SpartanEdge Sports Dude

36 points. Not bad if you’re a football team but for a college basketball team, especially one expected to be in the final four hunt, it is horrendous.

On Saturday, Drew Neitzel and crew fell to a less than spectacular Iowa team 43-36, thanks to 18 turnovers and a poor shooting night of just 31 percent from the field. The 36 points was the lowest point total for the Spartans since 1952. It was just two games before that Raymar Morgan scored 31 points on his own.

Late in the embarrassing loss to Iowa, Neitzel, a pre-season All-American, drove to the basket for an uncontested lay-up that rimmed out. A moment that summed up the Spartans night. A night where nothing was going their way. Yet that missed lay-up pointed out something that had been missing.

Remember last year when Drew Neitzel single handedly carried the Spartans to an incredible upset of Wisconsin and another birth into the NCAA Tournament? Remember when every shot he took seemed to go in?

Where has that Neitzel been? The one that can put the entire team on his shoulders?

It might be because the Spartans have not needed him to be they player he was last year. Morgan is averaging 17 points per game, while Kalin Lucas and Goran Suton average just over 9 points per game. Neitzel’s year has been somewhat quiet, averaging 14 points per game and nearly five assist.

Yet they needed him in Iowa and he was not there. They’ll need him when they face Wisconsin and Indiana in the upcoming months and on into the Big Ten Tournament. If the Spartans want to reach the final four Neitzel is going to have to fight through constant double teams and rekindle the magic he had last year.

This team is young, talented, and capable of beating any team in the nation but unless Neitzel returns to form they might not reach the sweet sixteen.

Two years ago it seemed impossible. If you had said it you may have been committed to a mental institution. If you told your friends, they would have laughed; but go ahead say it now. The Detroit Tigers are going to be World Series Champions.

After a season that saw the Tigers fight to win 88 games and collapse down the stretch, Detroit has been the most active team in free agency. The Tigers added Edgar Renteria, a shortstop that hit .332 last year, and Jacque Jones, a much needed left-handed bat, to a lineup that already had a most valuable player candidate in Magglio Ordonez, and the likes of Carlos Guillen and Gary Sheffield.

Yet the Tigers weren’t done. In one of the biggest trades in Detroit Tiger history, Tiger’s General Manager Dave Dombrowski managed to get Dontrelle Willis, a 25-year-old starting pitcher, and Miguel Cabrera, a 24-year-old third baseman who, aside from Alex Rodriguez, is arguably the third baseman in the game, from the Florida Marlins.

However, Cabrera and Willis came at a steep price. In return the Tigers sent Cameron Maybin, a consensus top prospect in baseball, Andrew Miller, the Tiger’s top pitching prospect, backup catcher Mike Rabelo and three other pitchers to the Marlins.

This emptying of the Detroit farm system begs the question, did the Tigers give up too much? But the better question is how long can you wait for a championship?

Maybin and Miller are going to be stars, but not for a few years and by then much of the Tigers nucleus will be old and shells of their former selves. Players like Pudge Rodriguez, Sheffield, Placido Polanco, Guillen and even Kenny Rogers won’t have time to wait for Miller and Maybin to develop.

So with the window of opportunity closing and veterans getting older, Dombrowski pulled the trigger on the Willis and Cabrera deal giving the Tigers one of the deepest starting rotations in baseball and an offensive lineup that rivals the Yankees. Jeff Passan, a writer for Yahoo Sports, wrote about the Tiger’s move to elite status.

For those Tiger fans that suffered over the years with 100-loss seasons and poor free agent signings, those that witnessed the lowest point in the history of the organization, this trade is for you.

This trade is what the Tigers need to put them over the edge and finally give Detroit, a baseball city at heart, a World Series championship.

Enjoy it now because we know all too well what life as a Tiger fan used to be.

- Jon Ganci

The NHL All-Star Game rosters are out, and I have to say, there’s some players missing. Here’s my list of who needs to be traded.

(non-rostered players listed first)

Eastern Conference (http://www.nhl.com/allstar/2008/east_roster.html)
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins for Marian Hossa, Atlanta Thrashers – If Evgeni Malkin was on any other team, he would be on this roster…but he’s overshadowed by a guy named Crosby. He has 49 points (14th in the entire NHL), which is 10 more than Hossa. Not to mention Hossa’s -10 plus/minus, which is terrible.

Western Conference (http://www.nhl.com/allstar/2008/west_roster.html)
Pascal Leclaire, Columbus Blue Jackets for Manny Legace, St. Louis Blues – Manny Legace has had a terrific year, but Leclaire has had one better, and neither of the two other goalies on the roster can go. Leclaire has had 7 shutouts already, which is absurd for this point in the season. To have that many shutouts in a ‘new-NHL’ season is impressive enough, let alone at the halfway point of the year.

And since it’s the halfway point of the season, here are my predictions for who is going to win the hardware at the end of the season.

Hart Trophy, NHL’s MVP:
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins – In case you missed it, the Penguins are heating up and primed for a second half tear. He’s inching his way closer to the points lead again, and hey, he won it last year, remember? Not to mention the fact that the media loves him.

President’s Trophy, league’s best record:
Detroit Red Wings – Even though Ottawa just beat them, the Wings will finish with the best record. Ottawa just lost their top scorer in Dany Heatley for 4 to 6 weeks, and Detroit’s got the better schedule. I’d be horrified to have to play in the East night after night.

Calder Trophy, rookie of the year:
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks – Hands down, he’s already won it. The kid is good, and his only competition is his own teammate Jonathan Toews, who’s hurt.

Vezina Trophy, goaltender of the year:
Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks – He may not end with the best numbers of the top goalies in the league, but he’s best at making something out of nothing with a horrible team in front of him. The fact that he stays among the league leaders with a weak defense in front of him speaks volumes of his skills in the crease.

- Michael Caples

This winter break, I spent the majority of my precious time balled up on a couch coughing and sneezing. Pretty big bummer, I know. However, I figured I had one thing to keep me company – the NCAA football bowl games. They did a great job for the first couple weeks…and then FOX came along.

Congratulations FOX, you offered the BCS more money than ABC/ESPN to cover the biggest college football games of the year. Apparently funding got low by the time the games rolled around, because you showed me enough commercials to make the Super Bowl jealous.

The facts tell me that I was not alone; the BCS National Championship game took a 17% ratings hit from last year. Want to know why? People got so sick of seeing Tostitos and Capital One commercials that by the time the game started, they turned their TV to something as far away from FOX as they could. I’m telling you, if I heard “what’s in your wallet?” one more time during the bowl season, I would throw my wallet through my television set so the annoying kid asking the question would get his answer.

The excessive amount of commercials stretched the games out long enough for them to be moved from the gridiron to the monopoly board. Games were starting at 8 p.m. and lasting into the next morning, which is absurd for any sporting event. And the commentary…ohhh boy, don’t even get me started on the commentary. It sounded to me like FOX brought in some interns from a community college in New Mexico to cover the games.

The NCAA should require networks to broadcast games throughout the season if they wish to cover the bowl games. ABC and ESPN do a terrific job covering college football when you truly think about it. I actually missed Brad Nessler calling the games when I was forced into watching on FOX. ABC should be rewarded with the bowl games, even if it’s for a lesser price tag. They help the NCAA grow every year by covering games every Saturday, and would do a far better job with the BCS bowls.

Take that, FOX.

- Michael Caples

Originally written on November 25
As the end of the most baffling college football season in history comes to an end, it’s about time for the authorities to flush the BCS down the toilet.

Welcome to the season from hell, at least if you are a card-carrying member of the BCS computer geek squad (Dec. 11 updated link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=3138383&sportCat=ncf). People can study the numbers from every snap played in the NCAA this season, and still not know who should be playing in the Allstate BCS National Championship come January. The sad part is that they are still going to, and the nation’s sports fans will sit down in front of their HD TV’s with enough questions to last them until the 2030 season. ‘Who’s better’ will forever be a question in sports, and the only way to answer it is to let the teams prove it on the field.

As it stands right now, Hawaii is the only undefeated team in the nation worth mentioning. Yet they sit at a depressing 12th in the BCS rankings, behind teams that have all lost a game (read all about it: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3127118). At the BCS dance party, Hawaii will be sitting in the corner, crying, because nobody likes them…due to their weak conference and weak schedule. But why should an undefeated team not have a chance at a national title, based off their schedule? Unfair punishment for a team that has done nothing wrong. This isn’t a first occurrence either. Actually, when I lean back in my chair and think for a second, I can’t even think of a season where there hasn’t been a team that had a legitimate reason for being angry for not getting their shot for glory (Boise State, Florida, Utah, the list goes on and on).
The solution to the problem is pretty simple; in fact, the NCAA already has it in place for every other sport they sanction. Playoffs, people - playoffs. Head-to-head matches between the sport’s elite, in a true ‘put up or shut up’ scenario, will keep people from crying foul year after year.

My solution is plain and simple. All conference champions get a spot in the playoffs, along with one at-large bid, in case Notre Dame learns how to play football or there is a second place team in a conference that the pollsters are in love with. The at-large bid will cause some controversy, but hey, if you didn’t win your conference, then shut up, you shouldn’t have a chance anyways. Let the people getting paid to do this figure out the playoff structure, there’s too many choices for me.

Bowl games can be still exist, but some of them can serve multiple purposes. The BCS bowl games can be the first round of the playoffs, with the dates moved up. Teams that don’t get into the playoffs still have their bowl games to make lots of money off of.
And let’s face it, the new playoff games would draw crowds unheard of before; I know that I would be glued to a television set for days on end.

If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. Only playoffs will settle the BCS B.S.

- Michael Caples

In case you missed it, the Philadelphia Flyers have reclaimed their throne as the dirtiest team in the NHL. The ‘Broad Street Bullies” are back, and they are hurting the game that’s already in a declining state. Five Flyers have been suspended for on-ice altercations this year, for an added total of 52 games (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3139926). Steve Downie started it all in the pre-season (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?page=brophy1205), and the Flyers haven’t stopped since. Boston’s star Patrice Bergeron, the end result of one of the Flyers’ gruesome acts, is still out of the line-up; Bergeron is one of the stars who is supposed to benefit from the rule changes and help draw new fans to the game. Well, Bergeron can’t attract new fans to his team and his sport if he’s sitting on the sidelines, and that’s why the NHL needs to step in. Commissioner Gary Bettman’s ‘stern warning’ to the Flyers organization was yet another pathetic move by a weak leader whose losing his league. Five suspensions in the first quarter of the season? That’s grounds for firm actions by a commissioner, not a slap on the wrist. If it was a different team in the league, maybe the punishment would be OK. But it’s clear to me that after a losing season last year (they finished dead last), the Flyers have embraced their heritage, and found a solution to their problems. And Bettman’s ‘warning’ seems to have missed its target; Philly had 3 fighting majors and 3 game misconducts in their last game against the Penguins. Talk about being on good behavior, eh? The Flyers’ actions have become a disgrace to the game, and its time that it stopped, before any other players are hurt by the ‘bullies’. - Michael Caples

Even before the final seconds had ticked off the clock, the celebration began. Confetti rained down from the heavens of the Scottrade Center and the players jumped into each others arms. On the bench head coach Rick Comley embraced his assistant coaches.

Take a look Michigan State University at your 2007 NCAA Championship Hockey Team.

Justin Abdelkader’s goal with 18.3 seconds left helped complete the Spartans improbable run in the NCAA tournament with a 3-1 over Boston College to secure the third hockey championship in school history.

For much of the game, the Spartans played the same type of game that has won them games all season: a solid defensive effort backed by a few timely goals. Despite the speed of Boston College, MSU was very effective on the penalty kill and was given numerous chances on the power-play, but failed to convert any of them. In contrast to many games this season, the Green and White played a bit more aggressively on offense in the opening period, but couldn’t manage to put a puck past B.C. goalie Cory Schneider.

After falling behind 1-0 in the second period, Tim Kennedy put the Green and White on the board at 9:53 of the third. Fittingly, Abdelkader assisted on the goal and Kennedy later set up Abdelkader’s game-winner. Abdelkader was given MVP honors after the game.

Chris Mueller added an empty net goal with 1.7 seconds left to play, further cementing the title for the Spartans.

Goaltender Jeff Lerg, who seemed to play better as the stakes got higher in the tournament, made 26 saves for the win and once again came up with several crucial saves to keep the Spartans in the game including a stop of B.C.’s Peter Boyle early in the third period. Boyle scored the lone goal for the Eagles early in the second when Brock Bradford’s shot from the left circle hit Boyle and bounced past Lerg’s glove.

The win also gives head coach Rick Comley his second national championship. Comley’s first championship came in 1991 while he was head coach at Northern Michigan.

Stayed tuned for an end of the season analysis as well as my top-ten moments of the Spartans season.

- James Andersen

Forget the basketball teams. Forget the football team. This is the hockey team’s time to shine

When thinking about Michigan State sports teams, one usually doesn’t automatically think of the hockey team. After all, how could the hockey team possibly outshine people like Tom Izzo, Drew Neitzel, Drew Stanton, or even Alyssa DeHaan, the 6-9 freshman of the Women’s Basketball team, and former Michigan Miss Basketball?

Fans continually manage to fill the seats of the Breslin Center and Spartan Stadium while the stands of Munn Ice Arena are usually left with glaring gaps.

Despite playing, well, third fiddle to basketball and football, the hockey team has now become the best team going on campus. While the football team works out with new coach Mark Dantonio, and the basketball teams failed to make it to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament, the hockey team has found itself in the Frozen Four of the NCAA tournament (the hockey equivalent of the Final Four). Granted the hockey tournament only has 16 teams, but the Spartans have certainly had to fight to get to this point.

Last weekend the Spartans were fighting for anything they could get. After being routed by Michigan and then having to pull out a win against Lake Superior State in overtime, the Green and White looked like a lock for the tournament, but it was questionable how far they could go. I, for one, didn’t have them going beyond the round of eight, owing to the fact that they would have to play Notre Dame, who was riding the coattails of their goaltender David Brown, a Hobey Baker candidate.

But last weekend the Spartans seemed to find new life. Friday night against a Boston University team that boasts John Curry, another Hobey Baker finalist, the Spartans put on an offensive show, beating the Terriers 5-1. The next night, the Spartans got the better of the Fighting Irish, winning 2-1 and advancing to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2001. In three games this year, the Spartans beat the Irish twice. MSU will face Maine in a rematch of the NCAA quarter final from last year, where Maine won 5-4.

After ending 2006 with a Great Lakes Invitational title and making an initially impressive second half run, the Spartans faltered down the stretch, losing games to seemingly easy opponents in the likes of Western Michigan, Bowling Green, and Ferris State. Now it seems the Spartans have once again found the necessary spark to make a run when it really counts. Much like he his performance at the GLI, goaltender Jeff Lerg showed the nation once again that when he’s hot, he is one of the most dominating goaltenders in the nation. After stopping 46 of 48 shots and earning Midwest Regional MVP honors, he outshined two of the premier goalies in the nation while strongly making a case for his own name to be entered among the Hobey Baker candidates for next year.

In addition to Lerg, several Spartans have stepped up to provide the offense the Spartans have lacked at times during the season. Four Spartans: Jim McKenzie, Tim Crowder, Tim Kennedy, and Chris Mueller have 26 points between them this postseason. Add in the recent streak of goals by Daniel Vukovic, including two in the win over Lake State, and the Spartans appear to be almost unbeatable. Perhaps this will be the year that head coach Rick Comley returns to being at the top of the college hockey world. His NCAA tournament record at MSU has been impressive, as the Spartans have only failed to make the tournament once during his tenure, but he hasn’t yet been able to guide MSU to the Frozen Four, until now. Comley certainly knows the feeling of competing for an NCAA title; he won one with Northern Michigan in 1991.

The Spartans are now the lone representatives of the CCHA. While the Spartans are certainty riding a wave of momentum going in to the match-up against Maine, the road to the NCAA title is going to be a hard one. If the Spartans win, they’ll have to play either North Dakota or Boston College. With the way the Fighting Sioux took out Michigan and then defeated Minnesota, the top seed in the tournament, and the Eagles’ defeat of Miami (Oh.), either matchup would be an incredibly tough game for the Green and White, but who knows, haven’t they already proved us wrong?

- James Andersen

Detroit- Michigan State may have gotten the GLI title, but the Michigan Wolverines got the last hurrah, and backed the Spartans into a corner as they try to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.

In front of a U-M dominated crowd, the Wolverines earned the final spot in the CCHA final with a 5-2 victory over the Spartans on Friday night. Michigan gained the advantage in the season series between the two teams 3-2-1; the two teams tied 3-3 at Joe Louis Arena on February Feb. 10.

Using a three goal scoring rush in the second to take the Spartans out of the game, Michigan broke the scoreless tie just 3:07 into the second when Chris Summers picked up the puck off a deflected pass and scored over Jeff Lerg’s shoulder.

Just 1:05 later, Michigan took a 2-0 lead, when Kevin Porter one timed a pass from T.J Hensick past Lerg.

The heavy scoring seemed to take the fight out of the Spartans who came out playing solid defense to back up Lerg. However for the first eight minutes of the second, the Spartans didn’t have a shot on goal, while the Wolverines created several chances in front of the net.

MSU got a lot of early scoring chances but Michigan displayed a great defensive effort to wear down the Spartans attack

Jay Sprague appeared to give the Spartans an early lead just 4: 14 into the first period, when he shot the puck past Billy Sauer’s left shoulder, but replay showed that the puck bounced off the left goal post.

Justin Abdelkader appeared to have a breakaway goal for MSU as he was pushed from behind by Jack Johnson, but the goal was disallowed because the net came off as the puck appeared to go in the net. Abdelkader was awarded a penalty shot and was stopped by Sauer. “I thought we played, for the most part, pretty good in the first period but in the second and third period we didn’t play smart with the puck and didn’t do what we wanted to do,” Abdelkader said.

Porter scored again at 15:47 of the second, displaying a great individual effort as he wrapped around an MSU defender and backhanded the puck into the net for the goal.

Jim McKenzie finally put the Spartans on the board with 6:23 left in the third, firing a shot from the left circle past Sauer.

“We got that first goal and even at 3-1, I thought, ‘it’s still a hockey game’ and we believed that any shot we could get on net could go in,” MSU head coach Rick Comley said.

The optimism was short-lived as though Michigan scored less than a minute later as Andrew Cogliano picked off the puck from Mike Ratchuk and dropped it back to Chad Kolarik who scored.

Tim Kennedy found the puck on his stick in the middle of a pile and fired a wrist shot past Sauer at 16:14 for MSU’s second goal, but the Wolverines finished the game with an empty net goal to notch the victory.

While the Spartans were effective on the penalty kill, stopping all six Michigan power-plays, they were 0-5 on the power-play themselves. The power-play has been a problem area for the Spartans all season, and while there have been stretches where they have been effective, generally they have had problems.

In a matchup of two of the CCHA’s premier goaltenders, Sauer got the better of Lerg, who was last year’s tournament MVP. Sauer made 18 saves for the win and made several dominating saves while Lerg played well in stretches but didn’t appear to be as sharp as usual.

With the loss, the Spartans are headed to the consolation game against Lake Superior State who lost to Notre Dame. The Green and White swept the Lakers in a two game series in January. The Spartans will need to win in order to ensure a chance at making the 16-team NCAA tournament.

“This is disappointing, but our season isn’t over. If we win tomorrow then we’ll be in the national tournament for sure so it’s a very big game for us tomorrow,” Comley said

- James Andersen

Detroit-On the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, Notre Dame was certainly preparing for a potential celebration on their national holiday.

The top-seeded Fighting Irish beat eighth-ranked Lake Superior State 3-0 in the opening game of the CCHA tournament on Friday.

Backed by a stellar effort from senior goaltender David Brown and tough defense, Notre Dame shut down the Lakers’ offensive attack while mounting enough offense of their own to gain the victory. Brown, who is a finalist for the Hobey Baker award and was recently named CCHA player of the year, made 17 saves for the win and his sixth shutout of the season.

Wes O’ Neill opened the scoring for the Fighting Irish with a power-play goal at 9:46 of the first period when he fired from the left circle to put the puck past LSSU goaltender Jeff Jakaitis. The goal was O’Neill’s third of the playoffs.

“I think it is just about shooting the puck and putting it on the other team’s (net). (Coach Jeff) Jackson has just been telling me to shoot, shoot, shoot, and recently that’s what I’ve done,” O’ Neill said after the game.

Brock Sheahan gave the fighting Irish a 2-0 lead early in the second period, and the Irish added an empty net goal in the third.

The lack of Lakers offense spoiled an otherwise decent game for Jakaitis, who made 26 saves including one that would have been a sure Notre Dame goal in the closing minutes of the first, sprawling outward and poking away the puck with his stick.

The loss puts the Lakers in tomorrow’s consolation game, with the chance to score an upset over Michigan or Michigan State. “I’m not concerned about that at all,” Jakaitis said of the potential for being a spoiler.

The win puts the Irish in the championship game against the MSU-U of M winner tomorrow with the victor getting an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

- James Andersen