Michigan State Hockey might just be back — or on its way
By Ryan Kay
It may not be obvious to the casual outsider, but Michigan State hockey may just be on its way back to national relevancy. Is Michigan State hockey back?
Michigan State is 9-12-3 and has been at the bottom of the Big Ten standings for the majority of conference play, so why should Spartan fans see hope and optimism moving forward? Simple, you can’t look at college hockey the same way you look at college football and basketball. There are so many variables and factors which makes college hockey different from the other sports.
This Michigan State team is young and hungry under second-year coach Danton Cole. The Spartans entered the season with a roster filled with 15 underclassmen and only three seniors.
Michigan State’s strength is its offense where it has scored four or more goals in 11 games this season. The Spartans are lead by junior forward Taro Hirose and his 11 goals and 29 assists and fellow junior forward Patrick Khodorenko leads the teams in goals with 14. Not to be outdone, sophomore forward Mitchell Lewandowski has 11 goals and 14 assists.
Goaltending duties are split between junior John Lethemon and freshman Drew DeRidder. The Spartans are coming together at the right time and showing improvements.
Michigan State swept Minnesota and won their last three games propelling them to third place in the Big Ten. The Spartans may have not always been consistent this season but they have quality wins against currently ranked teams with wins at Penn State, Ohio State and a sweep at Cornell.
The Spartans are also undefeated against Michigan this season, swept Minnesota this past weekend and are 3-1 overall against the Gophers and has road wins at Ferris State and Northern Michigan — the Spartans are showing progress.
In order to make the NCAA Tournament, which is an attainable goal for the Spartans, Michigan State must win the Big Ten Tournament or be slotted high in the Pairwise rankings. The Spartans are currently ranked 26th in the PairWise/RPI rankings ahead of Michigan, Wisconsin, and others.
To put it into perspective, there are 60 division 1 hockey teams. Only 16 teams make the tournament and there are six conference automatic bids so that leaves 10 at large bids. The process is explained here and it is a complicated one.
dark. Next. Report card for MSU win at Nebraska
Michigan State has a weekend series at Notre Dame next weekend followed with a home series against Wisconsin. The Spartans with the exception of one game against Ohio State has either won or were very competitive in the loss or tie in their last eight games. Michigan State has 10 regular season games left before the Big Ten Tournament and it has time to move up in the Pairwise rankings and conference standings.