Sports: All-around Carter Sparks Spartan Skaters

He may be the finest goal scorer in the nation, but scoring goals is not all he does. No, senior center Anson Carter brings more to the Michigan State University hockey team than just lighting the lamp. He checks. He breaks up passes. He kills penalties. He wins faceoffs. He sets up teammates to score. About the only thing he doesn't do is resurface the ice after games, though Spartan fans routinely watch him mopping it up with opponents.

'Believe me, this guy (Carter) is one heck of a player, in terms of what he can do for us without scoring goals,' explains head coach Ron Mason, college hockey's all-time winningest mentor. 'You can't say that about a lot of players.'

It started in September. The team captain on a squad that features nine freshmen, Carter took charge of the team in pre-season captains' practices, urging and admonishing, demonstrating and dazzling, all the while solidifying rookies and veterans into a unit that moved into first place in the CCHA after completing a three-step sweep at Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 6 and had remained there ever since, taking sole possession of the conference penthouse after two wins at Illinois-at- Chicago on Jan. 26-27.

Perhaps the UAF series best showcased Carter's all-around ability, as Mason relates: 'He (Carter) killed off penalties for us two and three minutes at a time while he was on the ice--intercepting passes, playing in a defensive role, and doing the little things that only he can do like buying time for himself, and winning faceoffs for us. He ended up with (a team-high) four points on the weekend, but that wasn't even close to what he did for our team.'

But make no mistake--though MSU has spread out its scoring more this season, with Carter's numbers perhaps not quite as high, he is still one of the most dangerous weapons in the college game, as evidenced by his four-goal, five-point performance at UIC that netted him CCHA Offensive Player of the Week accolades for the second time this season. Included in that display were three power-play goals and both game-winning goals, as well as his seventh career hat trick and his 100th career goal in Green and White.

Not that the Spartans haven't been sparked by other stars this season. Sophomore goaltender Chad Alban took over the No. 1 spot from the departed Mike Buzak this fall and has since racked up 20 wins, including three shutouts. Freshman defenseman Chris Bogas has notched 18 assists and numerous hard hits and a team-high +21 plus-minus ranking, while Carter linemates Mike Watt and Mike York had totalled 29 and 28 points, respectively. Junior center Steve Ferranti was tied for the national lead with six game-winning goals, while his 'Crash Line' mates Tony Tuzzolino and Taylor Clarke had contributed their usual stellar two-way effort.

Yet more than anyone, Carter holds the club together, both on and off the ice. He's the center of attention wherever the Spartans go, from opponents and fans alike; but for all his puckhandling prowess, he's just one of the boys, treated like any other member of the team, and as a fine a role model as anyone could ask for. 'When we had 'Skate with the Spartans', he stayed after for an hour signing all the kids' autographs,' recalls Mason.

Now in his 17th season at Munn Arena and 30th in the college ranks, Mason sums up his superstar best: 'If there's a better all-around hockey player in the country, I'd like to see him. He (Anson) takes pride in what he does, on the defensive side of the puck; and believe me, there's a lot of guys out there scoring a lot of points that you can't put on the ice in certain situations, because you're afraid they're going to get scored upon. Anson does just the opposite.'

Carter shares the same sentiments. 'I take a lot of pride in my defensive work. I think I've come into my own this year to play defensively, because defense wins games.'

MSU, on a seven-game winning streak in mid-season, hopes to keep on winning through big games with conference rivals Western Michigan, Lake Superior, and Michigan, right up through the NCAA West Regional in East Lansing on March 23-24, and into the NCAA Championships in Cincinnati the following weekend.