At least there has been one team worth watching on Saturday besides Spartan Football. MSU hockey continues to roll as they complete a sweep over Notre Dame in South Bend. MSU won 4-1 on Friday and 3-1 on Saturday to make their win streak hit 9 and 4-0 in B1G.
MSU did a better job of limiting penalties after the previous weekend where they hit the box 9 times. Against the Irish, MSU headed to the box only 4 times. Charlie Stramel continued his hot streak add three points in assists this weekend as lineman
Daniel Russell added two assists, both in Friday’s game. Friday saw Porter Martone score twice and one on the power play but the spartans headed into the third period only up 2-1. Strbak added the insurance goal midway through the third Friday as Ryker Lee got an empty netter. I will say the referees were pretty sketch in this match as it seemed like a lot went uncalled.
MSU is getting the puck on net with 80 shots on goal over the two days. Keep getting the puck to the net and good things will happen. Speaking of good things to happen Anthony Romani had a spectacular no look pass to Ryker Lee that is absolutely worth the viewing. Just like on Friday, Saturday’s game had MSU up 2-1 heading into the third. The crazy thing is how it didn’t feel that close. MSU was clearly the better team and they were dominating most of the time. Augustine did a phenomenal job at shutting down opportunities and preventing the Irish from ever gaining momentum. Specifically on the one on one breakaway he stuffed late first period Saturday night.
The Spartans are clearly getting some chemistry going on each line. Augustine seems more dialed in than usual, which should terrify opponents. Männistö seems to be back to his production of two years ago and continues to use his speed to find the back of the net. Stramel has been looking like one of the best players on the team as he’s surrounded by top notch talent. I know I’ve heard some complaints about Lindstrom but he is playing well and he missed most of last season with an injury. Just wait for him to take off in January. This team is built perfectly. I was watching a clip of two analysts talking about MSU recently as they compared them to an NHL team. They mentioned how the team is built perfectly from every angle, what a fantastic coach Nightingale is and how good Jared DeMichiel is with goalies. While MSU football will be lucky to field a team next year, Spartan hockey has been and will continue to be thriving.
MSU gets set to host #10 Wisconsin as they head to East Lansing Nov 21/22 for two games. This is followed with a short couple of days off before a Wednesday/Friday bout against Colgate to sandwich Thanksgiving. Wisconsin always plays the Spartans tough and with a very stacked conference, MSU needs to continue to pile up those wins. #2 Michigan split with #3 PSU this weekend which helps MSU pad that lead. Let’s keep this streak moving and Go Green!
