Photo illustration by Grace Montgomery. Photos by Fatih Gorkem Imamoglu (top left), Brendan Mullin (top and bottom middle), Rachel Lewis (top right), Cooper Schwartz (bottom left), and Michael Roggenbaum (bottom right).
For six Spartan seniors, this weekend marks their final regular-season series at Munn Ice Arena.
“Four years goes by really quickly,” said senior defenseman and captain Matt Basgall. “Very excited to play again in front of our fans. It's always a blast at Munn ... We got a couple months left, so gotta take care of it.”
No. 1 Michigan State hockey will host Ohio State this weekend, opening play Friday at 8:30 p.m. The series finale will be Saturday at 8 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.
The Spartans are second in the Big Ten with 45 points and a 15-5-0 conference record (24-6-0 overall). No. 2 Michigan leads the conference by one point but has played two more games than MSU. The Spartans are in prime position to clinch the regular-season title for the third straight year.
The Buckeyes are fifth in the Big Ten with a 7-13-0 record (11-18-1 overall) and 23 points. They were swept by, then, No. 6 Penn State last week in an 11-4 loss and a 5-4 overtime loss.
Last Meetings
The teams last met in early January and split the series. In the opening game, MSU executed at a high level offensively, highlighted by three goals in about 40 seconds. While the Spartans took the first game 6-2, their effort was lackluster the following night, and Ohio State won 2-1.
Competing at a high level after successful games remains a challenge, which head coach Adam Nightingale reiterated after the January series. The Spartans scored their season high in goals last weekend in an 8-2 defeat of Notre Dame, but have emphasized their “one day at a time” mentality throughout the season.
“The previous 30 games don't even matter right now,” Basgall said. “It's just Friday, and then once Friday takes care of itself, we'll get on to Saturday. It's always just a day by day mentality.”
Scouting the Buckeyes
Ohio State is led by forwards Davis Burnside, Félix Caron and Jake Karabela who have all recorded 25 points this season. Karabela, a freshman from the Canadian Hockey League, has led the team in scoring all season.
Prior to the January series at Ohio State, Nightingale said the Buckeyes were excellent in transition and strong defensively, making it difficult to get inside.
Goaltender Kristoffer Eberly is expected to start for the Buckeyes. Eberly holds a .879 save percentage and a 3.50 goals-against average.
Keeping up with the Spartans
The Spartans enter the series following a sweep of Notre Dame. MSU took the first game 4-2, although Nightingale said Notre Dame was the better team.
MSU secured an 8-2 victory in the series finale, fueled by a physical performance, a hat trick from freshman forward Porter Martone and a multi-goal night from freshman forward Ryker Lee.
Senior forward Daniel Russell finished the weekend with four assists.
MSU continues to be led by Martone (20-21 — 41), Russell (10-27 — 37) and senior forward Charlie Stramel (19-21 — 40). Martone is a dangerous scorer and Stramel provides a dominant front-net presence, often assisted by Russell. The line has generated 118 points this season (49 goals, 69 assists).
Martone and Stramel mark the first time MSU has had multiple 40-point scorers in a season since 2007-08, the year after its national title. Stramel is also fourth nationally in faceoff wins and tied for the national lead in game-winning goals with seven.
Junior goaltender Trey Augustine continues to perform among the best. His .932 save percentage and 1.96 goals-against average lead the Big Ten. He ranks fourth nationally in save percentage and fifth in goals-against average.
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As a team, the Spartans rank No. 1 nationally in scoring defense, allowing an average of 1.97 goals. They rank No. 5 in scoring offense, averaging 3.83 goals. MSU’s power play is 13-for-38 since January, ranking second in the NCAA over its last 12 games.
Senior Celebration
Following Saturday’s 8 p.m. game, senior forward Tiernan Shoudy, senior defenseman Travis Shoudy, senior goaltender Dolan Gilbert, Stramel, Basgall and Russell will be honored.
Basgall, Russell and Tiernan Shoudy have spent all four of their seasons at MSU and have played in all 143 of Nightingale’s games since he took over in the 2022-23 season. Nightingale said the three have left the program better than they found it.
Nightingale spoke on Basgall’s consistency, Russell’s example of an “everyday guy” and Tiernan Shoudy’s commitment to the program. He said Tiernan Shoudy could have easily transferred to be on a power-play unit at another program.
“It's a special group of guys,” Nightingale said. “We were lucky that when we got the job that they were coming in.”
