Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Not like I'm in any position to tell anyone how to spend their money, but I do find it disappointing that these big donors are willing to pony up huge amounts of cash to redo locker rooms for basketball and football (practice facility) that were just renovated or built within the decade while hockey has now twice promoted fundraising campaigns (one for new arena interest, now for renovations) and they go seemingly ignored.

 

[Pirateasaur]

Not like I'm in any position to tell anyone how to spend their money, but I do find it disappointing that these big donors are willing to pony up huge amounts of cash to redo locker rooms for basketball and football (practice facility) that were just renovated or built within the decade while hockey has now twice promoted fundraising campaigns (one for new arena interest, now for renovations) and they go seemingly ignored.

Fan base morale is extremely low and I cannot imagine it dramatically picking up this year. But it is no secret that hockey has become a very, very distant third to b-ball and football.

I was extremely disappointed that we dropped a game against aprinceton, who by all accounts is awful. It's hockey and things happen, but if we languish beneath .500 all season then problems for Anastos and the program will emerge.

We need a big home win. At least 3 points this weekend will feel good and keep our heads above water early in the B1G race.

 

[bcmsu9196]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Princeton played much better against the Spartans than it did the week before - the Tigers have a new coach now, and it looks like they're getting his message about playing an up-tempo, attacking game. State may have outshot Princeton on Friday, but the truth is this was a series played between two young teams still searching for their identities. A split was about right. This is not one of the the powerhouse MSU teams of the '80s - it's not even the NCAA title team of 2007.

 

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Well, obviously. These are some dark days right now, but this team at least looks better than last year's, and they outscored Princeton 12-3. Princeton may have improved but there's no reason we shouldn't have swept last week.

 

[bcmsu9196]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Princeton actually dominated stretches of the weekend in the offensive zone. State had a pair of 2-on-0s that could have made the weekend easier, but didn't convert either one of them.

 

[owslachief]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Princeton actually dominated stretches of the weekend in the offensive zone. State had a pair of 2-on-0s that could have made the weekend easier, but didn't convert either one of them.

Reminds me of the Ohio State weekend actually. We were slow to the boards and didn't really body-up when in our own defensive zone. That precipitated long stretches without the puck. However, we were defensively sound in keeping the puck out of the dangerous areas, and I don't think tOSU had a lot of grade-A scoring chances.

Our D blocks a lot of shots and we have a good goalie (although a tad shaky of late).

 

[owslachief]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

A little report on where things are with recruits, by the numbers. A few comments based on what I've seen either in person or via TV -

Committed for 2015-16 *=Signed Letter of Intent
*F Mason Appleton, Tri-City (USHL), 6'2 181 Shoots R, 19 GP, 6-5-11 line, +2. Tied for second on team with .158 Sh%. Lots of energy and leadership. His size is welcome addition.
*F Cody Milan, Tri-City (USHL), 6'2 175 Shoots R, 19 GP, 5-6-11 line. Great end-to-end skater, needs to work on defense and spacing. First full healthy start to a season in 2 years. 2013 U-18 Ivan Hlinka.
*D Zach Osburn, Chicago (USHL), 5'11 179 Shoots L, 14 games, 2-1-3 line. 2014 U17 Selects. Have not seen his work. Played Honeybaked U16 and Victory Honda U18.
*D Jerad Rosburg, Sioux City (USHL), 6'2 175 Shoots L, 12 games, 2-2-4 line, +11 (tied for 2nd on team). Offensive-minded D-man with great edge. 2013 U-18 int'l tournament.
*F Brennan Sanford, Des Moines (USHL), 6'1 211 Shoots L, 20 games, 2-4-6 line. Recently placed on 45-day IR. Will that put him behind, going into Fr. year?

Notes:
In general, this is obviously a bigger-sized class physically than we usually get but the upside looks OK.
F Marcel Godbout (Waterloo (USHL), 2-0-2 line) - smallish RW is on unknown plan for next Fall. Originally slated as a 2014, then 2015, but no LOI as far as I can see. Could be walk-on? Looked pretty good in WJrA Challenge a couple years back, but on paper, appears to have taken step backward from last season.

I'll have thoughts on 2016 and beyond in follow-up

 

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Sigh...

 

[owslachief]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

The scoreboard may not show it, but I was satisfied with how well we skated and went to the net in the first period. Special teams absolutely killed this team tonight though, and Wilcox is an All-American candidate for good reason.

MSU looked a bit beat down at times later in the game.

 

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Much better tonight. Actually dominated for some stretches, which was a strange sight to see given last year we just played defense about 90% of the time against Minny. Still wish we could've come away with three points, but two is good. Off of Big Ten play until Jan 16/17, when we play at current Big Ten leader Penn State.

I didn't check to see who the stars of the game were, but Hildy should get first star solely for the OT save. That was a beaut.

 

[owslachief]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Committed for 2016-17
D Mitch Eliot, Muskegon (USHL), 5'10 174 Shoots R, 20 GP, 0-2-2 line. Physically strong for his age, he received 1st round tender from Muskegon and has played every game. Son of former NHL goalie Darren Eliot.
D Ryan Bederka, Honeybaked Ham (Tier 1 U-18), 5'9 183 Shoots R, 13 GP, 0-8-8 line (1st in pts. for D). 3rd round pick by Fargo (USHL).
D Ty Farmer, Youngstown (USHL), 5'10 176. Shoots R, 12 GP, 0-1-1 line. 1st round tender for Youngstown, youngest 2016 commit for MSU in USHL. Has been compared to Torey Krug for his age. Was first 1998 to commit to a D1 program. NTDP U17 evaluation camp invitee.
F Mitch Lewandowski, Honeybaked Ham (Tier 1 U-18), 5'8 163. Shoots L, 13 GP, 9-4-13 line. Captain of current team, plays bigger than his frame, excellent end-to-end skater who knows how to finish. Rights held by Des Moines (USHL).
F Noah Lalonde, Honeybaked Ham (USHL), 5'8 172 Shoots L, 5 games played. Held of score sheet so far but moves puck as well as any F in the program. NTDP U17 evaluation camp invitee. Rights held by Des Moines (USHL).
G John Lethemon, Chicago (USHL), 6'2 195 Catches L. 7 games, 3-3-1 record, 3.43 GAA .902 sv%. Has dubious privilege of backing up Cale Morris, who is competing for a spot on the 2014 World Jr. A Challenge team.

Committed for 2017-18
F David Keefer, Muskegon (USHL), 5'8 161. Shoots R, 21 GP, 5-5-10 line. Fast-maturing forward with excellent vision, who could easily step in as a 2016-17 freshman. Had a quick start to 2014-15 USHL campaign as rookie.

Notes:
2016 Could be Tom Anastos' best incoming class to date. Will fill out at an average of 5'10, but this is group has high skill. We <i>could</i> see opening for 7 freshmen, as MSU may have first (or first two) early departure(s) since Krug, following 2015-16 campaign.

 

[owslachief]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

And in the "one step up, two steps back" recruiting department, AAJC got a commitment from an MSU hockey legend's son. He threw in a #GoB*** (expletive masked) in his tweet. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/college-hockey-recruiting-ncaa/2014/12/4/7336063/josh-norris-commits-to-michigan">Josh Norris makes a choice, and it's not MSU</a>.

 

[Pirateasaur]

I was gone all weekend but it sounds like I missed a Good Saturday tilt. Now, I would just really love if we strung a few wins together.

 

[Split-N]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Copied from the Northeastern thread:

ICYMI, Northeastern earlier today announced a hoops/hockey doubleheader with Michigan State at Matthews for Dec. 19, 2015. Hoops in the afternoon; hockey at night. Northeastern travels to East Lansing to return the favor in 2016.

 

[owslachief]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Copied from the Northeastern thread:

ICYMI, Northeastern earlier today announced a hoops/hockey doubleheader with Michigan State at Matthews for Dec. 19, 2015. Hoops in the afternoon; hockey at night. Northeastern travels to East Lansing to return the favor in 2016.

Cool. It's certainly not MSG, but oh well.

(edit) Early prediction: Split

 

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

That sounds like it could be fun for anyone in the Boston area.

In other news, if you visit Chris Solari's Twitter page and scroll down some, you will see some news and pics about the rink renovations. Apparently the ribbon boards are already going in, and Anastos says a four sided video board will be placed above center ice in time for the U-18 game on 1/9. I wonder if this means the old graphics boards will finally be taken down, since it appears they broke this year and have been off since the first UMass game.

 

[owslachief]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

That sounds like it could be fun for anyone in the Boston area.

In other news, if you visit Chris Solari's Twitter page and scroll down some, you will see some news and pics about the rink renovations. Apparently the ribbon boards are already going in, and Anastos says a four sided video board will be placed above center ice in time for the U-18 game on 1/9. I wonder if this means the old graphics boards will finally be taken down, since it appears they broke this year and have been off since the first UMass game.

I'm really looking forward to those two upgrades. On the other hand, with regard to theater lighting the tumbling Spartan heads are really making me a bit wonky.

 

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Just walked through Munn. The graphics boards are indeed being stripped. Good news in that I'm pretty sure those boards are older than me and they seemed like old technology way back at my earliest memories, let alone now. The bad news is that means the ribbon board will probably just turn into advertising boards like at the football games, instead of showing relevant info like SOG or out of town scores.

I also wonder what this means for the video boards. I would assume they'll also be taken down since they're non-HD and Munn really doesn't need 6 video boards. Back in the day they used to put the banners and logos of the CCHA teams in the spot where the video boards reside, maybe they'll go back to doing that.

I'm with you on the theater lights. I don't need lights flashing in my face every break in the action or 12 logos flashing all over the ice.

 

[Split-N]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Cool. It's certainly not MSG, but oh well.
(edit) Early prediction: Split

It wouldn't surprise me to see MSU play BC, BU, or Harvard on Friday night before coming to NU on Saturday. Unlike hoops teams, hockey teams generally don't like to travel long distances for just one game and all four of the Boston teams are within a few miles of each other. No need to change hotels and no big transportation hassles.

 

[Pirateasaur]

Re: Michigan State's Eternal Optimist Thread, 2014-15 edition

Well it feels great to go into break with a win and to score 6 whole entire goals, too!

I thought we played well at times and were sloppy other times. I think Clarkson, like us, is a little better than their record. They've just been snake bitten on offense like we have. Luckily, our offense chose tonight to bust out the guns. Even though we scored 3 PP goals, I was impressed with their PK.

Get by a beatable Ferris team in e GLI and then either a less beatable Michigan team or a much less beatable Tech squad and we'll be roarin' into the B1G slate.