Here's some of the top notes as the Spartans enter the 2008-09 hockey season:

• Michigan State returns 15 letterwinners and welcomes 11 freshmen into the fold for the 2008-09 season. Rick Comley, one of the longest-tenured and most-respected coaches in college hockey history, starts his seventh season as the Spartan mentor and his 36th behind the bench of a collegiate program. Comley's record at MSU is 142-85-24, and his overall ledger stands at 739-560-95. He ranks fifth all-time in collegiate victories, and third among active coaches.

• Throughout the season, MSU hockey players will be signing autographs after selected home games for fans in attendance. Each home game/series, a different player or group of players will be featured on a collectable poster. There will be 10 posters in all, and the selected athlete will be set up on the concourse to sign autographs for 30 minutes after the conclusion of the game. Posters, which will feature rosters, game information, notes, standings, and statistics on the back, will be sold for $2.

Game Date/Opponent Athlete(s)
Oct. 17 vs. UMass-Lowell - Freshman Class
Oct. 25 vs. Northern Michigan - Dan Sturges
Oct. 31 vs. Western Michigan - Sophomore Class
Nov. 15 vs. Miami - Matt Schepke
Dec. 6 vs. Michigan - Brandon Gentile
Jan. 3 vs. Alaska - Tim Crowder
Feb. 6 vs. Ferris State- Junior Class
Feb. 14 vs. Ohio State - Nick Sucharski
Feb. 20 vs. Bowling Green - Kurt Kivisto
Feb. 28 vs. Notre Dame (Senior Night) - Jeff Lerg

• The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) released its pre-season coaches and media polls on Tuesday, Sept. 30 in conjunction with the league's media day, held at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. The Spartans, who finished third in the 2007-08 season, are projected fifth in the coaches poll (96 points), while the media surveyed had MSU third, with two first-place votes and 776 points. The groups were split on their decisions - the coaches selected Notre Dame (128 pts., eight first-place votes) as the favorite, followed by Michigan (122 points, three first-place votes), Miami (108 points, one first-place vote), Northern Michgian (102 points), and the Spartans. From the media poll, the Wolverines were selected as the front-runner (945 points, 43 first-place votes), then Notre Dame (915 points, 35 first-place votes) and the Spartans. In the media poll, Miami was fourth (746 points, two first place votes) and Northern Michgian fifth (700 points, one first-place vote). Ferris State was the consensus sixth-place finisher.

• Goaltender Jeff Lerg (Livonia, Mich.), forward Tim Crowder (Victoria, British Columbia), and sophomore Jeff Petry (Farmington Hills, Mich.) are among the pre-season All-CCHA selections. Senior netminder Lerg, a First-Team All-CCHA selection as a junior, was the first team pick in the preseason as well. Also getting first-team nods were forwards Erik Condra (Notre Dame), Aaron Palushaj (Michigan) and Justin Mercier (Miami) and defensemen Mark Mitera (Michigan) and Kyle Lawson (Notre Dame). Spartan alternate captains Crowder and Petry are both second-team picks. Crowder was selected along with fellow forwards Carter Camper (Miami), Mark Olver (Northern Michigan) and Ryan Thang (Notre Dame), while Petry and Ian Cole (Notre Dame) are the blueline selections. Michigan's Billy Sauer is the second-team goaltender.

• The CCHA office released its composite television package for the upcoming season. In total, 53 CCHA games will be televised throughout the 2008-09 regular season, with an additional seven CCHA post-season tilts also on the schedule. Of those 53 contests, 19 Michigan State games will be televised throughout the regular season.