Spartans boast style similar to UMaine

Michigan State coach Rick Comley said his team’s match-up with Maine in their Frozen Four semifinal next Thursday at 4 in St. Louis will be like “looking in a mirror.

“There are a lot of similarities, style-wise,” said Comley. “We’re very much a controlled team.”

Michigan State finished fourth in the CCHA while Maine finished fifth. Both were third seeds in their respective regionals: Maine in the East Regional and Michigan State in the Midwest.

The Spartans did not have anyone on the All-CCHA teams (first, second or honorable mention) while Maine had three but just one first team selection in senior center Michel Leveille. Left wing Josh Soares and defenseman Mike Lundin were second team picks and right wing Teddy Purcell was the Rookie of the Year.

The teams met in the NCAA quarterfinals last year with Maine triumphing 5-4. MSU has 14 players back off that team while Maine has 13.

“We lost a lot of good kids. I’m a little bit surprised that we’re going where we’re going,” said Comley, who formerly coached at Northern Michigan.

The 24-13-3 Spartans, like the Bears, have had their ups and downs.

Maine got off to an 8-0-1 start but MSU was 6-7-1 after 14 games.

The Spartans won 10 of 11 during one stretch; lost three in a row in February but finished the season with six wins in their last eight games including a 5-1 victory over Boston University and a 2-1 triumph over Notre Dame in the Midwest Regional.

“We have struggled at times to put the puck in the net,” said Comley whose Spartans have been held to two goals or less 14 times.

Michigan State has six players who have scored at least 11 goals and they play on their top two lines.

“But our top scorer [Tim Kennedy] has 40 points. He would be the fifth leading scorer on Michigan’s team,” said Comley. “We have five or six guys who have put up decent numbers and a lot of pluggers.”

Kennedy, who has 17 goals, including a team-high nine on the power play, and 23 assists, is the left wing on a line with center Justin Abdelkader (14 & 16) and right wing Tim Crowder (14 & 11). They’re all sophomores.

Leading goal scorer Bryan Lerg (23 & 13) is the left wing on an all-junior line with Chris Mueller (14 & 15) and Jim McKenzie (11 & 17).

Sophomore center Nick Sucharski (8 & 15) headlines the third line with RW Jay Sprague (3 & 8) and LW Matt Schepke (3 & 1) while the fourth line has Zak McClellan (0 & 2) between LW Chris Lawrence (1 & 6) and RW Mike Ratchuk (4 & 8).

Comley said his veteran defense corps “isn’t glamorous” but they play well as a unit.

He moved Tyler Howells (4 & 21) back to defense from left wing late in the year “to help our puck movement like [Maine defenseman Bret] Tyler does. There are a lot of similarities between them.”

Howells is one of three seniors on defense along with Ethan Graham (1 & 12) and Chris Snavely (1 & 9). Juniors Daniel Vukovic (7 & 4) and Jeff Dunne (1 & 10) have also had productive years along with sophomore Brandon Gentile (0 & 4).

Five-foot-six sophomore Jeff Lerg, Bryan’s cousin, has played 40 games between the pipes and has a 24-13-3 record, a 2.46 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.

“Jeff has had a very good year,” said Comley.

MSU is 16th in the country in scoring (3.25 goals per game) and tied for 13th in goals against (2.48). Their penalty-killing percentage is eighth best (87 percent) and their power play is tied for 16th (19.1 percent).

Maine senior left wing Josh Soares said MSU plays an “NHL style of hockey like we do. They’re big and fast, their goalie is quick and they have a good transition game.”

“It’s going to be a great match-up,” said Maine senior center Mike Hamilton.