The series will take place Friday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. ET and Saturday, Oct. 25, at 6 p.m. ET. Friday’s game will be locally televised by WILX. 

The two teams met last year in the Great Lakes Invitational, with Michigan State earning a 2-0 shutout off of goals from former forwards Isaac Howard and Karsen Dorwart. This season the Spartans (3-1-0) are entering the series with a three-game win streak, while the Wildcats (0-6-0) are looking to earn their first win.

Despite the record, NMU hasn’t played easy opponents. All three of the Wildcats' series have been against ranked opponents, and their first two series were on the road. Last Friday Northern Michigan nearly defeated then No. 19 Colorado College but fell in a 1-2 overtime loss. 

"We put them on the schedule for a reason," head coach Adam Nightingale said. "I think it's a really good test for our group, you know, and another opportunity to go try to figure out how to play good on the road."

Michigan State found success last week on the road, taking steps to establish its identity of team hockey that responds within games. MSU led both games of its BU road series from the puck drop, remaining composed amongst a hostile home crowd even as its opponent came back. 

Sophomore forward Shane Vansaghi recorded one goal last weekend, but more notably recorded a series-saving play when he helped prevent the puck from crossing the goal line during overtime of Game 2. 

“We're a good hockey team, and it's always going to be about us,” Vansaghi said. “I think [what] we learned (from) this weekend is we can play our game for whatever 60 minutes every single night, and the more we can establish our identity throughout the game, the better chance we have winning.”

While the Spartans are focused on themselves and growing as a team, they’ll be seeing some familiar faces when they head north. 

The Wildcats are led in points (4) by returner sophomore Jakub Altricher, who recorded the most assists and points of the team last season (3-16-19).  Another standout for NMU is freshman forward Mathew Ward – a former teammate of Spartan freshman forward Cayden Lindstrom. Both played for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the CHL, going on to win the WHL Championship together before losing the Memorial Cup to the OHL’s London Knights. 

"Good team," Vansaghi said. "They play hard. They played us through a good game last year at the GLI. It wasn't easy, and it's going to be another battle this weekend."

As always, the Spartans look to improve their game when facing Northern Michigan, as it will be the last nonconference matchup before they open Big Ten play at home against Penn State.