MSU is 5-3 all-time against UMass-Lowell, and have an 8-8 mark against Boston University.

“(UMass-Lowell is) a very hard forechecking team, and they make it hard to play against them in your own defensive zone,” head coach Tom Anastos said. “Boston University is playing really well. They’re playing with the energy of a new coach. It’s my understanding that they play with good speed and good skill.”

The River Hawks were the No. 1 preseason team, and made it to the Frozen Four a season ago before losing in the national semifinal to Yale.

Boston University is making their first trip to Munn since March 1990 when they were in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal.

Senior goalie Will Yanakeff said it’s always tough to start the season on the road, and it will be good to return to the friendly confines of Munn.

“We got a little taste of it with the exhibition game, but it’ll be a little bit different bringing in some NCAA competition,” Yanakeff said. “You’d be surprised at how much the fans yelling and cheering actually help. It’s that extra oomph during the game. It’s really influential.”

Sophomore forward Mike Ferrantino agreed with his goalie and said having the highly ranked, East Coast schools come to Munn levels the playing field.

“Coming home to our home fans that were amazing to us last year, we want to get off on the right foot,” Ferrantino said. “It’s always great playing in front of the people at Munn. They’re loud, they’re noisy, and we can use that to our advantage.”

The Spartans suffered 15 penalties in Massachusetts last weekend totaling 30 minutes.

Anastos said one of the biggest takeaways from the games last weekend was the lack of depth MSU has on both the penalty kill and the powerplay.

“It goes without saying we’re working on our special teams every day,” he said. “We’re breaking a lot of new guys in. We’re going to experiment with guys until we find out who are top powerplay and penalty kills guys are.”

The Terriers are fresh off a 7-3 win against No. 2 Wisconsin, and will take on No. 4 Michigan in Ann Arbor Friday night before coming to East Lansing.

Anastos has a clear plan to improve the Spartans this season, but said he knew it wasn’t going to be an easy process.

“It’s a long journey, not a short sprint,” he said. “We have to make good decisions with the puck. We’re going to have to build on trying to get out of our zone as much as possible and trying to get scoring chances. It will be a huge test for our team.”