Ricardo Cooney: A few things you should know about this team
Ricardo Cooney: A few things you should know about this team
Ricardo Cooney may be as close to the hockey program as any media type we have. Here's his take:
First and foremost, these guys are bothers in arms. To a man, they've all said at one time or another this season that they were not going to have last year be what they were remembered for when they left MSU. The committment has been phenomenol. They have bonded incredibly fast and the closeness is very genuine.
They are constantly together, they share meals together, they share down time together and the feel in the lockerroom, as captain Nick Sucharski told me, is so much better than last year. Even something as simple as watching the World Juniors. This year, they watched the U.S.-Canada title game in two separate groups. Last year, they would have split up and watched the game in 5 or 6 different groups.
And it's not just by class. Whereas, upperclassmen tended to stay with upperclassmen last season and last year's freshmen were kind of on their own, these guys all hang with each other in all different situations.
There's a lot you can glean from a team's chemistry and closeness and this team has it.
The best example I can give you is in late October after a practice, Comley was set to meet with his coaches and discuss some aspects of the team. That meeting was supposed to take place in his office about 30 minutes after practice. When the assistants didn't show up for nearly an hour, Comley grabbed a cup of coffee and went looking for his staff. He found them still on the ice with most of guys, still wanting to work on aspects of their game. The team was supposed to be off the ice by 3 p.m. that day and didn't all actually leave until about 5 p.m. Those are the kinds of things that tell me everything I need to know about a team.
Secondly, the offseason was crucial in a lot of ways and in the 'you can actually teach an old dog new tricks' category, Comley gets an A-plus.
First he actively brought older, more mature players, who were already ahead of the curve physically.
Four of the freshmen have turned 21 in the last five months, meaning they are ahead of the game in emotional and mental maturity and physical maturity.
Also, as somebody noticed in an earlier thread, MSU runs the Red Wings system. Over the summer, Comley got the former video guy, who now works for the Wings to send him tapes of the Wings offensive and defensive strategies and incorporated them into this year's Spartan team.
And their offseason training program was about as intense as it could be at any university level.
All of last year's freshmen, who were weak on their skates, gained muscle, lost baby fat and strengthened their bodies and minds to become mentally tougher. Everybody stayed and got stronger together. That didn't happen with last year's team.
Give trainer Mike Vorkapich all of the credit here. He did a phenomenol job with these guys, making them get up for 6 a.m. workouts, with a lot of those days being two-a-day sessions.
In all honesty, I thought this team would be much better than last year's after looking at what they had coming in, who they had returning and the improvements I knew those returning would bring to the overall makeup but I can honestly say, I didn't think they would be this good.
In many ways, they have exceeded expectations.
Now, the real test comes because they will not be able to sneak up on anybody anymore and are now in the category of being the hunted during many of these next seven weekends.
One thing that should really work in their favor down the stretch is the fact that they will have a weekend off after getting back from Alaska.
Players in the past have commented about how hard it is to get back mentally after that trip, with some admitting it's taken an entire week. The fact that MSU will not have to prepare for any games after returning should give them more than enough time to recharge and close it out strong.
Lastly, I would like to commend all of those who had the guts to get on here at different times and amend their criticisms of Comley and the program.
For long time and diehard fans last year was sickening and I can understand your frustrations but I knew it was just one of those bad years that happens every now and then. Comley's been in the game way too long to lose it that quickly.
By the way, many of the things MSU went through last season, are happening in Ann Arbor and unless something really special happens, I don't see the Wolves making the NCAA tourney.
From SpartanMag.com
