The Nanooks have ventured to East Lansing, Michigan to face a Spartans team that they have not encountered yet this year, and wouldn't you know it, it's Senior weekend in Spartanville. The Spartans have a nine-member senior class that endured a coaching change that, at least I thought would have a very sour ending with the hiring of Tom Anastos, the former captain of the CCHA who jumped ship as the boat was sinking. But unlike Francesco Schettino, Anastos won't be spending the next couple of milleniums in jail.
The Spartans biggest strength is their scoring depth, with 12 players with at least 10 points. Fortunately, Michigan State's power play isn't incredibly great, but their penalty kill is ranked 2nd in the nation at 89.4%. Of course, the same didn't bode well with Lake Superior last weekend who's percentage dropped from 89.3% to 86.2% after the 'Nooks put up four power play goals on the Lakers last weekend. So as you can tell, the Nanooks' blatent disregard for how good teams statistics should be will be very interesting going into this weekend.
Unfortunately, media coverage will be scant. Friday looks like we will all be completely in the dark from a video perspective, however Saturday's game will air live on Fox Sports Detroit, as well as tape delayed on KFXF Fox 7 in Fairbanks due to some other "sport" where cars drive in circles for 3 hours. If the NASCAR race gets rained out, we'll get to see the game live on TV, but if not it should be on at about 6PM local time. If you've got satellite though, FSD should get you the game live. Channel 663 on DirecTV or Channel 430 on Dish Network.
AmericaOne isn't broadcasting the games, and it doesn't appear that Michigan State offers any live video streaming for us. So be sure to listen in to Bruce Cech on 820sports.com, his pre-game show will start at 2:45PM AKT tomorrow, and 3:45PM on Saturday due to the one hour game-time change.
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