This weekend is set up to be quite a weekend on the ice as #1 Michigan will face the #2 Spartans on Friday night at 7pm at Yost Ice Arena. Friday’s game will be available on FS1. Saturday is the Duel in the D at Little Caesars Arena at 6:30pm on BTN. If the Spartans can pull off a sweep or even 5 points it would set them up with a great opportunity to three peat as conference champs. The Spartans enter the weekend on a six game win streak and Michigan has a six game win streak of their own. Something
will obviously have to give. Michigan coach Brandon Naurato is smiling big after signing a five year, 3.8 million extension this week. MLive and Detroit News have even printed Michigan is basically a lock as a number one tournament seed and in the driver’s seat for the B1G title. Hopefully, the Spartans can read some of this talk and use it as motivation to slow the Detroit area media fan drooling for all thing Michigan. We know the bias all too well and the Spartans should prepare for quick whistles and hostile entanglements that will likely go against them. it is just the way it goes when these schools meet in anything. Michigan is even going for a “blue out” Friday to gain any edge they can.
Michigan has the top scoring offense in the nation, averaging almost 5 goals a game. T.J. Hughes, Michael Hage, Will Horcoff, Jayden Perron and Adam Valenti are the top point getters for the Wolverines. Horcoff is one in particular that gets under my skin. Stephen Peck is also 5-0 since taking over in goal for the injured Ivankovic. This may seem daunting to some, but this is exactly the type of matchups the Spartans seem to show out for. Augustine is a different beast in goal than the top scoring offense is used to. Yes, he is familiar to them but he has a switch that he can flip that is something special. That switch will need to be flipped this weekend. Helping Augustine out is going to be some strong defense. They are giving up just under 2 goals a game and the Spartans have the manpower to slow down the Michigan scoring machine. Basgall has been and is great at blocking shots and he’s going to have an active stick. Colin Ralph has also been phenomenal at blocks and sort of goes under the radar. He’ll need to knock some corn around. The Spartan forwards will need to do some smart forechecking and intercept passing lanes with bodies and sticks to break up Michigan from finding any kind of flow.
On offense, MSU’s top line of Martone, Stramel and Russell will need to continue to be productive. They are going to need some though, and that will likely come from the Romani and Lee line as Romani looks to stay hot after a hat trick last weekend. Like my broken record keeps saying, if one of those two score, good things usually happen for the Spartans. Like they’ve been doing on this win streak, they will need that big first period and take that early lead. Silence the crowd and put Michigan in a place on unfamiliarity but keep the foot on the gas.
These games are going to be very chippy. Both teams want the accolades of the best, both are going to want to prove something. State will need to be smart with penalties, do what you need to do, but don’t do anything that can be detrimental and put your team at a big disadvantage. Michigan likes to play the “I didn’t do that” card a lot, so State can’t take the bait. Last year’s game in the D was very chippy and a lot of whistles, particularly late in the game when MSU was up. I would expect Michigan to get the calls so the game plan around that will be crucial. MSU has a strong PK but that doesn’t mean we need those lines on the ice if we don’t have to.
Face-offs, especially in zone ones, will be important to keep an eye on. Stramel and Nilson have both had success at center and they could help the Spartans by dominating face-offs. MSU is slightly over 50% in face off wins, if they get to 55-57% this weekend, I like their odds. Most importantly, MSU needs to get out and play their style of hockey. Blue collar, out hustle, out maneuver, never out of it, keep charging and close the deal. If MSU stays on brand, this could be a great weekend. Even if they split this weekend, MSU still has a better chance to overtake the conference. Take game one and then take the D.
What do you think TOC? Leave your thoughts in the comments and make sure to come back here for game time discussions. This weekend could say a lot about the next couple of months. One team will stay hot, let’s hope its the good guys. Go green!
