6Pack: Michigan State hockey coach Adam Nightingale's 6 best quotes from media day

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State basketball Tom Izzo made the comment earlier in the week that he enjoys gazing across Birch Road, from his office at Breslin Center, to Munn Ice Arena, where Spartan hockey coach Adam Nightingale works. 

“I like looking over at his office because there’s heat coming off it,” Izzo said. “The guy is doing a fantastic job.”

If Izzo had looked across Birch Road to the patio outside Nightingale’s office at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, he would have seen the second-year hockey coach working overtime and double-tasking in ways even Izzo wouldn’t have expected. Nightingale, with help from his assistant coaches, made pizzas in an outdoor Blackstone pizza oven and served the pies to press members who had attended Michigan State’s hockey media day earlier that afternoon. 

Nightingale was happy to talk hockey with the writers and broadcasters about the Spartans, who are ranked No. 9 in the USCHO.com preseason poll, and even more excited to talk about the upcoming season and Michigan State’s opener, which will be played a week from Saturday at 4 p.m. against Lake Superior State at Munn Ice Arena. On that night, the dedication of Ron Mason Rink will take place.

A six pack of Nightingale’s best quotes from media day:

1. On the addition of 15 new players to the program and how this team will look different than last year’s:

“We wanted to add some speed. We feel like we added some speed. We’ve added some drive to our lineup and competition to our spots, and that’s always the biggest driver in development. We definitely have genuine competition up and down the lineup.

“You can go back to the guys we have coming back. One of the things we talked about is we have to get faster. (Strength and conditioning coach) Will Morlock did a really good job of putting a training program in where we have added speed to our lineup. We’ve done that with the guys returning and the guys that we have added that element of speed. I think we’re going to be fast and I think we’re going to be competitive. You don’t know until the fur starts flying and we play a game, but I definitely think the speed will be a factor.”

2. On the dedication of Ron Mason Rink at Munn Ice Arena in the season opener against Lake Superior State on Oct. 7:

“That night will be a special night, putting Ron’s name on the ice. All of our alums are thankful the university supported us in doing that. That will be a great weekend. 

“I think Ron Mason is Spartan hockey and means so much not only to our program but to all of college hockey. He is a little bit of the John Wooden of college hockey. (Retired athletic trainer) Dave Carrier was really involved early on. He came to me and brought it up to me. Alan (Haller) has always been supportive in anything we’re looking to do. Certain things like that have to get approval. You can’t just slap something on the ice. So you have to go through the process and the university supported it. We’re super excited about it. 

“I’ve said this before: It looks like ticket sales are pretty good. Our marketing department does a good job. Our job is to put a product on the ice that everyone is proud of, but I do think we are bearing a lot of the fruits that Ron laid. We have a lot of people coming back to watch our team play and that’s a credit to Ron because this is a hockey town and there is a hockey culture here because of everything that he’s done, and that’s the least we could do.”

3. On blending the veterans with the incoming talent:

“In a perfect world, you want to have some veteran leadership, and we have that. You want some youthfulness that is excited. I think we have a good blend of that. Our captain, Nash Nienhuis, really embodies what we’re looking for in our program. He’s a no-maintenance guy. He’s a team-first guy. He’s a great example for our young guys coming in on how to do things.

“There’s a reason every guy on our team voted for him, except for himself. I like that about him. He has a humility. He just has to be himself and realize he was named that for a reason and have confidence in him.”

4. On 17-year-old Artyom Levshunov of Belarus, who is projected to be a first round NHL Draft pick next spring:

(Michigan State gained a late commitment from him in July after he and his agent/advisors opted to apply for freshman college eligibility rather than a second season in the USHL):

“He’s a great person. One thing that has really stood out with Artyom is he doesn’t want special treatment. That’s really hard to find with a player of his caliber. He just want to be part of the team and help the team be great.

“When you look at a 17-year-old coming into college hockey, there’s an adjustment for sure, especially at his position. At defenseman, mistakes are much more magnified. 

“But he is a dynamic skater. He’s strong, he’s competitive, very good with the puck. I like his willingness to defend. Sometimes you get a young defenseman that is very good offensively and he doesn’t have that same passion or interest for defending, and he definitely has that.”

5. In going 18-18-2 last year, Michigan State barely missed out on advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. Is there a motivational advantage to being so close to breaking through last year?

“That’s the whole goal, we want to keep learning and growing from experiences and sometimes you’ve got to fail to move forward as a team and even individually. It’s not always going to go your way, it’s how you handle situations. I definitely think we have a great reference point. We were one win away from being in the tournament. 

“So when you look at college hockey, the parity is the highest its ever been. All of our non-conference games will be super tough and when you get in our conference, six of the seven teams are ranked in the Top 20 and I wouldn’t be surprised if at some time all seven are. There are no nights off. That’s why I really do believe in the things you can control, don’t worry about the rankings, focus on the now, and I think we have a group of guys that will do that.”

6. Red Savage (junior transfer from Miami), Isaac Howard (sophomore transfer from Minnesota-Duluth) and freshman goalie Trey Augustine were part of the U.S. National Team Development Progam when you were there. Does that help with their transition to the Michigan State program? 

“With Ike and Trey, I coached both of those guys so I think they know exactly what the expectation is on a daily basis. Red, I never coached. He was on the older team when I had the 17 team. 

“I think bringing in those driven players to reinforce competition is good. These are high-level players. But I think they look around and Carsen Dorwart is a high-level player. I know he didn’t play on the national team, but he’s a really high-level player. And Danny Russell is a really high-level player and Joey Larson is a really high-level player, so there are good players here and that will all help breed that competition.

“We feel good about where we are as far as trying to build the program. We haven’t arrived yet. We’ve been practicing and talking about it, but I’m looking forward to playing the games. There’s going to be challenges and ups and downs and that’s why the most important thing we do as a coaching staff is unify the group and make it a team and I’m just looking forward to the guys going out and representing our university.”

7 (BONUS). On Izzo saying he enjoys seeing heat rise from Munn Ice Arena:

“There definitely is excitement for sure. We want to make sure we stay grounded. I have talked to our guys about that a lot: Peoples opinions of you will change. We want a reputation that we’re a team that wants to play team hockey, that we play hard, that we do things the right way, and we play winning hockey and that’s our reputation. Opinions change and there’s more pressure when you do better and that’s a privilege and I think that’s what high-level players are looking for.

“We talk a lot about tuning out noise. We’re not really worried about where we’re ranked or where we’re picked. That has no bearing on how we play. We have to go out and have a good practice. Worry about today and tomorrow will take care of itself.

“I really like the guys we have coming back. They know how we want to do thing – not only how we want to play, but how we want to sleep, how we want to rest, how we want to train, how we want to act in the community, how we want to act in the classroom. Those guys do a good job and I think that really helps with the guys we brought in.

“It’s a long season. It’s one thing to do it at the rink but how you’re living your life matters. We take care of our guys and feed them really well but when they go home, you have to go to bed at the right time. You can’t sleep in just because you don’t have class that day or whatever. You have to stay disciplined and take care of your body. All of those tie into focusing on things that matter and then the results will take care of themselves. 

8(BONUS). On Michigan State’s recruiting momentum:

“I think we’re excited about the direction for sure. I think there is some momentum there, but again we talked to guys and stay disciplined as a staff and we say all of that doesn’t matter, and what matters is today and keep taking care of today

“You can feel it and it’s exciting.“It’s competitive, recruiting is competitive. You get down to the short strokes for some of these top players, and they have options and hopefully you feel like you can separate yourself, and at the end of the day it’s probably about the relationship they have with the coach. There are a lot of options. The facilities are pretty similar, the traditions are pretty similar. I’m proud of the way our staff forms relationship with the players. The nice thing is that we do have guys that want to come here now. There is a bit of a line and we’re excited about the direction of it.”