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Michigan State Off-season

Re: Michigan State Off-season

gomsuman said:
You have to realize that he is essentially a high school junior right now so 5'10" 150lbs is actually decent sized. Arguably our best player last year Matt Berry is listed at 5'10" 168lbs and is 6 years older then Taro so I fully expect Taro to put on some muscle before/after he gets to MSU. I'm not trying to be mean about this but Hockey is about the one sport besides baseball where size really doesn't matter too much.
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After years of watching some of those Comley teams get manhandled by Rico's group of, comparatively, red giants, I don't know if I totally agree with this.
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

alnike said:
One website has Hirose as a 96 birthdate, like current freshman Josh Jacobs. So Hirose is old enough to be a college freshman, but appears to be a 20 year old freshman recruit.
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aallenpollreisz said:
After years of watching some of those Comley teams get manhandled by Rico's group of, comparatively, red giants, I don't know if I totally agree with this.
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I overlooked that detail, my fault there. I still say that if you are talented enough, a lack of size doesn't mean you can't be a really good college player (look at Torey Krug). Especially in this time period of hockey where you are seeing even in the NHL more guys that are under 6' then ever before. Hockey is no longer entirely about being tougher then the other team, skill wins games now. You don't have to be a "big" team to compete anymore.

On a slightly different note I do think that MSU has been missing a guy who can change the momentum of games, for instance an Abdelkader type who knew when the team needed a spark and how to provide that spark whether it be a big hit or a scrum of some sort. We seem to have a team that just seems a little lackadaisical during stretches and is missing that energy guy to get the team going, but thats just my opinion.
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

B. Lerg got a goal in his first NHL game with the Sharks. Good for him.

Really happy the guy is getting a shot. The dude's been in the low and high minors for a while.
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

aallenpollreisz said:
B. Lerg got a goal in his first NHL game with the Sharks. Good for him.

Really happy the guy is getting a shot. The dude's been in the low and high minors for a while.
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Yes, great for Bryan.

Also Hildebrand made first-team All-American today. A little surprised by this considering the overall record this year but it is well deserved.
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

Decatur Spartan said:
I've seen a number of them play. I'm really not impressed. Especially not with the ones in the USHL.
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While a couple of these 2015 freshmen have been disappointing, I'm surprised by the blanket statement. Did you watch Appleton? Osburn? My take is different.

As for Rosburg, whose injury may force him to delay to 2016, here is a defenseman who can really skate, has size, and can bring some offense. And I think once Godbout got traded, his new situation allowed him to be more productive. Don't know if he'll walk on now or find a scholarship, but I think he can be successful. I'm not sure what to think of Milan. I got a chance to see him on the international stage, and though he's got a great burst he doesn't seem to put himself in a position to score. Don't know where Sanford would fit in, either.

I can assure you that Lewandowski (speaking of 2016), will be impactful. Think Matt Berry, but with the maturity to wear a 'C'. I can't complain about Lalonde and Bederka, either. I'm curious to see what Ty Farmer and Mitch Eliot can do with another USHL season. Hirose is poised to put up big offensive numbers in the BCHL in 2015-16, if his team-leading numbers this season (as a rookie) are any indication. Same hopes for Keefer at Muskegon, as well. He got off to a fantastic start as a USHL rookie.
 
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Re: Michigan State Off-season

According to the schedules thread, NoDak will be coming during Thanksgiving weekend. With LSSU coming to Munn it's shaping up to be a good home schedule.

"Please no ASU, please no ASU, please no ASU"
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

Decatur Spartan said:
I've been looking at the kids numbers coming in, in the next two years. Not real impressed.
I've seen a number of them play. I'm really not impressed. Especially not with the ones in the USHL.
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I can tell already that you are going to be a joy to have around.
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

aallenpollreisz said:
After years of watching some of those Comley teams get manhandled by Rico's group of, comparatively, red giants, I don't know if I totally agree with this.
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Obviously, it is best to have both size and a lot of skill(Michigan) but size is not a necessity. I think a problem with those smaller Comley teams compared to Miami was that we simply did not have the same caliber hockey players that they did. I will use Miami(ironically) and Austin Czarnik as an example. He obviously has been a great player for them and as a senior, he is listed at 160 pounds. Not sure how accurate it is but he clearly is not heavy. I am pretty sure Duncan Keith played at MSU as a feather weight as well.
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

Also, if you want to feel something strange, go back and check out the birth years of long ago rosters that you still remember. I have grown so used to MSU players starting to feel like young kids that it somehow blew me away to see that there are a lot of players that I can still remember that were born in the 70's.
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

Spartanforlife4 said:
With LSSU coming to Munn it's shaping up to be a good home schedule.
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I hope this means they are finally off the Notre Dame home schedule. Maybe we'll replace them with a dazzling series against Holy Cross. Did they even ask Anastos for a return trip or were they just glad to play a weekend of hockey and not have to pay anyone to resurface the ice or turn on the lights at Taffy Abel? My guess is if they could play a couple of WCHA home series on the road they'd do so.
 
WeAreNDHockey said:
I hope this means they are finally off the Notre Dame home schedule. Maybe we'll replace them with a dazzling series against Holy Cross. Did they even ask Anastos for a return trip or were they just glad to play a weekend of hockey and not have to pay anyone to resurface the ice or turn on the lights at Taffy Abel? My guess is if they could play a couple of WCHA home series on the road they'd do so.
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I almost hope we give them a return trip, just because they could really use it, but I have no idea.

ASU's schedule is out, no Sun Devils coming to Munn. I believe we still have 5 or 6 games left on the non-con and its severely under scheduled by HE teams, so we can probably expect to see foes from out East start to pop up.

With Denver, NoDak, and LSSU already on the schedule that's a decent representation of the West, though I would like more CCHA teams on the schedule.
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

Spartanforlife4 said:
With Denver, NoDak, and LSSU already on the schedule that's a decent representation of the West, though I would like more CCHA teams on the schedule.
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Agreed. To me BGSU is a natural, especially given how competitive they have become again. It's a 2-hour trip either way, not much further than Big Rapids, and there's a good history. And where the heck has Notre Dame gone?
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

owslachief said:
Agreed. To me BGSU is a natural, especially given how competitive they have become again. It's a 2-hour trip either way, not much further than Big Rapids, and there's a good history. And where the heck has Notre Dame gone?
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If you're question is regarding where we've gone as far as being a competitive NCAA type team, look no further than to two of the three guys in suits behind the bench. The staleness in the program can be traced directly to one or both of them.

If you're wondering where we've gone from a scheduling standpoint, look no further than the bearded guy in the suit in the athletic department, answers to the name Jack Swarbrick. Notre Dame is no longer interested in playing non-conference games against teams that will require a return trip. In exchange for getting a team to annually appear at the Shillelagh Tournament, they agreed to give Western a home and home arrangement for the next few years. I think that agreement has 3 more seasons to run. Once Mario Lucia is gone (maybe this summer -- he has stated he is definitely finishing out the current semester -- maybe he returns for his senior season) Minnesota will be off the schedule. After that, I doubt Notre Dame will be enticed into any road non-conference games, other than neutral site in-season tournament type games. So playing a team like MSU in South Bend would be fine for Notre Dame, but going on the road for the return trip that teams like MSU will require, ehhhh, not so much. What that ends up meaning will be 5 or 6 home non conference weekends, almost exclusively against bottom feeder teams from Atlantic Hockey or the nWCHA.

Until the next wave of conference shake-ups occur, I figure there will be quite a few NCAA hockey teams using the NCAA basketball model of non-conference scheduling. And interesting non-conference home schedules for many teams will be a thing of the past.
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

Spartanforlife4 said:
According to the schedules thread, NoDak will be coming during Thanksgiving weekend. With LSSU coming to Munn it's shaping up to be a good home schedule.

"Please no ASU, please no ASU, please no ASU"
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Good to hear about LSSU - I've really missed seeing them every year on our schedule. Part of me always wanted Hollis to sign perpetual home-and-homes with BGSU, Western, ND and LSSU after we broke off into the Big Ten.
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

Spartanforlife4 said:
I almost hope we give them a return trip, just because they could really use it, but I have no idea.

ASU's schedule is out, no Sun Devils coming to Munn. I believe we still have 5 or 6 games left on the non-con and its severely under scheduled by HE teams, so we can probably expect to see foes from out East start to pop up.
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No offense to the teams out east, but, yeah, I'm getting tired of us saturating our schedule with teams from Massachusetts. I know we kind of have to because of the B1G/HE challenge, but I would appreciate a break. (It's not quite at NMU levels of "I'd rather not see them anymore," but it's getting there.)

We have to be getting a return trip from Princeton at some point, right? I'm pretty sure Tech owes us a return trip, too.
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

Our trip this year was the return trip for their 2013-14 season trip here, so unless that was a 2 for 1 we're done with them.

I believe Tech was supposed to come last year but I'm pretty sure a Huskie told me their series with Wisconsin pushed ours back a year, so we might see Tech at Munn this year too.

Then there's the matter of returning going to BC for a game, but maybe we could take care of that during the Northeastern trip.
 
Re: Michigan State Off-season

gomsuman said:
1. I think at the end of the year we missed Walsh more then people realize. It changed our D pairings that had been the same all season up until that point. It is hard to build chemistry with a guy in a couple weeks.

2. In terms of next year every guy we lost to graduation can be easily replaced except for Berry. That being said, Maceachern reminds me a lot of Berry when he was a sophomore. Flashes of great skill and the ability to single-handedly take over the game. He just needs to be more consistent which hopefully he can figure out in the off-season. Also most of our team are sophomores and juniors. If say one, two, maybe three guys (i.e. Haag, Ebbing,Wood?) figure out how to score consistently along with Mac, Ferrintino, Keller, Cox, and Deblow, we will be just fine next year. Fun fact: we return 75% of our scoring next year.

3. I don't see where all the panic is coming from after just one bad game to end the season. If we can just average three goals a game next year we are pretty much guaranteed to win 75% of our games due to the one factor most teams struggle to find, A REALLY REALLY GOOD GOALIE. -In Hildebrand We Trust.

4. In terms of comparing us to other programs out there remember that we were in a serious talent deficit thanks to Comely. It takes time to build up a program the way a new coach wants it (especially with our biggest/nearest rival taking advantage of Comely's poor recruiting). I believe when Anastos took the job he said it would take around 7 years to get the program to where he would like it to be so we have to be patient at least one to two more years. But I agree that if next year, with all the returning talent, we don't go well over .500 it will be hard to keep Anastos around.
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No panic, just a desperate feeling that MSU is going to be like MTU was for 30 years. In looking at recruits, you must discount roughly 40% of their scoring impact when they join the next level. The kids arriving in 2015 are not going to be much, if any help. I have seen a number of the 2016 and 2017 kids play. Not impressed at all. I will say that the scoring has picked up this season from the last two. From 2.08 goals a game in 2012/13, to 2.19 in 2013/14, to 2.4 in 2014/15. A whole 3 tenths of a goal per game! Over thirty games, that's 10 goals. I just don't see enough scoring coming back. Or coming in.
 
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