Officials Eyes on Conboy: On a Michigan State team looking for some inspiration from its younger players, freshman forward Andrew Conboy’s high-energy style has been one of the few bright spots at certain points this season. But his physical style hasn’t come without cost, as the Montreal Canadiens’ draft pick has drawn more than his fair share of attention from officials while averaging just under four penalty minutes per game.

The Spartans’ trip to the Great Lakes Invitational, where both games were officiated by CCHA referees and linesmen, and this past weekend’s series against Alaska showed a continuation of the trend. In each of these past four games, Conboy has been whistled for two minor penalties, including boarding, holding, slashing, two for charging and three varieties of contact to the head penalties - many of which could possibly have been overlooked if committed by a less infamous player.

Michigan State coach Rick Comley appeared frustrated with officials’ heightened awareness with regards to Conboy after the Great Lakes Invitational, as it reins in possibilities for his physicality to turn into offense.

“He’s a marked man, that’s for sure,” Comley said with a resigned tone. “He’s a physical player and he’s a big kid, I think it’s really unfair right now to be honest with you. He plays with passion, and he’s in the game, and I think it’s personal to be honest with you, but he’s just got to keep playing.”

Miami Shooting Blanks: Throughout the first half of the season Miami looked unbeatable at times, with an offense that rarely struggled to score goals, particularly in conference play. But playing a couple of struggling unknowns in last weekend’s Ohio Hockey Classic, the RedHawks just couldn’t find the back of the net, no matter how many times they put it towards there.

Miami outshot Clarkson and Army by a whopping 100-38 margin, but only managed to convert four of those 100, while Clarkson put four past Cody Reichard and Army three past Connor Knapp. 42 of the RedHawks’ shots came in the Clarkson game, when the Golden Knights’ defense and netminder Paul Karpowich foiled Miami at almost every opportunity.

“Anytime your get 42 shots on net, the process to that point is probably pretty good,” coach Enrico Blasi said. “We just didn’t execute in front of the net, and the times when we tried to get second chances, their (defense) played well and didn’t give us have second chances. And the times we did get second chances their goaltender came up pretty big.”

Blasi saw his team getting a bit frustrated as the game went on without quality chances coming forth.

“As the game wears on and you’re not able to penetrate them, obviously it plays on your head and guys start squeezing their stick a little bit.”

While some raise questions as to what this says about the maturity of a dynamic, but young Miami team, its opening weekend resilience in crushing Ohio State on Saturday after losing a shootout on Friday, and strong play against veteran squads like Notre Dame and Michigan suggest the Ohio Hockey Classic was a bit of an anomaly.

Heading to the always-bloodthirsty Yost Ice Arena for a pair this weekend, Blasi know his team can’t focus on the negatives from the Clarkson and Army contests.

“Obviously we’re disappointed,” Blasi said. ”But we have to regroup because we have a lot of hockey left.”