A left-shot defenseman, he recorded five goals and six assists in 36 games, including a dynamite three goals in two games during the Great Lakes Invitational.
Standing at a giant 6-foot-8, 235 pounds, Sparkes is a Toronto native who played the 2021-22 season with the St. Michael’s Buzzers of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.
Standing at 6-foot-6 and 191 pounds, Hurtig travels over from Sweden where he most recently played in the J20 Nationell league and accumulated six goals and 11 assists splitting time for the Växjö Lakers and Mora IK.
There’s a story that long time assistant coach Tom Newton tells about Ron Mason. Through the tears he cracks a smile as he begins telling it.
For MSU’s hockey program, the healing process for players is in good hands with Dr. Andrew Schorfhaar of the MSU Sports Medicine team.
For talented hockey players in Sweden, there is a pretty standard route to making it big. First, they play for junior or youth teams operated by professional clubs. And next, if they are good enough, they advance to the professional level of club play. That wasn’t the case for MSU junior forward Villiam Haag, though, because he packed his bags and moved 4,007 miles and six time zones away from his hometown of Gothenburg.
On a Friday morning two days before official move in for freshmen, a group of alumni gathered in a familiar spot on MSU's campus.
All-American junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand has saved himself a spot in MSU history.
Of the five MSU hockey seniors this year, nearly all of them are moving on to the next level.
One of the biggest reasons for MSU hockey’s late-season success was its ability to find contributions from different players every week.
It was almost the story of two seasons for MSU hockey, or even the story of two years.
While MSU hockey (17-16-2, 11-7-2 Big Ten) didn’t accomplish all of its goals this season, it was still a step in the right direction.
It was hard to put into words.
“We think that we can kind of see the corner,” head coach Tom Anastos said.
MSU hockey's junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand was named the Big Ten Player of the Year on Monday.
When MSU hockey (17-15-2 overall , 11-7-2 Big Ten ) laid out its goals at the beginning of the year, some might have thought they were a little arbitrary.
Stakes could not have been much higher Friday night at Munn Ice Arena.
Not since the first week of the Big Ten season has MSU hockey (16-14-2, 10-6-2-2 Big Ten) laid claim to first place, but 15 weeks later it can do exactly that.
It wasn’t long ago that MSU hockey was searching for consistency and confidence.
In front of a sold-out crowd of 6,042 at Munn Ice Arena, MSU hockey (15-14-2, 9-6-2-2 Big Ten) picked up an important win with just three games left in the season.