Sports: Spartan Hockey Gearing Up for 'Second Season'

With the regular season winding down, the Michigan State hockey Spartans are gearing up for the 'second season.' The Spartans entered the month of February in a battle for second place in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and a home-ice berth in the first round of the CCHA playoffs. Ron Mason and his troops hope that, for the 11th time in the last 13 years, the Spartans will earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

As the college hockey regular season entered the homestretch, the Spartans were second in the 11-team conference behind arch-rival Michigan. The Spartans became the first conference team to beat the Wolverines, skating out of Ann Arbor's Yost Ice Arena with a 6-3 victory. MSU ended Michigan's conference unbeaten streak at 24 games, three short of the CCHA record, set by the 1989-90 edition of the Spartans. Later, MSU beat U-M again before 18,000 fans at Joe Louis Arena.

Junior Steve Guolla and sophomore Anson Carter provided the majority of the scoring during the first half of the season, but other members of the Green and White began to light the lamp as the season wore on. Rem Murray, who had just three goals in his first 17 contests, scored at least one goal in each of the first six games after the holiday break. Kelly Harper had a 'natural' hat trick in the Spartans' win at Kent on Jan. 8, scoring three goals (including the game-winner) in a five-minute span. Steve Suk picked up his share of goals and a large number of assists as well during the first two-thirds of the season. Guolla, Murray, Carter, Suk and Harper were the top five scorers heading into the final month of the regular season.

As a team, the Spartans averaged just 3.5 goals per game through December, but MSU scored a total of 41 goals in seven games in January (5.86 goals per game).

The Green and White posted a 6-1 record in the first month of 1994. 'The puck's going in for us now, which is something I couldn't say earlier in the season,' said Mason. 'It's something you can't predict. We are getting scoring from different people, which is really a key. You need to keep the pressure off of your best people.

The Spartan newcomers, comprised of forwards Steve Ferranti, Tony Tuzzolino, Josh Wiegand and Brian Crane along with blueliner Chris Slater, began to make their presence felt after the holidays. Ferranti posted a solid performance at the Great Lakes Invitational to help the Spartans to a second-place finish in that tournament. Tuzzolino scored a key breakaway goal in the win at Michigan, and added another marker the following week at Bowling Green. Wiegand and Crane were solid in spots, and Slater sparkled after returning from an injury.

The Mattawan native scored his first goal as a Spartan in MSU's 8-1 win at Bowling Green on Jan. 28, and added a pair of assists in a win at Ohio State the next night. Defensively, junior Mike Buzak must now be considered one of the top goaltenders in college hockey. Buzak twice was named CCHA Defensive Player of the Week and posted the first two shutouts of his career during the first half of the campaign. The CCHA record for shutouts in a season (league games only) is held by former Spartan Jason Muzzatti. Buzak led the CCHA in minutes played, saves and saves percentage, and was second in victories. The Spartans, behind Buzak and the defensive corps of Nicolas Perreault, Slater, Bart Turner, Bart Vanstaalduinen, Chris Smith and Chris Sullivan, surrendered an average of just 2.81 goals per contest.

On January 15, the Spartans began a tough stretch, with seven of the next 10 games against teams ranked in the CCHA's top four. MSU won four of the first five games in that stretch to move toward solidifying a home-ice berth for the conference playoffs. The Green and White won seven of the first nine games after the Christmas break. 'We've got ourselves in pretty good shape right now,' said Mason. 'These are the 'dog days' of the season. The players have been playing for a while, the season's been going on for a long time, and the playoffs are still a ways off. It's important for us to continue to play well.'

Mason, who has achieved nearly every possible milestone, added one more feather to his cap on Jan. 21 at Michigan. The Spartans' win at Ann Arbor was Mason's 400th at MSU, making him just the eighth coach to win 400 games at one school. Mason's 691 overall wins at that time placed him more than 200 victories ahead of the next active coach.

Mason's staff includes assistant coaches Tom Newton, in his fourth year, and David McAuliffe, in his second year, along with video coordinator Taran Singleton. Mason and his assistants have been working to ensure the Spartans' success in future years in addition to this year.

The Green and White have procured arguably the best class of incoming recruits, signing six recruits to national letters of intent for the 1994-95 academic year. The recruits include goaltender Chad Alban and forward Richard Keyes (both of the Kalamazoo Jr. K-Wings), defensemen Kevin Harper (Kelly's brother -- Wexford Raiders) and Jon Gaskins (Debuque Fighting Saints), and forwards Michael Watt (Stratford Cullitons) and Sean Berens (Debuque).

An extra incentive for the Spartans to reach the national tournament is a chance to play at Munn Arena in the national tournament. The West Regional of the NCAA Tournament will be held at Munn on Saturday-Sunday, March 26-27.

HOCKEY ALUMNI

Incredibly, MSU's hockey program boasts 31 alumni in the professional ranks as of December 1993. Among the 14 players in the National Hockey League are the three Miller brothers, Kelly (Washington), Kevin (St. Louis) and Kip (San Jose) and such former Spartan names as Rod Brind'Amour, Mike Donnelly, Joe Murphy, Craig Simpson and Brian Smolinski.

Apart from being the winningest coach in college history, Ron Mason may also be the most successful producer of hockey talent in the country.