Thursday, May 2, 2024

MSU hockey third line starts weekend strong with three points to help secure 5-2 win

December 9, 2023
<p>Spartan Sophomore Forward Joey Larson navigates the Notre Dame defense during their game at Munn Arena on Dec. 8, 2023.</p>

Spartan Sophomore Forward Joey Larson navigates the Notre Dame defense during their game at Munn Arena on Dec. 8, 2023.

After a weekend on the road followed by a bye week for the Spartan hockey team, they skated onto the ice in brand new gruff Sparty jerseys, ready to play for the home crowd. The night ended with a 5-2 victory over Notre Dame.

One thing that yet again stuck out during the Friday night matchup, was the third line of freshman forward Gavin O'Connell, sophomore forward Joey Larson, and junior forward Red Savage. The O'Connell-Savage-Larson line put up a goal tonight from Larson who now has a total of 19 points with 9 goals and 10 assists to hold a team lead in points. 

“I think Savage picked it out to (Reed) Lebster, and it was an entry play,” head coach Adam Nightingale said. “It was a great play by Lebster to get it across, and Joey pounded that first one in, and Joey had a really great rebound where he didn’t just dust it off — just on and off his stick into the back of the net.”

Larson (19 points), O’Connell (14 points) and Savage (17 points) all had a point in Friday night's game, having the second most points out of every forward line on the team. Being considered the third line on paper, Nightingale speaks highly and knows that they can consistently play as a first line as well.

“I think any four of those lines, we’ve seen this year, have shown that they’re a top line,” Nightingale said. “Red plays both ends of the rink and Joey’s got a really good release. I thought he protected the puck well tonight and O’Connell’s got a really good stick and can make the guys around him better, so they’ve had some really good chemistry.”

The team as a whole was consistent in the category of shots on goal, having 56 by the end of the final period. Combined, the teams had 93 shots on goal, which is close to being unheard of in a college hockey game, and Nightingale knows that giving up almost 40 shots on goal is something for the team to work on for further games.

“I don't know if I’ve seen that, (93 shots on goal combined),” Nightingale said. “We don’t want to give up as much, so we will look at the tapes and find ways we can cut down on shot attempts.”

As a transfer student from Northern Michigan University, Larson has now matched his season high of goals from his first collegiate season, and he continues to grow. Larson still has half of a season to put up more and more points, but still he continuously gives credits to his linemates and how they better him through his game.

“My linemates, working with them everyday and the systems we have,” Larson said. “Playing hard, that’s the biggest thing and when our line is playing hard we create a lot of stuff when we play hard and then our skill takes over.”

With 11 players landing themselves on the score sheet tonight, Michigan State is continuing to compete at the high level that they have been playing all season.

“I think everyone is moving around, we're getting pucks low to high and getting shots on net, and we were lucky to get shots on net and the way we played and how hard we worked,” Larson said.

The team is back at Munn Ice Arena Saturday night at 6 p.m. to try and sweep the series against Notre Dame. The game will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.

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