MSU Hockey Player Attacked in Locker Room?

It started with Michigan junior defenseman Steve Kampfer lying on the ice possibly injured following an incident with two Michigan State players during Saturday night’s men’s ice hockey game.

According to a Department of Public Safety report, Tropp was kicked out of the game. After he was kicked out, “a visitor assaulted a hockey player after being upset about an incident that happened during the game.”

DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown said that the incident followed the ejection from the game. She said the player ejected from yesterday's game — which, according to the box score, was Tropp — was in the visitor's locker room and a 48-year-old man from Jackson confronted him.

"We had a parent come crashing into the locker room and fight my player," Comley said to the State News.

According to multiple sources close to the situation, the man was taken to the Yost offices behind the skate rental booth for DPS questioning.

“I heard him tell the officer that he did grab Tropp by the jersey, and they were also holding each other and yelling at each other,” said a person who was in the room during the questioning. The person asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the press on the matter.

The hit on Kampfer was especially poignant, considering his recent history of head injuries. He suffered a fractured skull in an off-ice incident on Oct. 12, was in a neck brace until Nov. 19 and didn't return to game action until Dec. 27. (Ridiculous that they allowed him to play in my opinion)

Kampfer was released from the hospital Sunday after being held for precautionary measures, according to Michigan officials.

“I have a strained neck right now,” Kampfer told the Detroit Free Press in a Sunday phone interview. “I had no relapse of what happened earlier. Hopefully, I’ll be back this weekend.”
Conboy’s initial hit was presumably in retaliation against Kampfer for knocking Tropp off his skates with a clean open-ice hit moments earlier. Tropp received a five-minute major for slashing, two 10-minute misconducts and a double game-disqualification, which means a minimum three-game suspension. But Conboy was just penalized with a double minor for roughing.

“I don’t want to comment on it because I didn’t see it,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said after Saturday's game. “Their coach said he would deal with their player.”

After the game, Michigan State coach Rick Comley quickly condemned his players’ actions.
“They fought hard, and what happened at the end is not good for hockey,” Comley told the State News. “I’ll deal with our kid.”

MSU Hockey - November 15th Game

East Lansing, Mich - Michigan State's scoring woes continued on Saturday evening, as it fell to Miami, 3-1, at Munn Ice Arena. Corey Tropp had MSU's lone goal, as the Spartans fell to 4-6-0, 2-4-2-2 in CCHA play. Miami improves its first-place standing with a 6-3-3 record, 6-2-2-1 in conference games.

Tonight's contest was much different than the previous evening's penalty-filled affair; it featured end-to-end skating, a combined 20 minutes in penalties (compared to 94 the previous night), and good scoring chances at both ends.

Tim Crowder broke up a three-on-one break by Miami just past the ten minute mark of the second period.

The scoreless deadlock was broken at 15:09 of the middle period, when Justin Mercier's shot from the top of the left hash marks was saved by Lerg with his stick, but the puck ricocheted off of the blade and bounced into the back of the net.

Miami's lead was pushed to 2-0 at 9:40 in the final frame, when junior Brandon Smith shot the puck from the half-wall on the right side; Andy Meile was crashing the net and served as a screen for the defenseman in front as Smith's shot got through.

The Spartans refused to roll over, and kept pressuring aggressively. The work paid off at 11:49, when Corey Tropp's shot from the bottom of the left circle beat goalie Conner Knapp stick-side. It was Tropp's first goal of the season, and an assist went to Tim Crowder.

Michigan State pressed in the final minute, with Jeff Lerg on the bench in an effort to gain the equalizer; Carter Camper's empty-net goal. Lerg stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced, while counterpart Knapp made 24 saves for the Red Hawks. The Spartans will look to halt the streak next week when it travels to Nebraska-Omaha for a two-game set. It is the first two of five consecutive road games for the MSU icers, who will next play at home on Dec. 6 against archrival Michigan.