Know Thy...... (sigh).... Time To Start Calling Sweeps

Michigan State enters this weekend looking for positive momentum to finish the season and perhaps to earn a few points along the way. The Spartans are 7-18-3 overall and 5-14-1 in the CCHA. Michigan State sits four points behind Northern Michigan, and nine points behind Michigan and Bowling Green. This means the Spartans do have a chance to earn home ice advantage still for the first round of the CCHA playoffs. This weekend becomes a must-win for MSU.

Bowling Green comes in with a 10-13-5 overall and a 7-10-3-1 league mark. Bowling Green has been playing better lately going 7-3-1 in their last 11 games. This include sweeping LSSU last weekend 4-1 and 7-3.

The two teams split earlier in the year with each winning on the road. Bowling Green won 1-0 in East Lansing and MSU returned the favor in Bowling Green with a 6-1 victory.

Has it been a tough season? Yes. But there is still a chance to do something, and it doesn't matter if you think that chance is remote, it is still a chance. It's a chance to show up and play the game - and let the pucks fall where they may. It's been getting tougher to write anything here, since it's pretty much the same old thing. But in the end there is a group of kids willing to lay their hearts on the line for a program, and that's reason enough to keep going. You never know what could happen.

Both games this weekend are at 7:05 pm. Friday can be heard on 1240 AM and Saturday on 730 AM. There is no TV for this series.

End of an Era?

MSU holds a 72-31-8 edge in the all-time series - including a 40-10-3 mark in East Lansing and a 25-18-5 record in Bowling Green. But what this weekend may symbolize is an end of an era. Michigan State and Bowling Green became big rivals in the 80s when MSU became a force in the CCHA. Although the rivalry hasn't been as heated recently, it's series like this that are going to make fans miss the CCHA.

Please Score

MSU has scored one goal or less twelve times this season. MSU is 7-0-1 when scoring 3 or more and 0-18-2 when scoring 2 or fewer. MSU has only won twice this season on Friday night - both were non-conference wins (Niagara, Penn State).

Bowling Green

Leading Scorers:

Ryan Carpenter   11 goals, 24 points
Dajon Mingo  8 goals, 19 points
Dan DeSalvo  3 goals, 17 points
Robert Shea  3 goals, 16 points
Mike Sullivan 1 goal, 15 points
Mark Cooper 9 goals, 14 points
Adam Berkle 4 goals, 14 points

Goalies:

Andrew Hammond  8-10-3, 2.52 GAA, .917 save %
Tommy Burke   2-3-2, 2.23 GAA, .905 save %

Andrew Hammond (senior) is turning into one of those guys that I swear has been at Bowling Green for 5-6 years now.

Series Thoughts

BGSU has done well on the road this season - winning in East Lansing and Ann Arbor. They are 5-6-3 away from home and 5-7-2 at home. Bowling Green has had strong 3rd periods this year outscoring teams 27-19 in the final period. In the first and second periods, BGSU has been outscored 50-41.

We can talk about how MSU's offense ranks 54th nationally. We can talk about how Michigan State has yet to win two straight games this year. We can talk about how MSU is in last place..... But you know what? Screw it. It's time to take the 'Us against the world' attitude. Let's call for the Spartans to sweep - it's bound to happen sometime again (edit: It might take till next season). I Believe.

Spartans Rebound & Dominate Bowling Green 6-1

What a difference a day makes.

A night after the Spartans couldn't seem to find the back of the net, Michigan State pretty much found nothing but net for their second straight road victory of this young season.

The Spartans power play proved to be the difference scoring four times as MSU posted a 6-1 win at Bowling Green to move to 2-2-0 in league play and 3-4-1 overall. With the loss, BGSU falls to 1-2-1-1 in the CCHA and 2-5-1 overall.

The Spartans will face arch-rival Michigan next weekend in a home and home series. More to come later tomorrow and throughout the week.

Bowling Green Posts Shutout For First Win At Munn Since 2007

The last time Bowling Green came into East Lansing and won was the 2006 - 2007 season. That streak is now over, as the Falcons defeated the Spartans 1-0 at Munn Ice Arena last night. The good news for MSU fans is that was the same season MSU won the national title. But, we could be getting a little ahead of ourselves with that stat.

The Falcons came out with a bit of jump, out-shooting MSU 9-5 in the opening period, and the pressure finally paid off with just under four minutes to go in the period as the point shot from Kucera was deflected off of the MSU defense in front of a mass off bodies in front of the Spartan goal - Jake Hildebrand had no chance.

The Spartans may have played better as the game progressed, but they didn't get many offensive chances, despite out-shooting Bowling Green 29-25 for the game. The best opportunity for the Spartans came on a 5 on 3 for a full minute in the third period. The Spartans did get some pressure on goal there, including hitting the goal post once, but they could not solve Hammond in goal.

The loss drops the Spartans to 1-2-0 in the CCHA and 2-4-1 overall. Bowling Green improves to 1-1-1-1 in the league and 2-4-2 overall. The two teams play again tonight down in Bowling Green. The puck drops at 7:05 pm.

Know Thy Enemy: Bowling Green State University

Michigan State (1-1-0-0 CCHA, 2-3-1 overall) plays a home and home with the Falcons from Bowling Green State University (0-1-1-1 CCHA, 1-4-2 overall). Friday night the game will get underway at 5:05 pm at Munn Ice Arena, and the teams make the two hour trek down to Ohio for a 7:05 pm puck drop. Friday's game is on Comcast Local. Friday's game is on 1240 AM on your radio dial, and 730 am on Saturday.

Bowling Green is coming into the weekend winless in three games. They did manage to get the extra point against Ohio State in the shoot-out last Saturday though. Their last actual win came back on October 19th at Colgate. In fact, that stands as their only win in this young season so far.

Don't sleep on the Falcons though, they will make you work for everything on the ice.

Bowling Green is looking to start an unbeaten streak this weekend, and MSU is looking to start a winning streak.

Series History

This might be one of those historic series that MSU fans may be sad to see come off the schedule (if it actually does next year). Michigan State and Bowling Green's rivalry might have peaked in the 1980s, but for MSU fans and BGSU fans alike, they always enjoy this series when it comes up.

 MSU holds a 71-29-8 all-time record against Bowling Green

MSU is 40-9-3 in East Lansing against BGSU, and 24-18-5 at Bowling Green.

Michigan State has won four straight in the series, and they are unbeaten in the last eight games in this series.

Bowling Green last won a game in this series on February 21, 2009 - a 4-0 decision at Bowling Green. February 24, 2007 was the last time Bowling Green won in East Lansing - a 2-1 game. All MSU did that year was win the national title. No pressure.

MSU is 1-0 in shoot-outs against BGSU

Top Scorers:

Dajon Mingo              2 goals, 5 points

Ryan Carpenter           2 goals, 5 points

Adam Berkle              1 goal,  5 points

Dan DeSalvo              0 goals, 5 points

Mark Cooper              3 goals, 3 points

In Goal:

Tommy Burke              1-2-1, 2.22 GAA, .913 save %

Andrew Hammond      0-2-1, 3.60  GAA, .869 save %

Special Teams:

Power Play - 9.1%  (3 for 33)

Penalty Kill - 80.0% (20 for 25)

Final Thoughts:

Bowling Green's power play actually got off to a decent start, as they scored a goal in each of their first three games. However, the last four games the power play is 0 for 16. It's going to be tough to win anywhere with a power play that cannot convert. The good news for Bowling Green is the PK has been very strong in the last four games going a perfect 13 for 13. Really, the PK only had one bad weekend against Union in which it went 4 for 9.

Getting off to a strong start is obviously important for both teams. Michigan State did a better job against LSSU (especially Saturday), and it should be key once again. Bowling Green has been outscored 8-4 in the first period, but only 12-10 in the last two periods. BGSU is 1-0-1 when leading after the first period, but 0-4-1 when trailing or tied. The Falcons are a very young team - their lone senior in the top 10 of scoring on the team is defenseman Robert Shea. I only see four seniors on the roster, so it will be a very interesting match-up of two young teams simply trying to go out and get points in the CCHA standings.

This weekend stands to be big for Michigan State, as the Spartans have to take on Michigan and Miami in back to back weekends starting next week. If the Spartans get off to a good start, then maybe they can get on a roll and sweep the series. A three game winning streak would be nice going into the Michigan series. Also, anytime you can sweep anyone in this league, you'll take it.  

Thoughts on the CCHA Weekend Ahead

After our short mid-week hiatus, we are here to talk about playoffs.

Yes coach, we are here to talk about playoffs. Though the Colts won't be in it. Specifically, we are talking about the Mason Cup.

 The Chase For The Mason Cup Begins March 2nd

 
The CCHA playoffs get started this weekend with three first round series, and although Michigan State is off this weekend (and we already know who the Spartans will play), three more quarterfinal spots are up for grabs in the best of three series this weekend.

This could be one of the most interesting CCHA tournaments ever since any one of these teams could make a run given how close the league standings have been all season long. 

Here is a look at each of the series this weekend:


#11 Bowling Green (10-21-5) at #6 Northern Michigan (16-12-6)

Bowling Green travels up to Marquette for a first round series for the second straight year. Last season, no one really gave Bowling Green a chance. Things went worse from there as Northern dominated the opening game of the series 6-3. However, they fought back to tie the series and ending up shocking the Wildcats in game three in a double OT thriller.

The two teams played just three weekends ago, and Northern swept the series 4-2, 2-0 in Bowling Green.

Northern Offense:   2.88 Goals/Game  (4th CCHA)
Bowling Green Offense:   1.67 Goals/Game  (11th CCHA)

Northern Defense:   2.68 Goals/Game (9th CCHA)
Bowling Green Defense:  2.83 Goals/Game (11th CCHA)

Northern Power Play:  19.5%  (24 for 123, 2nd CCHA)
Bowling Green Power Play  9.4 %   (15 for 159, 11th CCHA)


Northern Penalty Kill:  85.3 %  (133 for 156, 3rd CCHA)
Bowling Green Penalty Kill:  83.3 %  (145 for 174, 9th CCHA)

Thoughts:  Even though the Falcons have been playing better hockey, it is tough to see them winning two out of three again this year. I have to believe the playoff series last year will be in the back of the minds of all the Wildcats. With that said, the Falcons are going to be able to have some measure of confidence knowing they have done this once before.

My Pick:  Northern Michigan in Two.


#10 Alaska (12-18-4) at #7 LSSU  (16-15-5)

Alaska faces the task of coming back down to the lower 48 where they have only won three games this season (two of which were in Bowling Green). The teams split the season series (1-1) in Fairbanks. Alaska took the opening game 4-2, but they lost the second game 3-2. This series also took place just three weekends ago.

LSSU Offense:    2.56 Goals/Game  (9th CCHA)
Alaska Offense:  2.38 Goals/Game  (10th CCHA)


LSSU Defense:   2.67 Goals/Game (8th CCHA)
Alaska Defense:  2.59 Goals/Game (6th CCHA)

LSSU Power Play:   20.1 %  (27 for 134, 1st CCHA)
Alaska Power Play:  16.0 %  (25 for 156, 9th CCHA)


LSSU Penalty Kill:  83.8 %  (109 for 130, 7th CCHA)
Alaska Penalty Kill:  81.0 %  (119 for 147, 11th CCHA)

Thoughts:  On paper, this is probably the most even first round series. This series is very important for LSSU as they sit in 20th in the Pairwise (which means the Lakers will need a long CCHA tournament run to get them into the NCAA tournament). The numbers are fairly even until we start to talk about special teams. Obviously matching up the worst PK with the best power play will figure to favor the Lakers. With the lower scoring offenses this figures to be first to two wins (either that or one game will probably be 9-8).


My Pick:  LSSU in Three

#9 Ohio State (15-13-5) at #8 Notre Dame (17-16-3)

To be honest, I didn't think this would be a first round series for a couple of reasons. Notre Dame came in with very high expectations, but they struggled to find consistency.  With that said, the Irish have beaten just about everyone they faced which simply led to a lot of splits. On the flip side, Ohio State was in first place in the CCHA when 2012 started. But they finished 1-9-4 in their last 14 games after that impressive 14-4-1 start. That lone win though was at Western Michigan. Ohio State and Notre Dame split this season in South Bend. That series occured all the way back in October with Notre Dame winning the opening game 5-2 and dropping the second one 4-3.

Notre Dame Offense:  2.64 Goals/Game (8th CCHA)
Ohio State Offense:  2.70 Goals/Game (6th CCHA)


Notre Dame Defense:  2.78 Goals/Game (10th CCHA)
Ohio State Defense:  2.61 Goals/Game  (7th CCHA)

Notre Dame Power Play:    19.0% (33 for 174, 4th CCHA)
Ohio State Power Play:      18.1%  (30 for 166, 6th CCHA)


Notre Dame Penalty Kill:   81.5%  (110 for 135, 10th CCHA)
Ohio State Penalty Kill:    83.4 %  (126 for 151, 8th CCHA)

Thoughts: With the tail spin that the Buckeyes have been in, you can pretty much count on everyone picking Notre Dame in this series. Despite that 1-9-4 streak, Ohio State still finds themselves in the NCAA picture coming in 18th (tied) in the current Pairwise rankings. Notre Dame is the team that they are tied with, so the winner of this series could find themselves back in the hunt for a NCAA at-large bid (though the winner of this series probably will need to win next week as well). Everyone is waiting for Notre Dame to turn the light switch on with the amount of talent they have on their roster, and a short series could be the jump start they need. This time I'm going to agree with the majority, but I think Ohio State will make the Irish work for it....

My Pick: Notre Dame in Three.

This figures to be a great CCHA playoff season as the conference was tight from start to finish. So it wouldn't be too shocking to see a few series this weekend and next go the distance. Though, now that I've said that, here come the sweeps......

Krug Honored Yet Again

Torey Krug was named the RBC Financial Group CCHA Player of the Month for February. A nice feather in his cap, as he makes his claim for the CCHA player of the year.