Spartans ride Hildebrand, recent success into Big Ten tournament

By @SKubus – 

The Michigan State Spartans have won four of their last five heading into the Big Ten tournament Friday at Joe Louis Arena, including a big win Saturday at Yost Ice Arena against Michigan that earned them a second-place finish in the league.

Michigan State head coach Tom Anastos guided the Spartans to that second-place Big Ten finish, which gives his team a first-round bye along with the top-seeded Minnesota. The Spartans know they play Friday but it’s a matter of who they face off against, as MSU plays the winner of Thursday’s Michigan-Wisconsin tilt.

“Our team continues to grow, continues to grow in confidence,” Anastos said. “We’re going to a place that we’re familiar to play in and we’re excited about that.”

There’s no question that junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand is a massive reason that MSU will be relaxing Thursday rather than playing in the first round.

Hildebrand was just named not only the Big Ten’s goaltender of the year, but also the overall player of the year. A .930 save percentage while having faced 1,033 shots on the season (one less than Wisconsin’s Joel Rumpel for most in the league) speaks volumes about how sound he has been. Additionally, Hildebrand led the league in goals-against average (2.12) and shutouts (6).

“I didn’t think he had the greatest first third of the season, and I think since probably early December, especially that second Minnesota game we played here, I think he’s been just outstanding and he continues to get better and play at a higher and higher level every week, so our team has tons of confidence in him,” Anastos said. “I like the way he approaches everything, he’s just a great representation of our school and our program and really our goal of getting back to an elite level, and we’re fortunate that he’s playing at the level he’s playing at.”

And while their team offense was nothing to write home about, finishing fifth of six in league scoring as a team, the Spartans’ team defense in front of Hildebrand was best in the league and 12th in the country, allowing an average of 2.24 goals per game and only 76 on the season. MSU led the Big Ten in blocks with 566.

One such cog in the team defense that Anastos especially feels is finally coming around after struggling with injuries is Minnesota Wild prospect and junior defenseman John Draeger.

“Here’s a player who we really thought coming out of his freshman year would make a huge impact on our blue line and he hasn’t really had two summers to train which is really important for these kids, so even at the start of the season, he didn’t play at the beginning of the season and it really took him some time.

“I think he’s finally finding his groove and he gives us another guy back there that can log minutes, is highly competitive and is really becoming a real dependable player, which is what we thought he’d be.”

Whether it’s the Wolverines or the Badgers, the Spartans are prepared to do battle either way. But with six teams all on even ground and a new season beginning, Anastos knows his team needs to be at its best to capitalize on their first-round bye.

“Certainly we know that all six teams that are coming there, whether they had a great season or maybe a season that they weren’t as happy with, this is a new start. We know we’re going to have to be at our very best to advance out of the first game to have a chance to play in a championship, and we’re going to play our hardest to do that.”