It may surprise many students to know MSU hockey wasn’t always a hot ticket. 

"No one really went to the games," Munnsters’ section leader and civil engineering junior Kailee Chambers said. "Now, people are lining up, like, eight hours beforehand, even longer. I think him loving us has really (made us want) to show up and support them."

The rise of the Munnsters mirrors the program’s own revival. Nightingale’s return to his alma mater has lifted MSU hockey back into national contention and given students something to rally around. 

The chants, the lines, the road trips — they’re all proof of how much this team, and its coach, has changed what hockey feels like in East Lansing. 

Nightingale returned to his alma mater in 2022 to become MSU’s head coach, taking over a team that only won 12 games the year before. Within his first season, the program earned its first post-season wins in a decade. In 2023-24, the Spartans collected both the regular season and Big Ten Tournament titles, reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012.

"He’s brought them back to being the team that is the goal for every other team in the country," section leader and environmental studies senior Dominic DeStefano said. "They couldn’t sell out this arena for the first couple years of at least my college career, and now you can’t get tickets to any of the games. He’s just brought a new life to that team."

Special education junior Kelsy Osborn attended her first MSU hockey game at seven months old, and has watched Spartan hockey throughout her entire life, now as a Munnsters’ section leader. 

It’s impossible to explain how much the team has changed since Nightingale took over, Osborn said, adding that his coaching has transformed the entire atmosphere of Munn – growing the student section, improving the facilities and recruiting players. 

Prior to each hockey season, the Munnsters have the opportunity to meet Nightingale and players after watching a practice. Many students said Nightingale’s presence made them feel like part of the team — that he remembered their names, asked where they grew up and took time to talk with them before the season.

Last season MSU competed in the Frozen Confines at Wrigley Field over winter break. Public relations junior Madison Vollmer flew back from her hometown in Arizona just to watch the game with Chambers and other Spartan fans. 

"We don't just show up at Munn," Chambers said. "We will go support this team and they know we support it."

As the Munnsters have grown, so has the space they take up in Munn Ice Arena. The students take up five whole sections – an entire corner of the building. That corner remains active and electric the entire night. 

"We don't stop, even if we're down by three goals," DeStefano said. "We're constantly screaming and everybody buys into that. No one's sitting there on their phone or sitting down. Everybody stands the entire game."

While Nightingale has impacted the team, and in turn the Munnsters, the student section has also changed the lives of the students involved. 

"It's grew a lot of confidence in me," section leader and environmental engineering senior Michael Memering said. "I mean having to start chants and not care what other people think. It's a good way to do it."

The Munnsters have also brought new friendships. When Vollmer was a freshman, she posted a snapchat story asking if anyone wanted to go to the hockey game with her. Chambers responded and the two have been attending hockey games together ever since – as roommates and now section leaders. 

The Munnsters existed pre-Nightingale, but he’s brought new life to the student section — a fanbase that’s bought in wherever the Spartans go.