Scott Quakkelaar recently wrote that MSU is still a good team, but has been having some off years by MSU standards. If you throw out the '90-'91 disaster season, the Spartans have pretty much had years that are maybe not quite what we had in the mid '80's, but years that some programs in the country would kill for (Phinal Phour in '92, bubble team in '93, Top 8 [at the moment] in '94). MSU's major problem (besides some of the ones I've enumerated earlier) is that we play to the level of our competition too much. Classic example: the WCHA-CCHA Challenge. At the time, Wisconsin was an arguably better team than MSU, but the Spartans beat them. Meanwhile, Minnesota was in a big-time slump, and MSU loses to them. Go figure. (Michigan did the exact reverse.) As far as UM having a "mystique" about playing MSU, I think that's somewhat of a myth. I don't think it ended with the 11-1 game at the Joe, because it didn't exist in the first place. MSU just simply failed to show up for that one (plus it was probably a little bit of a payback for some of the pastings we used to give UM in the "Glory Days"). If there is a "mystique" in the UM- MSU rivalry, it's reversed. Fortunately, up until now, hockey has been some- what immune. It started in football and has seemed to spread throughout the athletic spectrum here at Michigan State. Plus, it is sort of disheartening when probably 1/3 of your student body cheers for your biggest rival (maybe some of them couldn't afford to go to UM, but MSU is quickly trying to rectify the situation by jacking the tuition up). For the rest of the fans in the country (i.e. those that don't cheer for Michigan), be heartened by the fact that a team as erratic as MSU has been this year beat the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. Michigan is NOT unbeatable. (This is not meant as a flame, just a simple statement of facts.) In the current NC$$ setup, with only one game separating you from elimination, ANY- ONE CAN LOSE, be they UM or BU or Harvard or MSU, independent of where the game is played. To pick a team to go all the way at this moment in time, to me, is somewhat foolish. Do remember that Michigan still has three games left with what is probably the hottest team in the country right now, the Miami Redskins. And sandwiched in the middle is the third UM-MSU meeting in Detroit. Isn't life fun? G. M. Finniss Michigan State University WVU '87, UTenn '92, MSU who the hell knows when?