November 11, 2005
Spartans Exorcise Demons
by Sean Caruthers/CHN Correspondent
Before Rick Comley, there was no such thing as a Northern Michigan Wildcat hockey program. Comley, the NCAA's sixth winningest coach, built the program from the ground up, including three trips to the Frozen Four and the Cats' lone NCAA title in 1991. His choice to leave Marquette in 2002 to follow in his mentor Ron Mason's footsteps at Michigan State has prompted one of the newest, most intense rivalries in the nation.
"There are too many feelings when you start a program from nothing and you are there that long," said Comley.
Given the turbulent transition at Michigan State from Mason to Comley and Walt Kyle's emergence at Northern Michigan as one of the best young coaches in college hockey, too many feelings is quite the understatement.
Comley is still trying to re-establish Spartan excellence. And with the team off to a good start, this might be the season.
But Northern Michigan ended Spartan playoff hopes in each of Comley's first two seasons. Although the two teams did not meet in the CCHA Championships last season, the Cats swept MSU in their first league series, something from which the Spartans never seemingly recovered.
"Northern has played well against us, but they've had some things go well for them too," Comley said. "We lost a couple games [against them] that we shouldn't have lost, but good teams will do that to you. They are a good team and an excellent program and they don't get all the credit they deserve."
Prior to last weekend, the Wildcats held a commanding 7-to-3 advantage in the last 10 games with MSU. In comparison, MSU and Michigan are deadlocked at 3-3-4 over the last 10.
Michigan State captain Drew Miller placed a huge weight on the series.
"Knowing that they've had the series the last 10 games 7-to-3 is a motivator for us [in the locker room]," Miller said. "We talked about getting the series closer to even, and looked at it as a [series] in our building, so we came out as hard as we could and tried to make our best effort this weekend to get the sweep."
This past weekend, MSU and Comley may have gotten rid of the "curse." The Spartans rallied in most impressive fashion to win on Friday 5-4 in overtime after trailing 3-1 in the third period, and completed the sweep of then-No. 14 NMU by a 5-0 whitewash on Saturday.
The sweep marked the first time Michigan State had won two consecutive games against Northern Michigan since Comley took the reigns.
"I'm not afraid to tell you that I don't like to play that team. There are too many feelings there. I like to beat them, but I don't like to play them," said Comley. "And that's not going to change because there are too many memories."
Although Michigan will always be the primary rival for Michigan State, this match up with Northern Michigan is beginning to turn into something special for the players, fans, and programs. People circle their calendars for the series, and many made the trek down to East Lansing from the Upper Peninsula to watch the rivalry grow.
With both teams garnering votes as some of the best in the nation, Comley should certainly be proud of his accomplishments both as a Wildcat and a Spartan.
I'm a lucky guy right now to have two jerseys that are so special to me," said Comley.
Just as long as they don't meet in the post-season again that is.
