through the neutral zone. The game's changed quite a bit. It used to be, you'd say about the game is won in the corners. Now it's if you can control the puck coming through the neutral zone, make it hard for the other team to come through the neutral zone.’’
2. How will this undrafted duo respond?
Two members of MSU’s 2017-18 roster are considered strong pro prospects.
Both incoming freshman defenseman Tommy Miller and sophomore forward Patrick Khodorenko, who also both played for the U.S. National Development program, had received some high praise from scouts and analysts.
So it was believed that both would be drafted by an NHL team during the league’s entry draft back on June 23-24.
Neither got the call.
While neither belabored their disappointment, expect both to use it as additional motivation this season.
Said Miller: “It’s big (not being drafted) but I’m going to shove that aside and just go in and work as hard as I can and play hockey. I mean, that’s what I’ve got to do, right? Just play hockey.
“I had high expectations, but you just have to reevaluate and say, ‘All right, this isn’t a moment of defeat or crush, it’s a moment to turn it around and turn it into motivation.’ You can’t just dwell on it. You’ve got to keep moving on and use it as motivation to get better and prove people wrong and show, ‘Hey, I deserve this.’”
Khdorenko, who finished last season with just seven goals and 11 assists, is probably going to have to double those numbers in order to get the respect that he wants from evaluators making decisions about whether he will be an NHL pick next summer.
And he will definitely have that opportunity since Cole has already tabbed both he and Miller as two guys he will lean on heavily to assume large roles in MSU’s success.
“I was ranked supposedly going in the fourth round,’’ Khodorenko said. “A few teams talked to me so I was expecting it a little bit but I wasn’t really let down when I didn’t (get drafted). Obviously, I’m a little pissed but I’m only going to use that as a little drive to get better. I’m just going to take it as a lesson to get better. Personally, I think I’m ready to be on the ice in all situations and all of the key moments’’
ONE PREDICTION:
1. MSU’s sophomore class will make the difference in the success of this season. The Spartans have 10 sophomores on this year’s roster, making up nearly half of its numbers.
Nine of those players led by the second- (Hirose), third- (Saliba) and fourth-leading (Khodorenko) returning scorers and a goalie in Lethemon, who will compete for the starting job, are going to decide how far this team can and will go this season.
Some may think this is an unfair position to put this group in but they’ve already more than been confronted with unfair odds when they had to play important roles last season as freshmen during an emotionally- and mentally-tough inaugural season on the ice at MSU.
This group is probably as battle-tested as any underclassmen in the country.
With just three seniors and three juniors, MSU will have to lean heavily on its second-year players.
The other members of this sophomore class to keep an eye on: winger Logan Lambdin (5-8, 174, Newport, Mich.) and defensemen Mitch Eliot (6-0, Grosse Pointe, Mich.), Damian Chrcek (5-9, 177, Marysville, Mich.), Butrus Ghafari (5-11, 188, West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Anthony Scarsella (5-9, 193, White Lake, Mich.).
“Last year, we were placed with a lot of responsibility on us, having a huge freshman class (like we did),’’ said Lambdin, who returns as the Spartans’ fourth-leading returning scorer. “This year, I feel like a lot of us are a lot more prepared coming in. We had a big training summer and a lot of the players did really well. They came in a lot stronger, faster, quicker. I’d say we’re a lot more comfortable this year, not necessarily in the place with hockey but getting to know each other. We’re playing a quicker game in practices so far, of course the games are going to be a test for us but I think everyone’s ready to go.’’
