Michigan State Survives Two Close Games

The Michigan State Spartans were able to keep their undefeated season alive with two close victories last weekend. On Friday, the were able to hold off Michigan 8-5 in a competitive contest. This gave the Spartans a sweep of archrival Michigan this season in three games. On Saturday night, the top-ranked Spartans defeated the Broncos of Western Michigan 9-8 on the strength of their power play to move into the top MCRHL spot. It was noted last week that if the Broncos could stay out of the box they would have a good chance to win, and it may have been true, with the Spartans scoring three power play goals compared to just 2 power plays for the Broncos. Western Michigan held the lead for a large part of the game, but couldn?t keep slamming the door on the offensive minded Spartans being shorthanded so often. Both teams will be in the running for the tournament championship in March, but unless Western can go undefeated in their last 3 and MSU goes 2-4 or worse in their last 6 games, the Broncos will not earn the regular season crown. In fact, the Spartans? magic number is 3, meaning three more wins by them or losses by WMU and OSU will earn them another regular season championship. Eastern Michigan handled Michigan on Saturday night, 12-5, and jumped all the way to fourth place in the standings, just one point ahead of the Wolverines and Illinois State, who each have a game-in-hand on the Eagles. The Wolverines have now lost three in a row and need to bounce back in their final five games to attempt to secure a spot in the national championships. At the Interstate Center in Bloomington, where the bottom half of the league was supposed to shake out a bit, almost nothing was resolved, with half of the games ending in ties. After going 1-1-1 in the weekend, Illinois will have a very tough climb out of eighth to be able to catch Ball State who is only one point ahead, but has two games in hand on the Illini. The Cardinals earned four of six points on the weekend, and would have been a bigger winner had the Purdue Boilermakers not come out strong in their final game to force a tie with BSU. After struggling most of the season, this was a big point for the Boilers to build on for the rest of the season and early next season. Illinois State also was able to earn four points with a 1-0-2 record on the weekend, moving them into a tie with Michigan for fifth place with both teams having five games remaining. To view all of the results and current standings, use the links on the right side of the page.