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Spartan Hockey 2018-2019 - Preparing for Glory

Spartanforlife4 said:
Well, we played a good first ten minutes, and a decent final ten, and that's pretty much it from last night. About the only thing on the ice to talk about is the Nappier trip/slash/clothesline/whatever you want to call it that somehow turned into a penalty on us. Cole mentioned there's no way anyone saw the play or they couldn't have possibly called it that way, and I gotta agree with that.

Off the ice, can't say I was overly impressed with the OSU visitors section. Strange, because I don't remember there being issues Friday, let alone all the other years of B1G and CCHA play, but after their first goal last night it was a constant barrage of taunts, and not very good ones at that (telling everyone to warm up the bus and go home doesn't really work when we're the home team).
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There were 2 or 3 in that group that made poor guests and 1 in particular was an absolute ********. I am pretty sure that group was not there Friday night. There was no way anyone within 3 sections either direction wouldn’t have noticed.

The Nappier thing was also frustrating. OSU was on a 5 min power play and was up by 4 goals so he decides to pull that stunt? And gets rewarded for it? What a joke.

As for the game, the first period felt like the most complete of the weekend. No score but the chaos and sloppiness that was rampant the night before was gone. Then in the 2nd period OSU just killed us. The third was harder
to peg because it just turned into a gongshow.

Our goaltending, though. Oof. I feel like for a long time you could rely on our goalies to consistently carry us. DeRidder has given us a few big games but the well of great Spartan goalies seems to have dried up for the time being.
 
Re: Spartan Hockey 2018-2019 - Preparing for Glory

Do I sense another forward recruited/committed in the near future? Lebster jumped ship in the Fall, and Matthew Miller has now changed his commitment to UNO.
 
owslachief said:
Do I sense another forward recruited/committed in the near future? Lebster jumped ship in the Fall, and Matthew Miller has now changed his commitment to UNO.
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There might be a couple. The scuttlebutt on the RCMB is that Afanasyev will be jumping ship to the OHL shortly. That would be...a blow, to say the least. So, hopefully it’s just nonsense or he changes his mind.
 
Re: Spartan Hockey 2018-2019 - Preparing for Glory

Pirateasaur said:
There might be a couple. The scuttlebutt on the RCMB is that Afanasyev will be jumping ship to the OHL shortly. That would be...a blow, to say the least. So, hopefully it’s just nonsense or he changes his mind.
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Would be a shame. We caught his act in Muskegon a couple weekends ago. Men among boys.
 
Re: Spartan Hockey 2018-2019 - Preparing for Glory

Split in Happy Valley which is always an acceptable result. Looks like we played very well last night and the b-ball team was there for support.

Defense and goaltending has struggled the last several weeks. Teams are routinely putting up 4 or more goals and a ton of shots. I think we have this week offf so there’s plenty to work on.

Correction: I was looking at friday’s games and saw we weren’t playing so assumed we were off this week. Our games are Saturday and Sunday.
 
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Re: Spartan Hockey 2018-2019 - Preparing for Glory

Zachary Filak is a 6'0 14-year-old forward playing in the Oakland Jr. Grizzlies program. He has committed to Michigan State for 2023-24.
 
Re: Spartan Hockey 2018-2019 - Preparing for Glory

50 minutes of good hockey last night, then we almost pulled an Ohio State.

Need to stay out of the box tonight. Can't afford to give them six PPs again and expect good things to happen.
 
Spartanforlife4 said:
50 minutes of good hockey last night, then we almost pulled an Ohio State.

Need to stay out of the box tonight. Can't afford to give them six PPs again and expect good things to happen.
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I thought we controlled play even strength most of the game. All of those penalties allowed Minny to keep pressure on us offensively. With that being said, the PK did an outstanding job blocking shots.

All around a very solid performance. The KHL line turned in another gem of a game. Boy would it be great if they stuck around for another year.
 
Re: Spartan Hockey 2018-2019 - Preparing for Glory

Oh, also, with the addition of the penalty kill Window World announcements, a threshold in my mind was crossed and I have become hyper aware of the sheer magnitude of advertisements we are subjected to at sporting events. There is almost nothing that is without a sponsor or features an ad. I know that it brings much needed money into the program but it has become pretty excruciating.

To top it all off, now when our team stands at center ice for the stick salute they have to wait there a good 30 seconds so the promotions and ads can be read before we can resume the post game.
 
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Hockeybuckeye said:
I guess I'll take that as a compliment. LOL!
Congrats on the sweep of Minnesota. First sweep of them since 1976 they said!
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Ha wellll a bit misleading since most of that time the two teams were not playing weekend series’ with each other but a fun stat nonetheless.

A telling stat is that MSU has not swept a B1G team since the 2015-16 season and it was that horrible Wisconsin team. I was listening to the post game radio show and to hear Scott Moore say “sweep for the Spartans” actually took me by surprise.
 
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Re: Spartan Hockey 2018-2019 - Preparing for Glory

As for the games, I thought we played pretty well all weekend and had the edge at even strength for probably 5 of 6 periods. We’ve seen this team building off previous years all season and it not showing up in the W column so it’s good the team was finally rewarded with a complete weekend.

Probably one of the KHL line’s more impactful weekends. The game changes when they step out onto the ice. Also, our D have been doing a wonderful job offensively. Osburn especially seems to be taking advantage of his remaining time here and relishing it.
 
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Pirateasaur said:
Oh, also, with the addition of the penalty kill Window World announcements, a threshold in my mind was crossed and I have become hyper aware of the sheer magnitude of advertisements we are subjected to at sporting events. There is almost nothing that is without a sponsor or features an ad. I know that it brings much needed money into the program but it has become pretty excruciating.

To top it all off, now when our team stands at center ice for the stick salute they have to wait there a good 30 seconds so the promotions and ads can be read before we can resume the post game.
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I had the same reaction. It’s a weird sponsorship to begin with because they’re sponsoring the penalty kill, but we have to screw up in the first place. It’s like sponsoring double plays, but only if the first guy got on because of a walk.
 
Pirateasaur said:
As for the games, I thought we played pretty well all weekend and had the edge at even strength for probably 5 of 6 periods. We’ve seen this team building off previous years all season and it not showing up in the W column so it’s good the team was finally rewarded with a complete weekend.

Probably one of the KHL line’s more impactful weekends. The game changes when they step out onto the ice. Also, our D have been doing a wonderful job offensively. Osburn especially seems to be taking advantage of his remaining time here and relishing it.
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I’d like to give some praise to Lethemon as well. Gave up 6, but I can’t recall any giant rebounds like what has plagued him this season. Plus he had the first goalie assist in a few seasons.
 
Re: Spartan Hockey 2018-2019 - Preparing for Glory

Spartanforlife4 said:
I’d like to give some praise to Lethemon as well. Gave up 6, but I can’t recall any giant rebounds like what has plagued him this season. Plus he had the first goalie assist in a few seasons.
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I thought Lethemon should have received at least one star. Esp. on Saturday - two of those goals were in no way his fault. Conversely, the D really got involved offensively this weekend and that led not only to 10 goals but a lot more shots. Both Kriegers skated well too.
 
owslachief said:
I thought Lethemon should have received at least one star. Esp. on Saturday - two of those goals were in no way his fault. Conversely, the D really got involved offensively this weekend and that led not only to 10 goals but a lot more shots. Both Kriegers skated well too.
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The K twins are IMO the most improved so far this year. They looked pretty bad back in October.
 
wsummers said:
The K twins are IMO the most improved so far this year. They looked pretty bad back in October.
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They did come in younger than we typically see for our first year players. But yes, they were turnover machines at the beginning of the year.

Still keeping an eye on Afanasyev. Wondering who we bring in next season assuming our commits stick around. Afanasyev, Jagger? Maybe Nodler?
 
Re: Spartan Hockey 2018-2019 - Preparing for Glory

Pirateasaur said:
They did come in younger than we typically see for our first year players. But yes, they were turnover machines at the beginning of the year.

Still keeping an eye on Afanasyev. Wondering who we bring in next season assuming our commits stick around. Afanasyev, Jagger? Maybe Nodler?
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The 3 recruits you reference - Afanasyev, (Jagger) Joshua, and Nodler - are the likeliest based on being the higher performing F recruits that MSU has in the USHL. The other Fs have barely double-digit points with approx. 30 games under their belts. I'm guessing the reason Cole has delayed announcing his incoming class is that he's 1) trying to get commitments from Afanasysev and Nodler to arrive on campus earlier than planned; and 2) working to improve upon the F pool -- wouldn't it be great to see a flip in our favor in the near future?
 
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