With 10 games to play and a series rematch with Michigan looming, the No. 16 MSU hockey team (13-9-4 overall, 8-7-3-2 CCHA) hopes to continue its four-game unbeaten streak and seize momentum heading into February.
Momentum will need to be built quickly, as they face a red-hot No. 10 Ferris State, who took five of six points from then-No.5 Ohio State last weekend and currently sits in fifth place in the CCHA standings.
The series will be the first two games of a four-game road trip that starts in Big Rapids, Mich., and wraps in a rematch against the No. 6 Buckeyes.
Although the Spartans are in eighth place in the CCHA, head coach Tom Anastos said the team controls its own destiny en route to the CCHA Playoffs, and that all starts against Ferris State.
“The good news is that while we sit where, we sit in the standings, and while we go on the road for some tough games, we are playing teams that give us a chance to advance,” Anastos said. “It will be in our hands to try to advance our own cause, and it will be tough on the road, but it’s what we have lying ahead, and I think our guys are eager to get out there and see what we can do.”
Unlike most years when the teams play a home-and-home series against one another, the Spartans will hit the road for both games at the highly compacted, 2,493 seat Ewigleben Ice Arena. It’s the first time the teams have played two games at the same venue since March 1999, when they split in East Lansing.
Not to mention, Ferris State is 9-1-2 at home this season.
Going on the road for the first time in 2012 presents a challenge to the Spartans, and it’s one that junior defenseman Torey Krug is looking forward to.
“I enjoy going on the road. I think a lot of the guys do,” Krug said. “(It’s) kind of the underdog role, and it’s nice. Obviously, when everybody’s cheering against you, it’s fun to be hated. That’s my mentality, I don’t know how the other guys feel about it, but it seems to be a common theme.”
Against the Bulldogs, one recurring challenge spinning in the fashion of a broken record remains the team’s performance on the power play. Despite being second in the CCHA in penalty killing, the Spartans have not scored in 26 consecutive power- play chances in seven games and have fallen to eighth in the conference in the category.
With the Bulldogs ranking second in the conference with 17.2 penalty minutes a game, Anastos said the Spartans have as good an opportunity as any to break the streak and get on the board with an extra attacker this weekend.
“Just keep going and keep working and move the puck around, and we’ll eventually score,” Anastos said. “We have to keep working in the event (Ferris takes penalties), and that we can score some goals and make them pay a price.”
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
