The Spartans currently sit in seventh place in the CCHA and are six points out of first place but remain just three points behind the third place Wolverines.

In a series that’s as personal as they come in the college hockey universe, junior defenseman Torey Krug said the Spartans are focusing on the bigger picture in the CCHA, while not overlooking a critical series with the No. 4 Wolverines.

“Any time you gear up against these guys, it’s an important game,” Krug said. “Right now, there might be more implications for the playoffs. Everybody knows coming into this weekend where we sit in the standings. Everybody knows where each other sits in the standings. We know what we’re looking for out of the other teams to put us in the right position.”

In three prior matchups this season, the Spartans are 0-2-1 against U-M, including a disappointing 3-2 loss coming by a goal from defenseman Kevin Clare in overtime in the Great Lakes Invitational final.

Since that loss, the Spartans have cooled from the team’s 10-6-2 first half record prior to the GLI to post a 4-4-2 mark in the second half. However, MSU is coming off a sweep on the road against Ohio State, marking the team’s first of 2012 and also the first since the team swept Bowling Green in the first weekend of December 2011.

With the Wolverines also coming off a sweep of their own against Miami (Ohio) this past weekend, emotions will be at a fever pitch as college hockey’s biggest rivals come to blows this weekend for one game at Munn Ice Arena on Friday and one at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Saturday.

Although understanding the merit of an emotional style of play against the Wolverines, head coach Tom Anastos said the team will need to harness its emotions correctly to come away with a pair of victories this weekend.

“What we talk about is you have to play emotionally,” Anastos said. “If you don’t play with emotion, you can’t compete in a rivalry series like this. You can’t do it. You have to play at a very high level of emotion. At the same time, emotion can help you, and it can hurt you. … We have to channel our emotion in the right direction, and those are the things we talk about.”
 
Killing spree
Despite the team’s uncertain play on the power play, the Spartans are not lacking when it comes to killing penalties of their own.

The Spartans currently rank second in the nation in team penalty killing behind only Robert Morris by killing 106 of 119 penalties (89.1). This past weekend against Ohio State, the Spartans killed 14 chances and put themselves in position to secure a sweep.

Krug said the team has been looking to be aggressive on the penalty kill all season long by controlling the opponent’s style of play with an extra attacker.

“We want to play an attacking style of play. We’ve heard it all season long,” Krug said. “When we’re on the penalty kill, we don’t want to sit back and let them dictate the play. We want to dictate them having to make three or four good passes in a row. In hockey, it’s really hard to make three or four good passes in a row, and we want to force that
on them.”