In his summary of the Western Michigan-Michigan St. series over the weekend, Riley Whearty said that both nights had "playoff-type hockey." While I can't vouch for Friday's game, Saturday's game was cretainly not an example of "playoff hockey," FROM EITHER TEAM. Western's two goals came on a 5-on-3 to open the third (:15 after MSU had managed to clear their zone, something that should NEVER happen in a 5-on-3) and on a mad scramble in front of the net midway through the period. While I am not criticizing Western's play (they played well enough to win), they played a team who, except for the recent home sweep against Kent and the pre-Thanksgiving win over Lake Superior St., has had a lot of trouble scoring (e.g. scoring with :04 left against Miami to preserve a 1-1 tie on 19 Nov and twice within a 3-minute span late in the third against Bowling Green to preserve a 2-2 tie the next night). Even the games where we have scored a lot of goals have come primarily from individual efforts (Anson Carter's 4 vs. Lake St. and Steve Guolla's 3 vs. Kent in the second game). The primary reason that MSU is 9-5-3 and still within some reasonable distance of U-M (though that will probably change after U-M sweeps UIC at Ann Arbor this weekend) has been the defense, and particularly Mike Buzak. Buzak may be the best goaltender in the CCHA (bar none, especially if you consider the minutes that he has played this season) but we begin to wonder how long he can hold out if he's playing every night (our other goaltender, Eric Kruze, has started only once this season, vs. Guelph (Ont.)). Unfortunately, with the GLI coming up and the home-and home vs. U-M in late January, Buzak does'nt look like he's going to get a rest anytime soon. So while I do congratulate Western on the sweep, please note that this is also the same team that U-M blew out last weekend (and U-M only counts for three of WMU's six losses). Until Western can play consistent hockey night after night against the UIC's and the Kent's of the CCHA, then they're not going to go far in the CCHA playoffs (e.g. last year). And 2-1 and 2-0 wins over a team that can't score if its life depended on it right now are not going to win you any poll votes. G. M. Finniss Michigan St. Univ. And, despite it all, LET'S GO STATE!