“We had a lot of Sparties in the crowd and that helped the guys,” head coach Adam Nightingale said. “I think we started a little as expected, a little sloppy, and then we got to our game. I thought there were sequences where I really liked us.”

Even while playing without starting freshman goaltender Trey Augustine, sophomore forward Isaac Howard, freshman forward Tommi Männistö, and freshman defenseman Maxim Štrbák, who are playing for their respective countries in the IIHF World Junior Championships, the team fought hard and played well to prove themselves in the GLI tournament. 

“I think our job as a coaching staff is to make sure we have depth. And we’re fortunate that we have four guys that have that opportunity and to earn that opportunity (playing at the world juniors),” Nightingale said. “But there is no excuse for us not playing our best. And we’ve got some really good hockey players that haven’t played a ton of minutes yet, and got an opportunity. And that’s part of us trying to build.”

While having to make up for the missing Spartans, the team still showed up for the game and made up for the loss of their four players. Standouts of game one were senior forward Jeremy Davidson who had two goals, as well as a stellar spin around backhanded goal, and freshman goalie Luca Di Pasquo who was minutes shy of a shutout in just his third appearance.

With a year and a half of coaching the Spartans on his back, Nightingale has noticed the deep development and the depth of the team that has progressed from the transfer portal and the practices that have given the players opportunities to show their skill. 

“I think the way we develop every day, we train like we want to be the best team in the nation,” junior forward Red Savage said. “I’ve seen a lot of growth, and it’s a lot about the people who surround me that make you better. We’ve got a very skilled game and a lot of hard workers on our team that push each other, and it’s easy to get better when everyone on your team is focused into pushing towards one goal.”

From the beginning of the year to the halfway mark, the Spartans have seen a lot of improvement with covering their opponents, as well as playing the full 60 minutes that they know they can play.

“Just staying on their defensemen, and playing smarter, and making first passes, and just not doing too much in the O-zone (offensive zone) and getting them behind their D (defensemen) and getting on the D and getting it back,” Davidson said.

The Spartans are back in action on the night of Dec. 29 for the championship game against formal CCHA rival Michigan Tech, looking for the big win to travel back with them to East Lansing.