In big games, you expect your top-line players to come to the front.  Maybe
Steve Guolla was slightly miffed at being relegated to second team All-CCHA
in favor of linemate Anson Carter, but right now in Spartan country, Guolla
is the big hero.  Tallying a hat trick with Michigan State's season on the
line, Guolla may have put his name alongside many others to don the Green and
White.  (Actually, it was really interesting watching the MSU-Seton Hall game
and listening to the MSU-BG game.  It almost seemed like when MSU pulled it-
self back into the basketball game was when the hockey team began to play.
And, when the hoceky Spartans won, the basketball Spartans took a lead into
halftime that they never relinquished.  And who says telepathy doesn't work
over 1200 miles!)
 
The Spartans now advance to the CCHA semifinals, where they face probably the
hottest team in the country, the Lake Superior State Lakers.  The Lakers are
riding just-shy-of-a five game shutout streak behind the play of junior goal-
tender Blaine Lacher.  The Lakers' recent surge has probably placed them as
the favorite to win the CCHA crown (no offense intended to Michigan) and to
return to the Final Four yet again.  Standing in their way is the Otis Team
(up and down more often than an elevator) and lately the Jason Team (keep
coming back from the dead).  The two teams split the regular season series
1-1-1 (Nov. 23 6-4 MSU at East Lansing, Feb. 11 11-1 LSSU at the Soo, Feb. 12
3-3 at the Soo).  It's time for the smallest school in the CCHA and the
second largest school (I could be wrong on this one, we might be bigger than
OSU) in the CCHA to renew what has become one of the better rivalries in
college hockey.  Only this time, both teams' hopes for postseason and for
a decent seeding are on-the-line.
 
G. M. Finniss
Michigan State University
WVU '87, UTenn '92, MSU (84-73 winners over Seton Hall; next up: Duke) who the
hell knows when?
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P. S.  Hey, Henry, watch those disparaging remarks about Ken Landau.  He may
        be partisan, but the man's approaching demigod status.  He's the only
        one who knows where Grandma hides the peanut butter.