There’s a good chance that for the second consecutive time that Corey Tropp pulls on his green and white sweater at Yost Ice Arena, the Michigan State junior will be at the center of the game story. This time around, however, Tropp should be making headlines for the right reasons as he continues his remarkable journey to being one of college hockey’s most prolific scorers and a major reason that the Spartans have returned to national prominence.

While the fans at Yost won’t let Tropp forget his role in last January’s on-ice incident that left him suspended for the remainder of last season, the junior, who was unavailable for interviews this week, has left the incident behind him, admitting to the Lansing State Journal earlier this year that he made a mistake and making it known that he had moved on.

According to assistant coach Tom Newton, Tropp spent a great deal of time during the offseason focusing on building up the strength he needed to augment the skill set that made him a third-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres. The work has paid off, with Tropp scoring a nation’s-best eight goals in Michigan State’s first 10 games, including five on the power play and one short-handed marker. The attention that Tropp’s scoring ability has commanded should also help him be prepared for being public enemy number one amongst Michigan fans and priority number one for the Wolverines’ defense.

“Corey is the leading scorer in the country, so he’s a marked man in any rink that we play in,” Newton said. “He’s going to go out and do his job, and focus on what he needs to do to help us win.”

Contributing to Tropp’s early-season success have been his linemates Nick Sucharski and Derek Grant, with whom Tropp has developed an excellent chemistry. Sucharski, the Spartans’ captain, has bounced back nicely from an early season-ending shoulder injury last year with six points, and Grant, a freshman from Abbotsford, B.C., was the national rookie of the month for October and has 12 points in 10 appearances.

When meeting with local media earlier this week, Grant gave a great deal of credit to Tropp for his quick transition to the college game, citing a skating ability that was likely boosted by Tropp’s offseason dedication.

“He’s incredible with the puck,” Grant said of Tropp. “If you get him the puck and you can find open ice, he’ll find you there. He can dance around defensemen like nobody I’ve ever seen. I just try to get him the puck as much as possible, and Sucharski and I just try to find open ice and help him out as much as we can. He has the ability to walk around two d-men and put the puck in himself so that makes our jobs a lot easier.”

Newton gives the trio credit for their ability to score the highlight-reel goals that Grant’s descriptions suggest, but he is also happy to see the ugly goals that count just the same on the scoreboard. Grant noted that this ability to get to the net has been a key in making Michigan State’s power play the best in the CCHA and one of the top-10 units in the nation.

“Coach (Rick Comley) just has us shooting a lot,” Grant said. “He doesn’t want us making 12 passes and getting the perfect shot. I think we’re just getting pucks to the net, and we’ve scored a few goals off of rebounds and deflections, so I think that’s our strength right now, is getting the puck through from our points and getting a couple of good passes and then getting our shot off.”

A few more trips to the net resulting in goals for the Tropp-Grant-Sucharski trio would add an interesting new element to this weekend’s contest, raising the blood pressure of fans who haven’t left last year’s incident behind. But high tension is nothing new to what is one of college hockey’s most intense rivalries year-in and year-out.

Playing with Tropp and seeing so much success should bring a hailstorm of insults on Grant on Friday, but the rookie is ready to take it in stride.

“I think for me personally it’s kind of amusing in a way,” Grant said. “I think also it shows that they’re worried about you in some way or another. I think it just makes everyone play better … I know the rivalry, and just being here at Michigan State, you just see the hatred between the two schools and hear about it. I’m looking forward to it and experiencing something like this.”