Tuesday, March 07, 2000
Spartans seek revenge vs. Miami
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Michigan State failed in its quest to win three consecutive Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season titles because it couldn't beat the Miami RedHawks.
Now, the runner-up Spartans have a chance to get even.
The RedHawks, who swept MSU 3-2 and 2-0 Nov. 19-20 at Oxford, and were named USA Today national Division I team of the week, are the Spartans' CCHA playoffs first-round opponent this weekend in East Lansing, Mich.
MSU (23-10-4, 10-8-2 CCHA) meets the ninth-place RedHawks (13-18-3, 10-15-3 CCHA) at 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday at Biggie Munn Arena.
Michigan State has lost only one first-round series in 18 previous seasons in the CCHA. That was against Western Michigan in 1990-91, when the Spartans were swept by the Broncos in Kalamazoo.
Miami, which has lost four straight and seven of it last eight games, finished tied with Western Michigan, but the RedHawks earned the higher seed because of a 1-0-1 record in head-to-head meetings. The Spartans haven't faced Miami in a playoffs series since a 4-3, 7-1 sweep in 1984-85. In 1997, MSU defeated Miami 4-3 in overtime in the CCHA semifinals at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. Both Miami and MSU made the NCAA Tourna ment that year.
Other CCHA first-round series: first-place Michigan, which finished three points ahead of MSU, plays host to No. 10 WMU; No. 8 Bowling Green is at No. 3 Lake Superior; No. 7 Nebraska-Omaha visits No. 4 Northern Michigan and No. 6 Ferris State is at No. 5 Notre Dame.
After the first round, the winning teams are re-seeded in order of regular-season finish. The No. 4 and 5 seeds meet for a play-in game at the home of the No. 4 team, with the winner joining the other three first-round winners for the CCHA final four in Detroit March 17-18.
Miami's first-ever home sweep of Michigan State was the highlight of a frustrating season, in which the RedHawks lost three of their top six forwards to injury: Jason Deskins (knee, Oct. 8 opener), Gregor Krajnc (knee, late October) and Evan Cheverie (broken pinky finger, last month).
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