One perk for the Spartan squad heading to Toledo for the regional is its proximity to East Lansing, making it easy for a green-and-white crowd to sell out the arena and make Huntington Center feel like home.

"Looks like we’ve got a great venue here, a lot of seats, great atmosphere, pretty close to East Lansing, hoping to see a big turnout of Sparty fans," junior defenseman Matt Basgall said. "Really excited to see how we show out and I'm sure the atmosphere is going to be awesome."

MSU has been working toward a moment like this all season. The goal is the national championship, but there are hurdles to overcome along the way. One of those is ending another team’s season, starting with Cornell.

The Spartans had to end Notre Dame’s season to reach the Big Ten Championship game, and in doing so, concluded the long career of head coach Jeff Jackson. MSU now faces the same challenge with Cornell, as Mike Schafer is set to retire at the end of the season.

"You can’t control that side, the emotion side," head coach Adam Nightingale said. "Obviously their teams responded really well, they won a ton of hockey games down the stretch and make it through the gauntlet there in the ECAC tournament and win it to get into the tournament, so obviously they’re a really good hockey team."

Development has been key for the Spartans since Nightingale took the helm, including the development of five freshmen and five sophomores, making MSU the youngest team in the Big Ten. Despite the youthful energy, the team also has veteran players who’ve stepped up as leaders and mentors in these one-and-done situations.

"The best teams are player-led teams and I thought this year we took a step in that," Nightingale said. "Our guys really understood that side of it. Our captain went down in January, so we really had to lean on the leadership group as a whole, and maybe a month and a half ago I talked to those guys like "hey we need more out there," I know we were winning games, but there’s a really high standard here and how we need to play."

The road to the Frozen Four ended early for the Spartans. After defeating a tough Western Michigan team 6-5 in overtime in the first round in Maryland Heights, MO., MSU faced in-state rival Michigan, where the season ended following a dominant third period from the Wolverines, who took down MSU 5-2 and advanced to their third consecutive Frozen Four.

But last year's loss at the hands of its enemies has left Michigan State with a chip on its shoulder and lessons well learned. The mentality of Nightingale and his coaching staff the entirety of the season has been to play its blue-collar style of hockey and consistently play a full 60 minute game.

"Every shift is very important. Last year we played a team like Michigan that we had beaten the week before and then we came back a week later and they’re the ones beating us," junior forward Tiernan Shoudy said. "Anybody can beat anybody in this tournament, especially in our region. I think it’s really important every shift you’re out there giving your best."

Despite having three other teams in the region between the Spartans, Big Red Bears, Buckeyes and Terries, Michigan State has still stuck to its one game at a time mentality. Nightingale noted that the team has to focus on putting their all into the first game of the tournament.

"We’re locked in on our first game. We got a great staff and there may be some preparation as far as getting games ready but our focus is on the now," Nightingale said. "If you were to win you’ve got a game in between, so we have to be prepared and put all of our focus into this first game and if we do win then we start preparing for the next."

The Spartans will face the Big Red on Thursday, March 27, at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN+, following the No. 2 vs. No. 3 seed matchup between Boston University and Ohio State at 2 p.m. on ESPNU. All four teams will battle for a chance to advance to St. Louis and play on the biggest stage yet.