Chelios to Play for Spartans

Jake Chelios will join the Spartans in the fall of 2010. He is the younger brother of current Spartan Dean Chelios and is the son of Chris Chelios. Jake played one season for the Chicago Steel and racked up 12 goals and 22 assists. Chelios will possibly play defense like his dad did, and will provide Michigan State with some speed and depth as a freshman.

Rowe Goes Pro, Kennedy Named to Team USA

Andrew Rowe signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Flyers and will forgo his senior season. He joins teammate Jeff Petry (Edmonton Oilers), who also signed a professional contract. There is speculation that Corey Tropp will go pro as well. The Spartans will lose a great amount of offensive production if both Tropp and Rowe are gone, and they have already lost their best defenseman.

Tim Kennedy was selected to play with Team USA during the World Championships. The games are played in Germany from May 7-23. He is the second former Spartan from the Buffalo Sabres to play for the Red, White, and Blue this year. Ryan Miller was the starting goaltender of the USA Olympic silver medalists.

College to the NHL

Here's an interesting article emailed to me the other day about college hockey players that have made it in the pros. Ryan Miller and Tim Kennedy are mentioned in the article. Link

Also, the NHL playoffs have been very exciting. Unfortunately, Miller and Kennedy's Sabres were knocked out tonight. Drew Miller and Justin Abdelkader will look to help the Wings win their series tomorrow night and Duncan Keith scored two goals in the Blackhawks' 5-3 win tonight.

Spartans Sign Wolfe

Greg Wolfe of Canton, MI became the newest addition to the 2010-2011 Spartans when he recently signed his letter of intent to play at MSU. Coach Comley looks to him as a first or second liner for next year. He plays for the Omaha Lancers in the USHL, which is the former team of goalie Drew Palmisano.
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Sucharski in Skills Competition

Senior Nick Sucharski was in the skills competition at the Frozen Four in Detroit on Friday. He became the third Spartan to participate and the fifth Spartan selected. Spartan Coach Tom Newton was one of the West Team coaches.

Petry to Oilers

Jeff Petry signed with the Edmonton Oilers and has played several games with their farm team in Springfield. Article

He was also named to the Reebok All-American second team. Article

Petry and Tropp

The speculation has begun as to whether Jeff Petry and Corey Tropp will stay for another season in the Green and White. Andrew Rowe has already been quoted as saying that he's definitely here for his senior year. In a State News article, I read that Coach Comley believes that Petry will sign and it was unsure about Tropp. I respect their decisions to fulfill NHL dreams, but I think that both would benefit from another year in college and hopefully they could end their careers at a Frozen Four next year. I think one of the two will probably leave early, but I do not see the Spartans losing both for next season.

Michigan 5 Michigan State 3

Michigan got off to another fast start by scoring the first two goals of the game. Michigan State came roaring back with two goals by Andrew Rowe and one by Nick Sucharski. Rowe made an incredible move on the defenseman and then scored a wrap-around to tie the game up. Sucharski helped MSU take the lead with .7 sec left on the clock in the first period. That was all the goals that Michigan State could muster. Michigan scored early in the second and finished the game with an empty-netter for a 5-3 win. Drew Palmisano had a tough weekend, but he did not get much help from the Spartans defensively. We turned the puck over way too much to give ourselves a chance to win the series. Bobby Jarosz came into the game after Michigan's two goals to spark the team and made 33 strong saves. Corey Tropp was hurt in warm-ups and did not play in the game. I thought that Derek Grant stepped up his physical play in both games and Rowe played well too especially in the 2nd game. Also, Kevin Walrod filled in nicely for Tropp and he was really making an effort to play the body. It was a disappointing end to the season, but the Spartans should be proud of what they have done with a 2nd place finish in the CCHA after a disastrous season a year ago.

Michigan 5 Michigan State 1

The Spartans lost to Michigan in a tough fashion. They were very much out-played and the score was indicative of the game. Derek Grant scored the lone goal for Michigan State.

Spartans Receive CCHA Recognition

Corey Tropp, Jeff Petry, and Drew Palmisano were all named to the CCHA All-Conference Second Team. Andrew Rowe and Torey Krug were among the others receiving votes. In addition, Torey Krug was named to the CCHA All-Rookie Team and Derek Grant was an honorable mention.

Spartan Hockey Awards

Last night, the Michigan State hockey team had its annual awards banquet. The awards are as follows:
MVP- Corey Tropp
Outstanding Offensive Player- Corey Tropp
Outstanding Defensive Player- Jeff Petry
Most Improved- Brett Perlini
Rookie Award: Derek Grant and Torey Krug
Outstanding Senior Award- Nick Sucharski
Top-scholar Senior Award- Nick Sucharski
Amo Bessone Award- Trevor Nill
Goofus Award- Jay Sprague
Spartan Fitness- Brock Shelgren

Miller Named MVP, Canada Wins Gold

Ryan Miller was named the Most Valuable Player of the Olympic Hockey tournament. Miller was by far the top goaltender in the tournament and led his United States team to the gold medal game. Many hockey analysts are calling him the best goalie in the world and he proved it during the Olympics. Miller and the rest of the Americans really represented the country well and showed the strength of US hockey. Also, former Spartan Duncan Keith won a gold medal as a member of the Canadian team. He is a strong NHL player for the Blackhawks and had a great tournament as one of the top D men for Team Canada. Congratulations to Ryan Miller and Duncan Keith for their outstanding play in the Olympics!

Bowling Green 2 Michigan State 2 F/OT; BGSU wins shootout 1-0

Michigan State played a tough game on Bowling Green's Senior Night, but ultimately fell in a shootout. Andrew Rowe and Chris Forfar had the Spartan goals and Drew Palmisano made 32 saves in goal. Despite the loss, the Spartans finished second in the conference because Ferris State also lost a shootout. MSU will host the second round of the CCHA playoffs on March 12-14.

Michigan State 5 Bowling Green 2

The Spartans won a 5-2 contest against Bowling Green on Senior Night. Seniors, Jay Sprague and Nick Sucharski each had goals and Bobby Jarosz made 5 saves after entering the game halfway through the third period. Michigan State moved into second place with the win and the Ferris State tie. Josepher, Perlini, and Leville had goals and Tropp recorded two assists. It was a great way to send the seniors out and MSU clinched a first round bye in the CCHA playoffs.

2010 Winter Olympics

Last night, Ryan Miller's Team USA upset the heavily favored Canadians 5-3. Miller made 42 saves for the Americans, who were out-shot almost 2-1. Ryan Miller was the main reason USA won with his stellar play in net. The game pitted two former Spartans against each other with Duncan Keith playing for Team Canada. USA will play the winner of Switzerland and Belarus on Wednesday after getting a bye into the quarterfinals with an undefeated group play mark. Canada will face Germany on Tuesday and a win would advance them to Wednesday's quarterfinal game with Russia.

Trevor Nill Article

Anyone that hasn't seen this article on the MSU website should read it. Brittany McCormick of the Athletic Communications department writes about the great things Trevor Nill does in the community as well as having a tough mechanical engineering major and being an outstanding player on the MSU hockey team. Many of our players have been great leaders in the community with their roles in the Shoot-for-a-Cure and Spartan Buddies programs for example. I commend Trevor for not only balancing a tough school schedule with hockey, but also doing so much to help others in our community. Full Article

Michigan State 3 Ferris State 2

Michigan State badly needed a win against Ferris State on Saturday night after a tough loss to them the night before. The Spartans played a much more solid game and were able to come out with a big win. They came out faster to start the game in a sold-out Munn Ice Arena. Rowe scored the first goal of the game for MSU, but Ferris State answered with a goal of their own later in the period on the power play. In his first game of the season coming off injury, Jay Sprague scored to put the Spartans ahead 2-1. Ferris tied the game up with a short-handed goal with about three min to go in the second period. Dustin Gazley scored the game-winner in the third period. Palmisano made 25 saves in the victory.

The Spartans have been mixing and matching lines lately to find the right combinations going for forward. Jay Sprague added a physical presence in his first game and scored a big goal. The first lines of Grant-Sucharski-Tropp and Rowe-Leveille-Gazley will probably stay in tact, but it will be interesting to see who will play in the other two lines. The remaining forwards will be put in the lineup based on match-ups and how they are playing. The D pairs have been set for most of the year and there shouldn't be any changes. Michigan Stat can clinch a first round bye in the CCHA playoffs with a single point against Bowling Green next weekend or a Michigan loss or tie against Notre Dame.

Ferris State 4 Michigan State 1

Michigan State struggled on Friday night in Big Rapids in a crucial game in the season. The two teams were tied at zeroes after one, but FSU rattled off three goals in the second period to take a commanding lead. Derek Grant was able to tip a Torey Krug shot in the third to get the Spartans on the scoreboard. Michigan State got off to a slow start and they were completely outplayed by the Bulldogs. Drew Palmisano made 25 saves in the loss, facing some tough scoring opportunities by Ferris State. This was a game for the Spartans to forget, but to also remember that they cannot afford to start out a game like that again the rest of the season. The Spartans committed way too turnovers and did not play physical enough.

Scouting the Bulldogs

Michigan State will face Ferris State in a home and home series this weekend. The two teams are tied for second in the CCHA with 43 points. The Spartans are ranked #12 and the Bulldogs are ranked #14. FSU is 12-8-4-3 in the conference and 18-10-4 overall. Senior forward Blair Riley leads the team in goals and points. He has a 17-15-32 line on the season. Defenseman Zach Redmond leads the team with 18 assists. Pat Nagle and Taylor Nelson have split time in net. This series could very well determine both a second place finish and potentially an NCAA berth.

Season Awards

Michigan State has only four games remaining in the regular season. I want to know what people think about who should win the team awards. I have come up with my MVP, Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, and Rookie of the Year. I will release them once I get some opinions from my readers. There have been quite a few individual accomplishments this year with weekly and monthly CCHA awards. Three of our players are on the Hobey Baker voting list! Although, it has really been a team effort this year and hopefully we can close out the regular season strong with these last four games.