On the visiting NTDP team, there were three players to look out for who will be in green and white next season. They had their first opportunity to step onto Ron Mason Rink, and those three were Lucas Van Vliet, Austin Baker, and Shane Vansaghi.

As the team buzzed around the ice, they were prepared to come into the first period as sophomore forward Karsen Dorwart faced off against Baker. The Spartans quickly ran away with the puck.

The Spartans logged the first penalty of the game after an interference call was made on sophomore forward Matt Basgall. Fifth-year forward Reed Lebster was quick to run away with the puck for an attempt at a shorthanded goal, but the end result of the kill was a development team goal, coming from future commit Baker, putting the US up 1-0.

With a defense that was looking to be outstanding for the night, the Spartans continued to keep the NTDP out of their net after the first goal and played with a strong hand. With their aggression in the offensive zone, the hard work resulted in a breakaway from freshman forward Griffin Jurecki and freshman defenseman Austin Oravetz, where the duo played tic tac toe down the ice and put the puck in the back of the net to light the lamp and tie the game.

With just under four minutes to go in the first, Dorwart took the puck to his backhand to flip it up and put the puck top shelf into the net to put the Spartans ahead by one. The goal was assisted by freshman defenseman Artyom Levshunov and junior forward ​​Tanner Kelly.

Quickly after the goal was on the board, the green and white finally received their first opportunity on the power play, but the Spartans were unable to put themselves up by two on the man advantage. And just after the advantage ended, the Spartans were nabbed for too many men on the ice, leaving the NTDP with just over a minute of a power play into the second.

Beginning the second with an important PK, the Spartans held strong and held off the development program to keep the green and white ahead 2-1.

Freshman goalie Luca Di Pasquo stopped a few terrific shot attempts, and the Munnsters erupted in chants for the goaltender and his fantastic way of playing through the game.

The Spartans were quick to block and break up passes between the NTDP as they kept the opportunities away from Di Pasquo and played some of their best game in the defensive zone.

With a slow first 15 minutes, the Spartans put another goal on the board off of a rebound shot from junior forward Red Savage landed on sophomore forward Joey Larson's stick for him to put the puck in the back of the net, as well as a secondary assist coming from Levshunov for his second point of the night.

Three minutes were remaining in the second, and as the action seemed to pick up in the final five minutes, the Spartans were tallied for tripping and went to the penalty kill for two minutes. They were able to hold off the NTDP with a remaining minute of five on five for the middle frame. 

With puck drop a go at Munn for the final period, MSU was off to a quick start as freshman forward Gavin O'Connell tipped in a shot from Matt Basgall for his ninth goal of the season to put a solid stamp on the lead.

With a few more great shots from MSU and from the NTDP, the Spartans kept their strong lead. In the remaining six minutes, head coach Adam Nightingale decided to put in senior goaltender Jon Mor, an alum of the NTDP, who finished out the game in place of Di Pasquo.

With just two and a half minutes to go, the NTDP put a puck to the net from Brodie Ziemer to cut the lead to 4-2, along with pulling their goalie to try and even the game up. But sophomore forward Daniel Rusell was quick to dump a puck into the empty net to get back ahead by three yet again. 

The Spartans remained strong, and the game was quickly solidified.

The Spartans took a dominating win with a final 5-2 score. The team will be back in action for the second weekend in January at Penn State on Friday Jan. 12 where they look to take their first Big Ten win of the 2024 year.