Spartans strong in 6-2 victory at Wisconsin

Michigan State hockey coach Adam Nightingale said his team would be Spartan Strong when they got back into action on Friday night at Wisconsin, and that’s exactly what they were in an indomitable 6-2 victory over the Badgers at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

The Spartans left a day early for Madison, on Wednesday, in the wake of Monday’s tragic shootings on the Michigan State campus. And the Spartans were early in making a mark on this game, taking a 3-0 lead in the first period.

When David Gucciardi, a sophomore from Toronto, scored late in the first period to give Michigan State its 3-0 lead, he patted his heart and pointed to the sky. Spartan hearts and minds were strong for this one, and they’ll look to stay that way on Saturday when the two teams meet again. 

“With everything we had this week at school I think there’s a lot of emotion and it’s not easy to come out and play a game,” Nightingale said. “I thought the guys did a nice job of staying with it and getting the job done.”

Nightingale didn’t expand much on the players’ mood or inspiration for this game, and instead kept his comments economical and focused – which is the way his team played on this night.

WHAT IT MEANS IN THE STANDINGS

All victories are big ones at this stage of the season with Michigan State in a battle with multiple teams in the Big Ten standings, aiming to crack the top four in the conference and home ice for a three-game series in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Michigan State has never had home ice for a Big Ten Tournament playoff series since the inception of the Big Ten Hockey Tournament in 2014. 

Michigan State improved to 16-15-2 overall and 10-11-2 in the Big Ten. Saturday’s game at Wisconsin will be MSU’s last of the regular season. The rest of the Big Ten will round out their regular season schedules next weekend.

With 34 points, Michigan State is in third place in the Big Ten standings, two behind Michigan and point ahead of fourth-place Ohio State – which tied Michigan on Friday night. 

Another victory over Wisconsin on Saturday (8 p.m.) would come close to clinching home ice for the Spartans for the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, March 3-5. 

“We just have to continue to focus on playing winning hockey and having good habits,” Nightingale said. “It can be a little bit of fool’s gold when the puck goes in. We need to be better and we know they will be better tomorrow so it’ll be a good test.”

Michigan State is ranked No. 14 in the nation in the Pairwise Rankings, which determine NCAA Tournament bids. The Spartans could gain an NCAA Tournament bid with a No. 14 ranking if there are no more than two upset champions in the conference tournaments across the country.

In the meantime, Michigan State is aiming to leap Cornell and Minnesota State in the Pairwise Rankings and increase the Spartans’ chances of getting an NCAA Tournament bid, which would be Michigan State’s first since 2012. Cornell and Minnesota State are tied for No. 12 in the Pairwise.

Cornell lost to Clarkson, 4-3, on Friday. Cornell will play at St. Lawrence on Saturday. 

Minnesota State beat Bemidji State, 4-1, on Friday and will play Bemidji State again on Saturday. 

HOW IT WENT DOWN

Michigan State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and quickly answered a pair of Badger goals in the second period to re-establish the three-goal lead at 4-1 and 5-2.

Jagger Joshua then cemented victory with a goal, his 13th of the year, from Nicolas Müller and Matt Basgall, to make it 6-2.

Basgall, a freshman from Lake Forest, Ill., had three assists on the night, as did Erik Middendorf, a senior from Scottsdale, Ariz. and a second-year transfer from Colorado College. 

Zach Dubinsky, a junior from Highland Park, Ill. and a transfer from RPI, scored his first goal of the season and added an assist.

Dubinsky’s goal gave Michigan State a 2-0 lead at 15:36 of the first period.

Freshman defenseman Viktor Hurtig, of Avesta, Sweden, scored the first goal of his college career, giving the Spartans a 4-1 lead at 7:48 of the second period, from Middendorf and Müller. 

The first goals of the season for Hurtig and Dubinsky fired up the Spartan bench.

“It’s always exciting with a guy gets his first one and those guys have played well for us,” Nightingale said. “There’s excitement on the bench. Guys are genuinely happy for them.”

TURNING POINTS

Michigan State killed off a five minute penalty early in the first period after Cole Krygier was given a game misconduct for a contact to the head penalty. Less than a minute after killing that penalty, Müller gave Michigan State a 1-0 lead on a goal from Middendorf and Jeremy Davidson.

“That was a huge moment in the game,” Nightingale said. “Obviously, five minutes, those are tough. And they have some skillful players over there. The guys did a good job. I like the poise killing it off and then we went down and scored.”

After establishing a 3-0 lead in the first period with goals from Müller, Dubinsky and David Gucciardi, Wisconsin cut it to 3-1 in the second. But the Spartans scored just a minute at :46 seconds later when Hurtig found the net. 

Wisconsin cut it to a two-goal lead once again, but Michigan State answered right back when Davidson scored just over a minute later to make it 5-2 and crush the Badgers’ spirits.

The results looked good on the scoreboard, but Nightingale isn’t watching the paint dry.

“Some of the penalties we took were uncharacteristic,” Nightingale said. “We were looping a little bit and they got behind us a couple of times. I think we went off-sides a bazillion times. Things we are normally really good at, we were just okay at.”

Strong Friday night with No. 17 @MSU_Hockey winning in Madison, 6-2. 👏 pic.twitter.com/hisBI0Iegm

— Michigan State on BTN (@MichiganStOnBTN) February 18, 2023