Sports: The Ice Man Comleyeth
Can Rick Comley coach? Better believe it, as the ice hockey program enjoys its surge into national prominence.
An old sports clichéd holds that it’s tough to replace a legendary coach. Rick Comley, MSU’s fourth-year hockey coach, found out first hand after he replaced Ron Mason, the winningest coach in college hockey. But it now seems clear that he has well negotiated the transition, and that the MSU program is now Comley’s program. And, the program seems to be in good shape.
Things did not look so rosy early on. After three seasons without any titles, MSU got off to a slow start this season. With many key players sidelined early in the season with injuries and various illnesses, MSU at one stretch went winless in eight games. But as players got healthy and returned to the line up, the team began to gel under Comley’s system. MSU put together six wins in a row in January and went undefeated in the whole month of February. The Spartans lost only three times in its last 21 games and were propelled by the strong finish to a No. 1 seeding in the NCAA tournament.
Enroute the Spartans won a CCHA Tournament Championship, their first since 2001. Ironically, the championship is now called the Mason Cup after Ron Mason, whom Comley replaced. And for those keeping track, MSU went undefeated against archrival Michigan. MSU’s 2-0-2 record against the Wolverines included a 4-1 pounding in the CCHA semifinals at Joe Louis Arena.
It’s hard to find anyone who now doubts Comley’s ability to rebuild MSU into the national power it was under predecessor Mason.
“I can look anyone in the eye right now and say this is a pretty darn good product,” Comley told the Lansing State Journal. “Next year’s team will have the ability to compete nationally and, if everything goes well, play in the Frozen Four. This is where we want the program to be.”
Helping fuel the team’s success was the leadership provided by seniors like ironman Corey Potter, defenseman Jared Nightingale and forward David Booth, the phenomenal play of underclassmen stalwarts like junior MVP Drew Miller and sophomores Chris Mueller, Jim McKenzie and Bryan Lerg, the incredible contributions by freshman phenoms like Tim Crowder, Tim Kennedy and Justin Abdelkader, and the emergence of freshman goalie Jeff Lerg, who impressed fans with his ability to make key save after key save.
Barring some possible early departures to the NHL, the team should have enough firepower next year to be a preseason Top 10 pick.
“I think we’re going to have real balance,” Comley notes. “We have good seniors, juniors and sophomores and we’re going to have good freshmen. We have some unproven players on defense, but I think that will take care of itself. I like our style of play.
“I really like this team. I love their personality, how they compete, and how they took control and created their own identity. I think that next year’s team will be very similar.”
On offense, MSU returns Miller along with such players as Lerg, Mueller and McKenzie. MSU need to find some defenders to play alongside Ethan Graham and Tyler Howells. Candidates include incoming freshmen Michael Ratchuk and Ryan Turek. Sums up Comley, “Now we have to drive ourselves even harder because we know we’re good enough to be there.”