Spartans prepared for Northern Michigan
By Stefan Kubus –
EAST LANSING – With Northern Michigan sitting four points ahead of last-place Michigan State in the CCHA standings, MSU head coach Tom Anastos said this weekend’s upcoming series is absolutely a huge one.
Michigan State (6-15-1-0 CCHA) owns an all-time 34-28-4 record against the Wildcats (6-12-4-1 CCHA) and is coming off a win over Bowling Green last Saturday.
“They’re like us, trying to find their game and trying to move up in the standings so it’ll be a very competitive series,” Anastos said of Northern Michigan. “I think it’s a very big series. It’s at home, we only have four games left, it’s a team that lost some key players last year, but have a number of key veterans in their lineup. For us, our youth, we’ve gained lots of experience throughout the season.”
Anastos said the commitment to playing six defensemen – namely giving junior rearguard Nickolas Gatt more meaningful minutes – and his team’s engagement were crucial to the win last weekend over the Falcons.
“It allowed for the other players to get a little bit less time, which I think ultimately made for everybody being a little more effective so that was a positive thing,” Anastos said, “And I thought we were both physically and emotionally engaged on the weekend for the most part, for the better part of both games.”
Sophomore forward Tanner Sorenson, who scored the game-winner last Saturday night, called the last weekend against Bowling Green the most consistent six periods of hockey his team has put together since its split with Notre Dame back in early January.
“That’s nice to win a Saturday game going into the next weekend because now we’re happy, feelings are good, everyone’s happy, positive going into this weekend,” Sorenson said. “They’re four points ahead of us so we need to win both and if we win both, we tie Michigan, too, so that’ll be nice. This is a huge weekend because they’re right above us and hopefully work our way to a home-ice, first-round series.”
Junior captain Greg Wolfe has come alive as of late, with eight points in his last nine games and five goals in his last seven. However, Wolfe has truly been alive all season with his strong work ethic. Now, he’s finally getting some bounces to show for that work.
“It’s definitely relaxing a little bit to finally get some puck luck and score some goals,” Wolfe said. “I think I took some of the pressure off myself by just committing to playing hard, finishing checks and keeping it really simple. I’m not trying to do too much.”
His coach had incredible praise for his captain, saying it’s good to see his exemplary work translate to offensive production.
“Greg Wolfe has been real hard all season,” Anastos said. “He’s been putting pressure on himself to produce points for our team, which we’re looking for offensive productivity, and as of late, he’s been doing that. It was nice to see him get a couple goals and a couple really good looks. Hopefully, he’s starting to think less and just allow his talents to just play and keep working as hard as he’s working.”
The Spartans square off with the Wildcats at 6:35 p.m. tonight at Munn Ice Arena. Anastos said his Spartans are hoping to build off the Saturday night victory and continue it into this weekend.
“Confidence is so important,” Anastos said. “All season long, we’ve been trying to find a bit of an identity to identify what our team really is and how we can play at our best.”