Following a frustrating two-game series against the Penn State Nittany Lions, Head Coach Danton Cole and the Michigan State Spartans are set to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes for their second series this year. Coach Cole, Tommy Apap, and Josh Nodler addressed the media Tuesday (Coach) and Wednesday, respectively, reflecting on last weekend’s series and looking forwards to a tough Buckeyes team.

Cole began with an opening statement. “Last weekend, you always go in hoping to get some points, we ended up with one, not nearly enough. Give Penn State credit, they played well, but I thought our biggest issue was consistency, not just from shift to shift but from period to period. In the Big Ten, you have to play a whole 60 or 65, and if you don’t, points will be hard to come by. There are some things we did alright, but overall, a pretty average weekend for us, and some things we’ve got to address moving forward. We’ve got Ohio State coming in. Had a very good practice yesterday (Monday), got some work in. We’ll continue to prepare for Ohio State. You’ve got to learn and move on and that’s what we’re doing.”

Coach Cole was definitely angry after the Penn State series. “When we got done, I just felt it was a very inconsistent six periods plus a little bit of overtime, and that has to be your work ethic, your effort, and your attitude. That just has to be the barrier entry. I thought we were on our heels a bit, and I think maybe the energy and the enthusiasm was there. You’re going to find games where you are under the gun and you’re defending more than you want, it’s just the ebb and flow of hockey games you deal with that, but a lot of it, I thought, was self-inflicted. The neutral zone is a big part of hockey, they used to talk about the game being won in the corners. That said, there’s still a lot of that, but it’s more about the neutral zone and how you transition from offense to defense and defense to offense. I don’t like the way we did either and I thought that sometimes you have too many passengers and that’s what it felt like. I’d rather be angry than frustrated, frustrated doesn’t get much done… There are things we’ve got to do better and things in control of our team. I thought if we had played Friday and Saturday like we practiced yesterday (Monday), wed have probably more than one point over the weekend.”

Cole said that the choice to play 13 forwards and six defensemen during last week’s series was due to some players being banged up and, when playing seven defensemen, the ice time has a tough time being distributed.

The re-introduction of A.J. Hodges into the lineup for the first time in the second half of the season last Saturday was beneficial to the play of the Spartans. Coach Cole said that “He’s got a lot of speed, he’s got good hockey sense, he makes plays, hasn’t been rewarded as much on the scoreboard, but he brings a good amount of those things. I thought, for not being in the lineup and not practicing a ton, he popped in an did a pretty nice job for us, he was noticeable on the good side of things. Good to have him back, depth is a good thing and options are a good thing and when you have a few guys out, you lose some of that. I was very happy with A.J., and I’m glad he’s back in, playing.”

Reflecting on the change of Ohio State’s play since Michigan State last played them, he said that everyone evolves a little bit and Ohio State Head Coach Steve Rohlik does a good job. He stated that you just have to make adjustments and be ready for things. He said that some of the things he liked from the last time Michigan State played the Buckeyes have been some of the things that they have not liked recently.

Tommy Apap commented on the play of Ohio State “I think they’re a team that’s pretty consistent with how they play, they play decently physical, they play pretty fast. Every Big Ten game is always going to be competitive, so that’s one thing we have to do this weekend, is be competitive the whole 60 minutes in both games… we need to play a full 60 both nights against these guys.”

The Michigan State penalty kill has been strong this season, and Apap gave a ton of the credit to Drew DeRidder. “It’s got to be DeRidder. He’s our best PKer every night, whether it’s the PK or not he’s always making big saves for us. Definitely gives you confidence as a team when you go out there shorthanded, but we’ve got a stud between the pipes right now… I think we can even be more aggressive.”

Josh Nodler had a ton to say about Charlie Combs. “It’s definitely a unique opportunity to play with Charlie, and him being an older guy and him proving himself already through his collegiate career. It’s been nice learning a lot from him and obviously, he’s a terrific goalscorer and he’s got a terrific shot, so that’s something I’ve really admired about him and kind of emulated him and try to pick up pointers from him in practice and whatever he’s got to say I’ll listen, and we’ve become pretty close off the ice, so that helps.”

The Michigan State University Spartans and the Ohio State Buckeyes face off tonight at 4 P.M. EST on BTN, and tomorrow at 4 P.M. EST on BTN+.

SEF