As the Spartans quickly reach the second half of the season, the team moved up in the USCHO poll from eighth place to seventh place, putting them just a couple of steps closer to the top five. Contributing to this ranking was their series sweep against Penn State, beating them 5-0 on Jan. 12 and 7-3 on Jan. 13.
Besides USCHO, the USA Hockey poll pushed the Spartans ahead by three, sliding into fifth place -- the highest ranking of the season for the team.
And as the season begins to wind down into the latter half of the season, Michigan State has found themselves a great spot in the PairWise rankings. The team holds 61 points and is currently in third place behind powerhouse schools Boston College with 62 points and Boston University with 63 points.
With the movement in the polls and in the PairWise ranks, the team has also received a Big Ten Star of the Week. For his first time this season, freshman defenseman Artyom Levshunov has been announced Big Ten Second Star after his stellar performance to aid in the sweep against Penn State. He notched a goal and four assists on the weekend, as well as leading the Big Ten in conference play in assists with 14 total.
Looking ahead, the Spartans are back into action for rivalry weekend at Munn Ice Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. to take on the No. 15 ranked University of Michigan, where they are looking to sweep the team at Munn and at Yost. You can stream both games on Big 10 Plus.
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