"It's a good experience for our guys," head coach Adam Nightingale said postgame. "It's painful, but we've got a lot to keep working on and it's obviously only the first game of the series, so we're looking forward to tomorrow."

Coming off of a split weekend in Happy Valley against the Penn State Nittany Lions, the Spartans were looking to continue their nine game winning streak and take down in-state foe, University of Michigan, at Yost.

The No. 10 Wolverines came into the series matchup with a 13-8-1 record after a split weekend against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, taking a 5-3 win on night one South Bend and a 7-4 loss on night two. 

MSU dominated last year’s rivalry, winning three of four regular-season games and triumphing over Michigan in the Big Ten Championship with a thrilling 6-5 overtime win. However, Michigan avenged that loss in the NCAA Tournament, turning a third-period tie into a decisive 5-2 victory.

Scoring first in the hostile environment of Yost Ice Arena was crucial — and the Spartans delivered.

Just over two minutes into the first period, junior forward Karsen Dorwart scored on Logan Stein’s stick side, giving MSU the lone goal of the period.

As expected in the highly anticipated rivalry matchup, the teams were hip checking and putting hits into the boards from the get-go. Puck battles behind both Stein and sophomore goaltender Trey Augustine were frequent, with attempts to take puck possession and put shots on net.

After goal number one, both netminders stood tall in the crease to prevent more opportunities. 

Action in the second period ramped up at the sound of the whistle, but the Spartans maintained a one goal lead from the first period until halfway through the second when Will Horcoff made a tip play to Augustine’s left, tying up the game and giving both the Spartans and Wolverines a goal on the board.

MSU relied on its speed, with the third line of Tiernan Shoudy, Tanner Kelly and Tommi Männistö racing end-to-end to control possession.

Midway through the third period, junior forward Joey Larson deked past Stein and scored, putting MSU back in the lead.

But the lead wouldn’t last too long as Wolverine TJ Hughes was able to tie the game up with just five and a half minutes to go; neither team would score in the final minutes leading to sudden death overtime, one in which both teams are familiar with.

And it would be Schifsky’s overtime goal to hand the Wolverines a 3-2 victory, snapping MSU’s nine-game winning streak.

The rivalry continues on at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 18, when MSU hosts Michigan at Munn Ice Arena.