V-Cast: How good is Michigan State hockey? Comparoni & Koepke discuss
East Lansing, Mich. – In the second SpartanMag V-Cast from Munn Ice Arena of the weekend, SpartanMag publisher Jim Comparoni and legendary college hockey writer Neil Koepke break down Michigan State’s sweep of Notre Dame and discuss how good the Spartans really are.
“Usually when you have a bye week, you’re a little bit sloppy, your legs aren’t into it,” Koepke said. “But, boy they were there last night and on Saturday night I thought their forecheck was just devastating. They knocked the puck away, they won battles and in a way I said, ‘You know, this team looks like Jeff Jackson’s Lake Superior State teams when they won National Championships, the way they forecheck behind the net and created plays and knocked down pucks coming out of the zone and pushed them right back, and that frustrates the other team.
“It was a great weekend and a great series and an important series just because of what’s coming up in the second half of the season with so many road games.”
On Saturday, first-line center Karsen Dorwart (Soph., Sherwood, Ore.) and third-line center Red Savage (Jr., Scottsdale, Ariz.) Savage scored for Michigan State while freshman goaltender Trey Augustine (Fr., South Lyon, Mich.) was named first start of the night for the second straight game.
Michigan State had seven different Spartans score the seven goals on the weekend, with all four lines producing.
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“The depth of this team is amazing,” Koepke said. “So everybody doesn’t have to look to one or two key players to score. Guys can go four, five, six games without scoring and it doesn’t put pressure on them because other guys are scoring. Dorwart had been held scoreless for five or six games and he gets a goal to start it off.”
As for the Spartans’ long-term potential for the season, Koepke said: “They are capable of getting home ice cinched for the Big Ten Playoffs and they are also capable of winning. I think eventually it’s going to come down to Michigan State and Minnesota to finish first in the Big Ten, and Michigan is still going to be a factor once they get it together. They have a losing record in the Big Ten right now, and they have to make up some ground, and they have a lot of splits.
“So I think for the first time in the (10-year history of Big Ten hockey), Michigan State can finish first. Michigan State is one of two teams that has never won the Big Ten regular season hockey title. The other one, believe it or not, is Michigan.
“The Minnesota series here in mid-January is going to be a heck of a series and it could be for all the marbles. The Spartans are in the hunt.”
