MSU Hockey kicked off its 50th season at Munn this weekend against hockey powerhouse Boston College. This was a battle of preseason 2 vs 4 and was going to test the make of this years roster. Last season MSU was swept at Boston College but Coach Nightingale has mentioned what a turning point those games were and how they helped the team down the stretch. Let’s take a look on how things went this weekend.
Friday night had 21 players and coaches on hand from the 1974-75 season and the 15th consecutive sell out crowd and they were rowdy. The first period was a fun and fast paced back and forth where both goalies stopped 8 shots to send both teams scoreless into the first intermission. The best part of this period was there was not a single penalty and the Spartans looked to have cleaned up some of their first weekend mishaps.
The second period is where MSU suddenly found itself getting punched in the face. BC came out firing and landed an early goal. The barrage didn’t stop there as BC doubled the Spartans on shots on goal and closed out the period up 3-0.
MSU did finish strong and kept at it in the third but they could not get the puck past Jacob Fowler, who finished with 24 saves. MSU suffered its first shut out in a year and a half. The Spartans came up empty handed on two power play opportunities in the third. We’d all like to see the early season power play struggles get solved sooner rather than later. I was very pleased to see the huge improvement on penalties and minus that second period, the Spartans were right there with the number 2 team in the country.
Saturday night had a very different feel and it felt like an even louder crowd than Friday. Michigan state won its 600th game at Munn. The Spartans showed a lot of heart rallying from deficits twice. I loved seeing Nightingale switch the lines up and having the switch play out with positive results. All three lines found the net. The Spartans scored first but found themselves down heading into the first intermission.
The second period is where the Spartans ignited finding the net three times. At the 7:32 mark Charlie Stramel put the Spartans ahead with his second goal of the night. The third period was scoreless as Munn erupted with the final horn.
Some big positives coming out of this weekend that should have all Spartans looking forward to the remainder of the season.
1. ADJUSTMENTS
Nightingale being willing to switch up lines so early in the season to try and find the right combination is fantastic. There’s a lot of new blood on the roster and it takes a second to find where everyone fits and Nightingale definitely hit a bonus button with his adjustments from Friday to Saturday.
2. ISAAC HOWARD AND DANIEL RUSSELL STAY HOT
These two have started this season on fire and continued that against some very stiff competition this weekend. Russell has three goals and each of those have been game winners. Fun stat I saw on that, last year’s leader in that category had four. Howard has already had three multipoint games and is dishing the puck out very nicely. Having Stramel and Red Savage also scoring gives us some hope the offense starts to take off.
3. TREY AUGUSTINE
Augustine and BC’s Fowler are arguably the two best goaltenders in the nation this year. Augustine does give up some goals but he makes some beautiful stops. He looks locked in and when things get close he tends to shift into another gear. Other than Friday’s second period, Augustine has been very solid. It definitely helped having the penalties lowered this weekend and the PK playing well.
Up next is an exhibition against Windsor on Friday. Let’s hope the power play can get activated as sometimes it just takes one to open the gates. Go Green!