Blue, Spartans face off in battle for first

By Chris Grandstaff

Daily Sports Editor

Ding ding. It's round three on the ice between Michigan and Michigan State, and the stakes are as high as they've ever been. The two teams are just two points apart in the CCHA standings with three conference games remaining on the schedule.

The Wolverines can deliver a knockout punch with a win tonight over the Spartans at Yost Ice Arena. With a victory the Wolverines can lock up at least a tie for the CCHA regular season title and move one step closer to an automatic NCAA Tournament bid. But a loss would mean the two teams enter the final round of conference play deadlocked at the top - with the Spartans holding the tiebreaker advantage. The two teams both currently have 17 conference wins, with the Wolverines' slim two-point advantage coming on two more ties than the Spartans.

And with all that's riding on this game, to say the two teams will be "ready to rumble" when they take the ice tonight would be a gross understatement.

"If you're not ready to play this game then you shouldn't come to school here

Yost Ice Arena

school here," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "This is why you come to Michigan is to play in games like this. These are the most fun games, and the games you remember as a player when your career is over."

Tonight's game will be the first meeting between the two teams since Jan. 7, when Michigan came away with a 2-0 victory. The game, which ended in an all-out bench-clearing brawl, is still fresh in the memory of both teams.

"We know what went on last time we played and they know it too," Michigan center Mike Comrie said. "Both teams still have that in the back of their mind and we'll both probably use it as a motivator. They're a good team and we know that. We've got to bring our A game if we want to win."

The two teams will go at it again on tomorrow night in a non-conference game at Joe Louis Arena.

Although the game will have no bearing on conference standings, it may play a role in the way NCAA Tournament selection committee seeds the two teams in next month's tournament.

But standings and rankings take the role of the undercard in a hated rivalry like the one these two teams share.

Tomorrow night's game between these two heavyweights will provide tonight's loser with one last chance for redemption, and a chance to throw one last punch before the post season begins.

"The game on Friday is a huge game for both teams, but the game on Saturday is a huge game to the team that loses on Friday," Berenson said.

"Our point of emphasis is that we need to play the best Michigan hockey we've played this season. Offensively, defensively, special teams - all the little things need to go our way. If we do that the game should end up in our favor, but they're saying the same thing. They have to have their best game to beat us and we have to have our best game to beat them."

Tonight

Who: No. 5 Michigan (22-7-3) vs. Michigan State (22-9-2)

When: 7:35 p.m. today at Yost Ice Arena, 7:35 p.m. tomorrow at Joe Louis Arena

Latest: Tonight's conference game will go along way toward determining this

season's CCHA regular season champion.