News From Munn Arena

More on Duchene

2006-07-26T13:29:00.000-05:00

From talking to some people I have learned more about the commitment of Matt Duchene. He is actually looking to be a pretty soolid commitment to MSU and most likely will not choose the major junior route. I have learned that Duchenes' family has told scouts he is going to school and that his mother is a teahcer at the local high school. Apparently the family has been telling scouts thanks but no thanks Matt will be going to college. He also is the nephew of former MSU player and current Mighty Ducks Assistant Coach Newell Brown. Being the nephew of a fromer Spartan seriously improves the chances of Duchene sticking to his commitment.

Just a little side fact, Rod Brind A'mours mother was also a school teacher. A main reason he went to college hockey first, albeit only one year, but he did finish his college education. Who knows maybe recruiting kids with teacher moms will become the new norm.

2009 Recruit Commits

2006-07-19T10:28:00.000-05:00

The Spartans recently received a commitment from Ontario forward Matt Duchene. Many scouts feel this commitment is leverage by Duchene to get more money from the OHL team that drafts him. I find it hard to believe that a player who commits this far out from Canada will end up going the NCAA route. His name will be in the NHL entry draft the summer before he his to arrive on campus. Many consider Duchene a top five draft pick in the NHL draft.

In the prospects tourney for '91 born players Duchene had 9 goals and 17 points in 8 games. He led his team in scoring at the tournament. Only time will tell if Duchene ever suits up for the green and white. It is a strong commitment especially if Duchene follows through. Also in his picture from his bantam team Duchene was wearing the "C" for captain so he must be a good leader.

Spartans Get Commitment & Drafted

2006-06-27T14:59:00.000-05:00

Last week it was announced that Des Moines Buccaneers defensemen Jeff Petry has committed to the Spartans for the 2007 season. He was a late addition to the Buccaneers team this past season and posted 1 goal and 14 assists in the regular season. He followed that up with a 2 goal 5 assist performance in the Bucs Clark Cup Championship run. Petry is a Farmington Hills native and is the son of former Detroit Tigers pitcher Dan Petry. Also most important to the Petry signing is that MSU beat Michigan in a recruiting battle for the first time since Jim Slater. Good victory for Rick Comley.

One current Spartan and three future Spartans were drafted in last weekends NHL Entry Draft. Sophomore forward Nick Sucharski was taken with the 136th pick in the 5th round by the Colombus Blue Jackets. Incoming freshman defensemen Michael Ratchuk was taken 42 overall in the 2nd round by Philadelphia. The next college bound player taken was 2007 commitment Jeff Petry, 45th overall by the Edmonton Oilers. In the 4th round defensemen/forward incoming freshman Ryan Turek was taken by the St. Louis Blues.

Overall this was a strong draft for MSU, although not comparing to Minnesota or Michigan it does look like our blue line corps. will be set for a while. I wouldn't worry about Jeff Petry skipping college because Edmonton has shown a commitment to letting players develop in college and has a good relationship with MSU players. Unless Petry has an insanely good season next year I expect him to be in East Lansing for at least two years.

Former Spartans Win Stanley Cup

2006-06-20T10:37:00.000-05:00

With a 3-1 victory in Raleigh, North Carolina the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. After the Conn Smythe trophy was presented to goaltender Cam Ward, commissioner Gary Bettman handed the cup off to a former Spartan. Rod Brind'Amour, "Roddy the Body"played for MSU in the 1988-89 season and scored 27 goals and 59 points. Brind'Amour left after one year to play for the St. Louis Blues who drafted him with the ninth overall pick in the 1988 draft. Brind'Amour's hard work and leadership allowed the Hurricanes to win the cup after blowing a 3-1 series lead.

Not playing the finals but on the roster was Andrew Hutchinson a former Spartan defensemen who played in 36 games this season with 11 points. Hutchinson played at MSU from 1998-2002 and played in 160 games. Hutchinson had 19 gooals and 78 points. I expect Hutchinson to have a bigger role in the defensive corps of the Carolina hUrricanes with the possible retirement of Glen Wesley.

This was a close and strong first Cup playoffs back for the NHL after last seasons lockout. These playoffs and its finals were full of college players who made an impact to the team. Now after the NHL draft we can start counting down the days to the beginning of the college hockey season.

Captains Announced

2006-06-19T11:55:00.000-05:00

With the departure of captain Drew Miller to the NHL, and the graduation of assistants Colton Fretter and Corey Potter the Spartans were in need of new leaders.

It has been announced that there will be five captains for the team next year. The captain will be senior forward Chris Lawrence. Lawrence is a hard-working gritty forward who played well with Zac McClellan and Nick Sucharski on the fourth line last year.

Lawrence will be backed by seniors Ethan Graham and Tyler Howells and juniors Bryan Lerg and Chris Mueller. Having four assitants makes me think that the voting was tight. All of these players are good leaders though and should help Lawrence with the mountain of a task like replacing Miller.

I feel there is no problem having a fourth line player like Lawrence as your captain. The lower line players usually have a toutgh attitude and will not take lax effort from their teammates. They can fire up the team because you know they would love to be first line and will be if you let them outwork you.

Stanley Cup Finals

2006-06-06T15:14:00.000-05:00

With the start of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals last night it was great to see three Spartans representing the Red Cedar very well. Rod Brind'Amour had two goals for the Hurricanes while Shawn Horcoff came close to a couple goals and Rem Murray did a good job killing penalties for the Oilers.

This is not a MSU detail here but I want to wish good luck to Matt Greene of the Oilers. He played at North Dakota for three years but his hometown is Grand Ledge, MI. He graduated from GL as I will do next summer (only 1 more year!) and has represented our town well. Maybe he'll win a championship like another GL grad, Al Horford. I also want to congratulate Michael Fillinger, a junior at Grand Ledge, who has been tendered with Mahoning Valley of the NAHL. He is a college prospect and should do well in Mahoning like he has at Victory Honda the last couple of years.

Sorry about the long time it took for me to post again but I have been studying for finals and the ACT and have had little to report. Promise to keep the posts more regular in the summer.

New MSU blog

2006-05-06T11:37:00.000-05:00

Well I finally did it I started a true Michigan State Hockey blog. First a little background I am a high school student about to finish up my junior year and I have been a hockey player all my life. I started my passion for hockey through my grandpa's season tickets to MSU. I learned the game from my Section G row 7 seats and have cheered for the Sparties good or bad. I wanted to start this blog for a couple of reasons. First I was an avid reader of www.westerncollegehockey.blogspot.com and became interested in hosting a blog. Also I noticed links to team devoted blogs and noticed the lack of a MSU blog. I also am interested in one day being a Neil Koepke of sorts and covering college hockey and being a journalist. As I said though I am a high school student, and athlete so I cannot devote all my time to keeping my blog always updated. So I'd like you, the visitors, and fans of this blog to help keep it updated and bear with me. Thank you for your visit and I hope to keep you interested in the months, maybe years to come.