It's rare in any conference when one can look back at a season and say that
the biggest weekend of conference play came in December.  However, that may
be said this year in the CCHA, as 4 of the top 5 teams face off in a series
of games that could go a long way toward deciding the eventual CCHA regular
season champion and the home ice for the playoffs, where finishing 4th or 5th
can be deadly with the new playoff format.
 
Friday night, Western Michigan visits Michigan State in a game facing off at
6:45 pm (due to commencement) in what is at the moment a battle for first
place.  While it can be said that both teams have the potential to win the
conference, one would be hard-pressed to find too many people who though these
two teams would be battling for first at this juncture.  The Broncos, while
having a large number of freshmen, are led by seniors Jeremy Brown, Jamal
Mayers, Chris Brooks, and Kyle Millar in scoring and by the play (somewhat
surprising) of freshman goaltender Mark Magliarditi, who's carrying a save
percentage over 92%.  Western has already managed to pull off three major
road upsets this season in conference play, at Michigan, at Lake Superior, and
at Bowling Green, and they usually give Michigan State fits in Munn Ice
Arena.
 
Michigan State, supposedly in a rebuilding year, finds itself tied for first
after a period of time that saw them win 10 of 11, the only loss coming in
the College Hockey Showcase against Minnesota in overtime.  Spreading the
wealth around seems to be a tradition for the 1995-6 Green and White, who are
seeing contributions from all four lines, from the blue line, and from players
stepping in for the first time.  While the line of Anson Carter, Mike Watt,
and freshman Mike York lead the team in scoring, the Spartans get contributions
from the crash line of Steve Ferranti (4 game-winners), Tony Tuzzolino, and
Taylor Clarke, as well as from freshmen such as Bryan Adams and Mark Loeding
(two goals in his debut Saturday at OSU) and Chris Bogas and Jeff Kozakowski
on the blue line.  While the 1995-6 Spartans on paper don't appear to have as
much talent as the preceding year's team, the current crop of Spartans appear
to work harder at making things happen, which has led them to a 13-4 record.
The Spartans will be facing the Broncos (the only team besides UAF that they
haven't played so far this season in conference) again in a home-and-home
series in February.  Meanwhile, the teams many expected to be battling for
first at this time of the season, Lake Superior and Michigan, will be facing
off in Ann Arbor (Prime Game of the Week) at 7:30.
 
Saturday night sees a change in venue for three of the four contenders, with
only Michigan State staying put.  Lake Superior and Michigan both head out of
Ann Arbor, LSSU for East Lansing and Michigan for K-zoo, where they will face
Western for the third and final time during the regular season.  The two split
their earlier home-and-home series, with Western winning big at Ann Arbor, 7-2,
followed by a Michigan win at Lawson Ice Arena, 3-2.
 
Lake Superior heads into Munn for the second time this season, victorious in
their first venture into Munn on 26 October by the final tally of 4-1.  John
Grahame, LSSU's sophomore netminder who has missed a large portion of the
season, stymied Michigan State in the Spartan's last loss before the 10-of-11
string.  The Lakers have been somewhat skittish of late, dropping home con-
tests against WMU and Bowling Green and losing at Notre Dame before taking
UIC out to the woodshed this weekend in the Soo.  The Anchor-bearers come into
Munn with a lineup that has less resemblance to the Rome telephone book than
in past years.  At the moment, the Lakers leading scorer is Sean Talliare, who
finally appears to be ready to graduate (at least it seems that way to those
of us who play against him) and who is backed up by the usual cast of characterswho don't light up the stats sheets but light the goal judge's lamp at key
times.  Their strong defense is anchored (no pun intended) by All-Galaxy
defenseman Keith Aldridge (who's finally graduating this year, too) and one
would expect the usual war-on-ice that occurs when the Lakers and the Spartans
collide.
 
All in all, it should be a very interesting weekend in the conference, to see
if one team with two possible wins can open up a lead or tighten up the con-
ference race.  In a league where 5th place is almost a death sentence, two
losses on a weekend like this could find you facing the wrong part of the
Zamboni.
 
G. M. Finniss
Michigan State University 10-2-0, 13-4-0
 
Necessity for the college hockey traveler:
 
http://www.nashville.net/speedtrap
 
A list of the known speed traps in the 50 states and DC (there might be an
extra "/" after "speedtrap" in that address).
 
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