Icers hit tough schedule at rough time

With a six-game losing streak looming over the MSU hockey team’s head, the Spartans are heading into what might be the toughest four-game stretch on the schedule.

Friday it’s Wisconsin (5-7-2 overall, 5-5-2 WCHA) and then Saturday it’s No. 1 Minnesota (7-1-4, 6-1-3), with both games happening on the road. Then to top that, next weekend the Spartans will play a home-and-home series against
rival Michigan.

MSU head coach Rick Comley recognizes the danger in this rough stretch of the schedule and he is doing everything possible to find a way to stop the losing skid.

“We just have to keep working and be honest and play the game properly,” Comley said. “We have to hope there is some growth and that they can get a
few bounces. But it’s not just lucky bounces. We have some players that need to pick up their workload if they are going to have offensive success. They have to play both ends of the rink properly, and if they do that we have a chance to get this thing turned around.”

Senior goaltender Jeff Lerg said he doesn’t think this tough stretch in the schedule is all bad news for the Spartans (4-8-2, 2-6-2-2 CCHA) because if they can get a big road win it would be a huge building block.

“We have four big games before Christmas and we need to take them one game
at a time,” Lerg said. “(We need to) get a win early in Wisconsin and make that carry over into Minnesota. If you don’t get up for these four next teams, something’s wrong.”

During the MSU’s six game losing streak, the Spartans have only been able to produce five goals in six games, which is the biggest scoring drought in program history.

Comley is trying to stay positive with his team’s psyche through the offensive troubles that are plaguing their minds.

“It’s all everybody talks about right now,” Comley said. “When you are scoring one goal a game at best, it dominates them. I think there are five or six guys in there who believed they were going to score coming into the season.”

Lerg hates losing
After Friday’s 7-1 stomping at the hands of Nebraska-Omaha, Lerg was livid.

“Friday was probably the most frustrating game I’ve played in my career here,” Lerg said. “After they scored their fifth goal the only thing that came to my mind was, ‘this is a joke.’ It was unbelievable.”

Lerg isn’t pointing fingers and he said he wants to see a better effort from everyone that steps on the ice this weekend.

“I’m sick of losing,” Lerg said. “It’s just getting old and it seems like we are skating in a fog right now.”

Senior defenseman Brandon Gentile didn’t picture his last year in the Green and White going so sourly early on. To make matters worse, Gentile is sick of hearing the excuse that it’s still early in the season and he is trying to instill a sense of urgency in his teammates.

“It’s a long grind but we are over a quarter of the way already,” Gentile said. “We have to drill that home early and tell them it’s time to come around. You can’t just wait till the second half of the year to turn it around. We have to let them know now.”

Big ice
Both Wisconsin and Minnesota’s rinks feature Olympic-size ice – an aspect of the game that the Spartans haven’t dealt with yet this season.

Lerg said that the extra space in the corners and behind the net might prove to be an offensive advantage for his team.

“We have lots of good skaters,” Lerg said. “It’s not like we are big, slow team that just defends a lot. We have a lot of quicker skilled forwards and hopefully it will come to our advantage.”

Last season the Spartans went 3-3-0 when playing on the bigger sheet.

Comley isn’t quite sure if it will be a good thing or a bad thing for his young team – but he said it will be surely be an adjustment.

“It could be good,” Comley said. “Sometimes you can’t worry about it too much. You just have to play. They are both tough matchups but they are Big Ten matchups and I think there is some excitement level that comes with playing Big Ten schools.”