So I haven't Been Back In Force

and I won't be this week. Tomorrow we're heading up to the land of no electricity and no Internets. I'm an optimistic person by nature and a true homer so it's tough to spend a lot of time thinking, much less writing, about the state of the Spartans season.

State signed 4 to letters of intent. I'm very excited about Derek Grant, I haven't read much on the others.

Happy birthday David Booth, that was a nice birthday goal. Watching the Florida Panthers it occurs to me that they have a few things in common with the Spartans. Lots of youth and no real marquee player. Despite that they seem to stay competitive night in and night out. They have a good defense and a great goaltender, like State. Plus, they have an offense that's learned to keep it simple. They've become masters of the drop-pass. It's brilliant, they skate in drop it back and take the shot. If the lead skater coughs it up, he's got someone right there to contain the break the other way. When the lead skater drops it back he creates room for the shooter. If the shot gets through, the forwards crash the net looking for a garbage goal. They don't win a lot of 7-1 contests and don't generate a lot of style points but they're in the game. They're creating chances and they're allowing their young guys time to develop. If Coach Comley runs out of ideas, maybe he could it a shot. The speedy Leveille/Gazley skate it in, drop it back to the waiting Crowder/Tropp for a wicked wrister and let Schepke/Conboy clean-up the garbage. It's worth a shot, or maybe not.

We Have A Lot of Work Left ...

This is teh suck. We're somewhere in the 3rd period on Saturday Night. I'm drunk and desperate, how 'bout a goal boys. I'm sorry about the lack of posting, I'll be back in force this week.

They just took a goal away, thanks CCHA.

Full Strength

That's right, I finally got a new AC adapter for my laptop, so I'm back to full strength.

Seriously, the State News is reporting that Nick Sucharski and Andrew Rowe should be ready to play this weekend. With the return of Corey Tropp last weekend, this will be the first time all year that Coach Comely will have the entire roster available to choose his lineup. It couldn't happen at a better time with the conference leading Miami RedHawks coming to town. Both teams are coming off of dismal weekends and both will be hungry to prove their slide in the standings were unjustified.

If the Spartans can chip in some early goals on Miami's young defense and bang on the skilled RedHawk forwards, they can sweep this weekend. If they get pushed around and allow Miami to control the play, it could be an ugly weekend. With the return of Sucharski and his prowess in the face-off circle, it should be a little easier for the Spartans to control the play. Will it be enough? Well, that's why they play the games.

BTW, $90 for a new AC adapter seems a bit steep to me.

Getting Swept Sucks

Getting shutout in one of the games makes it even worse. I didn't get to see either game and only listened to the third period of the last game. One thing is obvious, this team is still young. They have a hell of a learning experience coming up. Home against Miami, then off to Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the People's Republic of Ann Arbor. This team should arrive back home with a clear vision of the future and a mission to accomplish it. They're still in need of Nick Sucharski and his face off skills and a couple people who can consistently find the back of the net.

Luckily, David Booth came around to brighten the weekend scoring his first NHL hat trick in Anaheim. Way to go Boothy, keep it up!

Oh No You Didn't

If anyone knows the guy that plays music at Munn suggest he plays this song after the losers we're playing score.

Where Are They Now?

Here's what some former Spartan Icers are up to. The list is as accurate as I could get it, but someone always finds a way to be left off. Most information on the list comes from HockeyDB.

NHL
David Booth - Florida Panthers
Rod Brind'Amour - Carolina Panthers
Adam Hall - Tampa Bay Lightning
Shawn Horcoff - Edmonton Oilers
Duncan Keith - Chicago Blackhawks
John-Michael Liles - Colorado Avalanche
Ryan Miller - Buffalo Sabres
Jim Slater - Atlanta Thrashers
Mike Weaver - St. Louis Blues

AHL
Justin Abdelkader - Grand Rapids Griffins
Kevin Estrada - Manitoba Moose
Colton Fretter - Portland Pirates
Ethan Graham - Hartford Wolf Pack
Andrew Hutchinson - Norfolk Admirals
Jon Insana - Houston Aeros
Tim Kennedy - Portland Pirates
Bryan Lerg - Springfield Falcons
Jim McKenzie - Binghamton Senators
Drew Miller - Iowa Chops
Chris Mueller - Lake Erie Monsters
Corey Potter - Hartford Wolf Pack
Mike Ratchuk - Philadelphia Phantoms
Mike York - Syracuse Crunch

ECHL
Jeff Dunne - Florida Everblades
Lee Falardeau - Charlotte Checkers (2007-2008)
Ash Goldie - Victoria Salmon Kings (2007-2008)
Mike Lalonde - Stockton Thunder
Adam Nightingale - Charlotte Checkers (2007-2008)
Jared Nightingale - Charlotte Checkers
Peder Skinner - Phoenix Roadrunners
Chris Snavely - Wheeling Nailers (2007-2008)
A.J. Thelen - Florida Everblades

IHL
Chad Alban - Flint Generals
Chris Bogas - Port Huron Icehawks (2007-2008)
John Nail - Bloomington Prairie Thunder
Brandon Warner - Fort Wayne Komets
Mike Watt - Muskegon Fury (2007-2008)

CHL
Joe Markusen - Mississippi RiverKings
Zak McClellan - Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees

International
Bryan Adams - Cologne Sharks (DEL)
Anson Carter - Lugano (Swiss-A) (2007-2008)
Rustyn Dolyny - Munich EHC (2.GBun) (2007-2008)
Brad Fast - Ingolstadt ERC (DEL) (2007-2008)
Steve Guolla - Innsbruck EV (Aust)
Tyler Howells - Belfast Giants (EIHL)
Brian Maloney - Straubing Tigers (DEL)
Shawn Mather - Ritten Renon (Italy)
Rem Murray - Innsbruck EV (Aust)
Brock Radunske - Augsburg Panthers (DEL) (2007-2008)
Michael Stewart - VSV EC (Aust)
Tony Tuzzolino - Asiago HC (Italy)
Daniel Vukovic - Servette Geneve (Swiss-A)

Other
Tom Anastos - Commissioner of the CCHA
Newell Brown - Assistant Coach Anaheim Ducks
Bob Daniels - Head Coach Ferris State
Bob Essensa - Goalie Coach Boston Bruins
Kelly Harper - Assistant Coach Brampton Battalion
Craig Simpson - HNIC Commentator
Harvey Smyl - Head Coach Langley Chiefs
Damon Whitten - Director of Hockey Operations MSU
Rob Woodward - Assistant Coach MSU

Honorable Mentions
Harley Hotchkiss - Part Owner Calgary Flames
Jeff Jackson - Head Coach Notre Dame

If you have any updates or additions please add them to the comments.

Abdelkader Named AHL Rookie of the Month

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grand Rapids Griffins center Justin Abdelkader has been named the Reebok Edge/American Hockey League Rookie of the Month for October, the league announced on Monday.

Abdelkader, 21, scored a team-high seven goals and added two assists for nine points in seven games. He tied for the AHL rookie lead in goals and points for the month, while ranking among the league’s overall leaders in goals (T2nd), power play goals (three, T7th) and shooting percentage (0.500, T1st).

Way to go Justin. Only the second Grif to accomplish this feat. It'd be nice if the NHL and NHLPA could get together and dump this garbage salary cap so you could spend some time in Detroit.

The Good, Bad and Ugly

After a late come-from-behind victory against Wisconsin in football I was feeling pretty good. I though we'd head down to Lawson to watch the Icers complete the sweep. I got online, lined up a pair of tickets and before I could pull the trigger, poof. They stopped selling tickets for the game. There was nobody at the ticket office to take my call so we ended up listening to Scott and Woody. The good, we got the sweep(ish). The bad, 0 for 13 on the powerplay. The ugly, the Lawson Lunatics, I'm sure, even though I can't verify it. I can safely say, with confidence, that my life will not be negatively affected if I never see David Brown in an orange stripe ever again. BRUTAL.

Saturday had a slow, penalty filled start. With a great recovery. Conboy picked up 3 penalties solidifying has team lead in that category. Tim Crowder picked up a goal bringing him within 1 point of Daultan Levielle team leading 5. While Kurt Kivisto and Matt Schepke remained perfect in the shoot-out.

Next weekend sees the Spartans travel to lovely Columbus to take on the on-again off-again Ohio State Buckeyes. Before returning home for a weekend against conference leading Miami.

Go Green!

We Got Us A Conboy

Rockin' through the night, come on join our Conboy, ain't nothin' gonna git in our way, Conboy. Man among boys? It was a decent game, a win is always good. I don't think the refs happened across my blog but maybe Chris Frank did, he only interfered on one face off last night. The freshmen played big, carrying the play through the first two periods. Daultan Leveille showed why he was a first round draft pick. It's great when the smaller guys have success in front of the net. State's still having trouble in the face off department and they could play a little bigger in the corners, other than that look out BC we're comin' to get ya. Last year our little sisters in the People's Republic had a good amount of freshmen, hey had a great season but it ended a little early. The difference between the big sister and little brother is little brother has a bunch of decent leadership. They've been there, done that. They have the direction the youngsters need. Come spring, look for the Spartan Icers to be in the thick of it.

Oh, and linesmen, when Chris Frank is 2 inches from the puck and you blow the play for icing, you blow it. Learn your jobs, you're getting payed punks.