2012 - 2013 Tentative Schedule

Here is a look at Michigan State's 2012 - 2013 full tentative schedule

All games Fri-Sat unless otherwise noted:


OCTOBER

Mon. 8th -  vs. Windsor (ex.)
12th - at Minnesota
13th - at Minnesota
19th - vs. Niagara
20th - vs. Niagara
26th - at LSSU
27th - at LSSU

NOVEMBER

2nd - vs. Bowling Green
3rd - at Bowling Green
9th - at Michigan
10th - vs. Michigan
16th - at Miami
17th - at Miami
30th - vs. Ohio State

DECEMBER

1st - vs. Ohio State
7th - at Notre Dame
8th - at Notre Dame
14th - at Ferris State
15th - vs. Ferris State

28th - GLI (Western)  @ Comerica Park
29th - GLI (Tech/Michigan)  @ Comerica Park

JANUARY

11th vs. Notre Dame
12th vs. Notre Dame
18th vs. Ferris State
19th at Ferris State
Tues. 22nd - vs. USA Development Program (ex.)
25th - vs. Penn State
26th - vs. Penn State


FEBRUARY

1st - at Michigan
2nd - vs. Michigan @ Joe Louis Arena
8th - at Bowling Green
9th - vs. Bowling Green
15th - vs. Northern Michigan
16th - vs. Northern Michigan
22nd - at Alaska
23rd - at Alaska

MARCH

1st - vs. Western Michigan
2nd - vs. Western Michigan

8th - 11th - CCHA First Round (at Campus Sites)
15th - 18th - CCHA Quarterfinal Round (at Campus Sites)
22nd - 23rd - CCHA Championships (at Joe Louis Arena)
29th - 31st - NCAA Regionals

APRIL

11th & 13th - NCAA Frozen Four (Pittsburgh, PA)


Quick Thoughts:

MSU is in a "cluster" this season with Notre Dame, Bowling Green, Michigan, and Ferris State. I'm a little surprised Notre Dame doesn't look like they want to do a home and home, since it seems like in the past that has always happened when they were in the same cluster. The final year in the CCHA certainly has a Big 10 flavor as MSU will face everyone but Wisconsin.

The two things that really jump out is - the first half of the schedule looks brutal on paper, and once again there are a ton of home games in January. Starting in Minnesota won't be easy, and Niagara's prgoram has been solid over the years (which includes some NCAA appearances). Plus with road games to LSSU, Notre Dame, Miami, and Michigan - MSU will be thrown into the fire pretty quickly.

Also, someone may need to correct me here, but I don't recall MSU ever playing games as late as December 15th prior to the winter break. It seems like in recent years, MSU is done the first weekend of December. I haven't seen a CCHA composite schedule yet though, so this could be a league thing. This certainly could help for the GLI - which will showcase nothing but Michigan teams as Western is the fourth team this season.

MSU also finishes with five of its last seven at home. That should provide the opportunity to really build momentum into the post season. The only thing that sort of stinks is they'll be making that long trip out to Alaska pretty late this year.

Lastly, when was the last time MSU didn't play over Thanksgiving? I'm sure that will be a great break for the team after facing Michigan & Miami in back to back weekends, as well as give the team a chance to go back home for the holiday.

Bondra Commits to Michigan State

According to the Chilliwack Chiefs website, David Bondra has commited to Michigan State University for the 2012 - 2013  season.

Bondra finished the 2011 - 2012 campaign with the Chiefs (BCHL) with 63 points (3rd on the team). He led the team with 41 assists. His 22 goals on the year put him 3rd on the taem. He tallied 37 penalty minutes. A 1992 birthday, he is listed at 5-11, 185 lbs and originally is from Annapollis, Maryland.

David Bondra will make his debut in Green & White this upcoming fall.

Chilliwack has been a bit of a pipeline for MSU sending Shawn Horcoff, Brad Hodgins, Brian Maloney, Jeremy Jackson, Kevin Estrada, Derek Grant, and Harvey Smyl to East Lansing.

For those hockey fans, the last name Bondra should sound familiar, as David is the son of former NHL'er Peter Bondra. He spent 17 seasons in the NHL, including 14 with the Washington Capitals where current MSU assistant Kelly Miller was his teammate up through the 1999 season. Peter finished his NHL career with 503 goals in 1,081 games.

And We're Back - New Commitment

After a lengthy delay in posting and editing, we're back.

And this time with some recruiting news. As mentioned here by a reader of this blog, Michigan State picked up its first 2015 commitment from Zach Osborn. Osborn is a 1997 birthdate and is currently listed at 5-9, 165 lbs. He is a d-man for Honeybaked U16.

MSU verbal Josh Jacobs is also a d-man from the same team. Connor Wood comes from the Honeybaked program as well.