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Hockey traveling north to take on Northern Michigan

November 17, 2011

Several weeks ago, there were doubts of where the MSU hockey team’s season was headed.

Coming off a sweep at the hands of Lake Superior State and opening the season at 1-3-0, it looked like the first season of the Tom Anastos era would be a trying one. But now following a pair of sweeps against Robert Morris and then-No. 5 Western Michigan, the Spartans find themselves moving up to No. 21 in the USCHO polls and riding a wave of momentum.

The Spartans will look to continue their hot streak when they make the trip to Marquette, Mich., this weekend to take on No. 20 Northern Michigan.

“(Northern Michigan will) play really well at home,” Anastos said. “I know they’re really well coached — I think the world of Walt Kyle. He’s a really good coach and I think his players respond really well to him. This will be a real important weekend for their team up there coming off some losses and they’re gonna want to reestablish themselves.”

In the battle of former Rick Comley schools, the Spartans (6-4-0, 3-3-0 CCHA) hold the all-time 32-27-3 series edge, including five of the six games against the Wildcats (4-5-3, 1-4-3). However, Berry Events Center hasn’t been as kind to MSU, as NMU holds a 8-15-1 advantage on its home ice.

Since beating then-No. 1 Michigan on Oct. 21, the Wildcats are winless in their last seven games after splitting with U-M, being swept by WMU and Ohio State and a pair of ties against Notre Dame.

As for MSU, senior defenseman Brock Shelgren said the team’s aggressive style of play, especially on the powerplay, has been helpful in putting pressure on other teams.

“We’ve played a more aggressive penalty-kill style, not giving teams the time and space to do stuff,” Shelgren said. “One thing (Anastos) has really harped us on is take away their time and space and make them make two or three, maybe four really good passes in order to beat us on the powerplay.”

Despite their losing streak, the Wildcats tout a great deal of talent on offense. The team has eight players with at least two goals and it has allowed them to play close games with some of the nation’s best college hockey programs. Forwards Stephan Vigier and Justin Florek lead the way with six goals each.

It’s unclear how the Wildcats’ lineup will be affected by a string of thefts leading to misdemeanor charges involving stolen bicycles, which involves Dylan Walchuk, Jake Baker, Mitch Jones and two other freshman Wildcat players. Walchuk, Baker and Jones have been mainstays in the Wildcat lineup rotation this season and potentially could miss some time for the program.

On the Spartans’ side, senior forward Mike Merrifield and sophomore forwards Lee Reimer and Greg Wolfe have been starting the offensive fire this season. The trio, along with injured junior forward Dean Chelios, have combined for 17 goals, 23 assists and 40 points on the season to ignite the Spartan attack.

The Spartans will look to turn up the heat on NMU this weekend by keeping the team’s aggressive mentality in mind.

“We just got to keep focused on our goals and what we want to accomplish,” said sophomore goalie Will Yanakeff, who was named CCHA Goaltender of the Week on Monday. “We want to be at the top of the CCHA. We want to make a stand and make a point that we can compete and that’s the mindset we gotta have going into it.”

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