After a weekend off following a Friday night exhibition game (the Spartans beat Windsor 5-0 last Friday) the No. 4 Michigan State hockey team hits the road, traveling to Buffalo to take on the Canisius Golden Griffins. These two programs met for the first time ever last season with a series in East Lansing, with the Spartans getting the sweep thanks to wins of 6-3 and 4-3, respectively.
Besides that familiarity, there are a lot of Buffalo-MSU ties in this series. Sophomore Spartan defensemen Maxim Strbak and Patrick Geary are both draft picks of the Buffalo Sabres, with Geary also being from the Buffalo suburbs.
The Canisius roster features some Spartan ties with former Spartan Kyle Haskins (57 games played, six points in three seasons in East Lansing) on the Griffins, as well as Cole Kodsi who at one time was a Spartan commit.
The Griffins are 1-4 on the season, winning their first game earlier this week on Tuesday over Mercyhurst. This is a series the Spartans should sweep, and anything less than that will be disappointing.
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Things to Watch
Now I write this understanding most, if not all, of you have no reason to have a FloHockey subscription. Given the series will be exclusive to that platform for tuning in, you also probably will not get one this weekend to see these games. Luckily for me, FloSports is the home of most junior hockey games that I need for my clients, and as a bonus they broadcast the Grand Valley State football games, so I can check in on my alma mater. As a result, I will be tuned in to each game this weekend so these are the things I will be watching.
Depth scoring has been a relatively small, yet growing concern for the Spartans. In their first weekend against Lake Superior State, Isaac Howard and Daniel Russell scored the majority of goals. Against Boston College, the coaches responded to three games in a row to that point of seeing just one line producing with a big shaking up of the lineup in the Saturday game.
Howard was put on a line with Charlie Stramel, Tommi Mannisto was pulled off his line with Tiernan Shoudy and Tanner Kelly. Finally, Joey Larson was the new wing with Karsen Dorwart and Russell. The shakeup worked well, with Stramel scoring twice against the Eagles and Kelly breaking through with his first goal. Three lines scored goals in that game against the Eagles, and this weekend I will be looking for improved offense up and down the lineup against an overmatched opponent to continue to put that concern regarding depth scoring back to zero.
A player I will be keying in on, is Strbak. The sophomore has had a rough start to the season — struggling with turnovers and costly mistakes —but has also found a way to get on the score sheet with two assists. Strbak was my preseason pick for best defenseman on the team, and I would rate him as maybe five or six on the team so far. He and Geary as a pair have struggled, and the Spartans need them as their second pair to be steady with an offensive flair as well. Again, as mentioned above this is early, so it's not a full on concern yet, but Strbak playing near his NHL rights holder will perhaps kickstart his performance into the second-year development the Spartans need.
Details/How to Watch
Time: 7 p.m. Eastern Time Friday, Oct. 25 and on Saturday Oct. 26
Location: LECOM Harborcenter. Buffalo, New York
- CB
- RB
- DT
- OLB
- WR
- PRO
- OLB
- CB
- OT
- TE
