With just one more win needed to reach the 2024 Frozen Four, MSU lost 5-2 to rival University of Michigan after going 4-1 against the Wolverines prior to the matchup and beating them in the Big Ten Tournament Championship. 

With nine new faces in green and white, two transfer students and seven freshman, the team returned 17 players for the upcoming season.

MSU is sticking to the same mentality it's had in recent years under head coach Adam Nightingale — take the season one game at a time. Still, this year is different, garnering the highest expectations for an MSU hockey team in well over a decade.

After falling a couple games short last March, MSU thinks it can be the final team standing in 2025. 

"We want to win a national title, and that was obviously the goal the first year, but how realistic are you going to be?" junior defenseman Matt Basgall said at a press conference Wednesday. "You’ve gotta get your feet wet, get back and compete in the Big Ten, which is a very tough conference."

MSU is ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten preseason poll and No. 4 in the NCAA preseason poll. The Spartans have come a long way in Nightingale’s two seasons at the helm. The team that was once the hunters has become the hunted. 

"I think there’s honestly still a lot to prove," freshman forward Shane Vansaghi said. "There’s polls out there, but we don’t worry too much about that. For us, it’s more about getting better every day."

Vansaghi is one of MSU's newcomers, a former player on the U.S. National Team Development Program. He played at Munn last January, but in the red, white and blue instead of green and white. Vansaghi said his time at MSU so far has been everything he'd hoped for since committing to Nightingale's surging program. 

Another key factor for the Spartans this winter is their leadership group.

With senior captain Red Savage, Basgall, junior forward Karsen Dorwart and junior forward Tiernan Shoudy returning, the team has also seen leadership emerge from its freshmen.

"That’s the strength of our team. It’s not just the guys who are wearing letters," Nightingale said. "We’ve got a ton of leadership on our team and I think that’ll be a strength of ours."

There's no doubt that the season-ending loss to Michigan continues to sting MSU. The bitter ending, as Dorwart called it, has given the team a chip on its shoulder. 

"We want to finish what we started last year," Dorwart said.

The Spartans begin their season in the Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where they'll take on Lake Superior State University on the road on Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. at Taffy Abel Arena.