"We wanted to get something out of this weekend after last night and came up a little short," head coach Danton Cole said. "Bottom line, give Michigan all the credit. They got down and played hard, and kept throwing pucks at the net."

The Spartans were the first ones to strike as sophomore forward Taro Hirose scored his seventh goal of the season just 26 seconds into the game. Just under four minutes later, fellow sophomore forward Logan Lambdin would score his third goal of the season to make it 2-0.

That lead would be shorten to one, as U-M’s sophomore forward James Sanchez scored just over three minutes into the second period. MSU would extend its lead to 3-1 although, courtesy of sophomore center Patrick Khodorenko’s power play goal. 

MSU’s 3-1 lead, however, would vanish as U-M freshman forward Michael Pastujov and junior center Cooper Marody would each score a goal just over a minute from each other late in the second period.

U-M striked first in the third period with senior defenseman Cutler Martin scoring within the first two minutes, to make it a 4-3 Wolverine lead.

Moments later, Khodorenko would commit a five-minute cross-checking major on U-M sophomore defenseman Griffin Luce. Marody would then score his second goal of the afternoon to make it 5-3.

Khodorenko tried to make amends for his penalty as he would score his second power play goal on a Spartan 5-on-3, to make it a 5-4 Wolverine lead. Marody would then score his third goal within the last four minutes in the third period to give him the hat trick and the Wolverines a 6-4 lead, which would be the final score.

"It was a good prep for when we play them Feb. 10 down here. So it was good for everyone to kind of get their feet wet," said senior defenseman Carson Gatt, who had two assists on the afternoon.

The now 8-11-1 Spartans will be back in action later this week, as they’ll host the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes for a weekend series. Puck drop for the first game on Friday is at 7:05 p.m.