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Series against Ohio State and Minnesota defined ice hockey's season

March 25, 2015
<p>Junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand blocks the puck from entering the goal March 20, 2015, during the Big 10 Hockey Tournament at Joe Louis Arena. The Spartans lost to the Wolverines, 4-1. Allyson Telgenhof/The State News.</p>

Junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand blocks the puck from entering the goal March 20, 2015, during the Big 10 Hockey Tournament at Joe Louis Arena. The Spartans lost to the Wolverines, 4-1. Allyson Telgenhof/The State News.

In 2015, however, the Spartans pulled a remarkable transformation that saw them go 10-5-1 and surge to a second-place finish in the Big Ten.

While it’s hard to pinpoint the moment that helped MSU turn the corner, there are a few moments that do stick out. The weekend split against Minnesota at Munn Ice Arena in early December was a weekend that saw MSU at its worst and best, luckily in that order.

Heading into the weekend with a record of 8-5, the Gophers trounced the Spartans 5-0 in MSU’s Big Ten home opener. MSU had mostly suffered one-goal losses up until that point.

“We have to put it behind us and regroup and come back with a much better effort tomorrow night,” head coach Tom Anastos said following the game.

The Spartans responded the next night, which would become a useful and recurring trait throughout the rest of the season.

MSU played the Gophers to a 3-3 tie, and went on to win the shootout to gain an extra point in the Big Ten standings. The Spartans recorded their largest shot differential of the season over the Gophers, outshooting them 45-24.

“I thought from the start of the game to the end that it was our best game of the season,” Anastos said following that Saturday night game.

Anastos pointed to that game throughout the season as the Spartans’ most complete effort. It served as the moment that the players truly began to buy into Anastos’ system and build as a cohesive unit.

Nearly two months later, MSU returned to Munn to face off against Ohio State. Both teams entered with identical 7-11-2 records and fighting to stay relevant in the Big Ten race.

MSU swept the Buckeyes that weekend with a 4-1 win Friday and a 2-0 shutout Saturday. While it was the first series sweep that the Spartans had up to that point of the season, it was the crowd at Munn that made this series a turning point.

Munn had not seen a crowd of more than 6,000 through the first eight home games. That weekend, the announced crowds were 6,333 and 6,439kh and that number never dipped below 6,000 for the rest of the year. A true home-ice advantage was born that weekend as shown by MSU winning eight of its last 10 games at Munn.

Anastos and the Spartans took notice of the improved and livened crowd.

“I thought it was a great atmosphere around the rink,” Anastos said. “Our crowd was just awesome and the guys fed off of that and take notice.”kh

After the series, senior forward Brent Darnellkhforecasted and somewhat accurately predicted what that sweep meant to the Spartans.

“I think this will be a turning point for our team,” Darnell said on that Saturday in January.kh

A turnaround, whether it is for an individual season or a program as a whole, never takes place overnight. It never even takes place over the course of two series.

It takes countless moments of perseverance, reaffirmation and learning experiences. It would be nearly impossible to point to a single play or game that solely resulted in MSU’s success late in the season.

Nevertheless, the home series against both the Gophers and Buckeyes certainly made the most noticeable impact.

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