A brief defense of the Green and White, coming from the most frequent Spartan
contributor on the list. :-)
Lee wrote:
"My companions and I were watching Anson Carter a little more closely
tonight, after his fine performance the previous night against
Minnesota. There is something a bit odd about him that I noticed upon
closer scrutiny. He is always involved in the big plays, which is why
I noticed him in the first place. Something exciting happens, and
hey! Carter is right there. But when normal play proceeded, he looked
less striking, out of position, or skating slowly; not hustling. A
strange contradiction, it seems: he was still involved in many
exciting plays, but he doesn't seem to make stuff happen. Guolla
impressed me much more on Saturday."
Actually, I've always noticed (since I've seen Anson maybe a few more times
than Lee has :-)) that Anson usually makes big plays happen. That's why, 9
times out of 10, he's involved in them. MSU's No. 1 line is still in tran-
sition (as is the rest of the team right now) since they really haven't
found a solid right winger to go with Carter and Guolla. (Last year, this
was Kelly Harper, and that line, dubbed the "Wexford" line since all three
played for the Wexford Raiders in Ontario, basically carried MSU into the
NCAA tournament.) I wouldn't say Anson doesn't make stuff happen; usually if
something does happen (a steal and a breakaway) Anson's there.
Guolla, on the other hand, almost always impresses.
"Overall, Michigan State seemed much less impressive than they had
been hyped to be. Michigan was a much better, tougher team. Look for
Michigan State to finish second or third in the CCHA, if they look
like they did this weekend."
They won't. Ron Mason didn't become the winningest coach in college hockey
history by letting a team with as much talent as this one has continue to
play the way they've been playing. This team may have as much (if not more)
talent than the team three years ago which went to the Final Four in Albany.
MSU, this year more than any other in recent memory, is a finesse team. They
don't have a real enforcer on the team (though Tuzzolino is trying his best)
and their defense hasn't really gelled. (Evidence: we have the fewest penalty
minutes in the CCHA.) Right now, things aren't clicking. The freshman line
of Watt, Berens, and Keyes went cold about 7 games ago. Berens has looked
very good on the second penalty killing unit with Murray.
Mason is expected to continue to shake the lines up at least through Christ-
mas, to try to find the combinations that will work. So far, the only line
that has stayed intact is the Suk-Murray-Sylvester line, and I don't expect
that one to survive the holidays.
The Spartans have scored a lot of 4-on-4 and even shorthanded goals because
they have a lot of good two-man combinations. But 5-on-5 they are struggling.
They aren't forechecking well at all and hitting is at a minimum, even on the
blue line. What has held up for MSU is what was expected to at the beginning
of the year, the goaltending. Buzak has been named CCHA Defensive Player of
the Week three times already this season, and backup Chad Alban is now 4-0,
with wins over UIC, UAF, OSU, and Wisconsin. Only on the two nights that
Buzak looked really bad, against UAF and UM, have the Spartans really been
out of a game, even with a struggling offense.
As bad as they've looked at times, they're still #6 in the country with only
3 losses. There is a lot of individual talent that so far has not come
together in a true team effort. There have been brief flashes (the third
period in the win over LSSU) but not an entire game. That won't last all
season. I have pity for the team on the other side of the ice should all the
pieces fall into place for MSU at some time in the season.
G. M. Finnissd
Michigan State University 6-1-1, 9-3-1
WVU '87, UTenn '92, MSU who the hell knows when?
(There's those fat fingers of mine again....)
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