The Spartans celebrate their victory against University of Michigan at Munn Ice Arena on March 23, 2024. MSU secured the Big Ten Tournament championship with their win over the Wolverines.
After spending a season in the national spotlight for its first time in the Big Ten era, MSU hockey is striving for even more this winter.
With a Big Ten regular season and tournament championship under their belt, as well as an NCAA tournament appearance, the Spartans were voted as the favorite in the Big Ten preseason coaches poll by the conference Friday.
Four players were also nominated for preseason honors.
The team finished its 2023-2024 campaign 25-10-3 overall and 16-6-2 in conference play. MSU has since parted ways with 5 key senior players and second overall draft pick to the Chicago Blackhawks, Artyom Levshunov.
The MSU players that earned preseason honors: sophomore goaltender Trey Augustine, and junior forwards Isaac Howard, Karsen Dorwart and Joey Larson.
Augustine, entering his second season as the Spartans' starting goaltender, earned a First Team selection in the preseason polls. After finishing the season with a .918 save percentage, ranked 15th nationally, Augustine was one of two players in the conference to earn a unanimous vote for the selection.
Entering his third season at MSU and second as an alternate captain, Dorwart earned a First Team All-Big Ten selection. Dorwart had a career-best 15 goals and 19 assists during his sophomore campaign and was tied in second place for shorthanded goals in the conference.
After transferring to MSU his sophomore year, Howard quickly made himself known as a Spartan. Howard and Augustine were teammates when they secured gold at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Juniors tournament, where Howard had two goals in the gold medal game.
Larson received All-Big Ten Honorable Mention votes. During his first season in a Spartan jersey, Larson skated in all 40 regular season games, putting up 16 goals and 32 points.
The Spartans take the ice for the first time this season against Lake Superior State University on Friday, Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. at Taffy Abel Arena in Sault Ste. Marie, MI.
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