Michigan State 'too cutesy' in 'embarrassing' 3-0 loss to No. 2 Boston College

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State hockey coach Adam Nightingale scheduled this early-season, two-game series with powerful Boston College in order to test his team, get some results and maybe learn some lessons.

Count one lesson learned – the hard way.

The skilled, fast, No. 2-ranked Boston College Eagles out-skated the Spartans for two periods and coasted through the third in beating No. 4 Michigan State, 3-0, at packed and disappointed Munn Ice Arena, in the home opener, Friday night.

The two teams will meet again at 6 p.m. on Saturday (BTN Plus).

“I thought early on it looked like we wanted it to be cutesy and that’s not our game,” Nightingale said. “Great turnout, the crowd, I thought that part was awesome. The game started and right from the start, I didn’t like much.

“I was talking to our guys and (I said) we are a blue collar hockey team and if we try to play white collar hockey we’re not that good of a team.”

It was MSU’s first shutout loss since March 3, 2023, a 1-0 loss at Notre Dame in Game One of the 2023 Big Ten Tournament.

Michigan State fell to 2-1. Boston College is 1-0.

HOW IT WENT DOWN

Photo courtesy @MSU_Hockey

Boston College broke a scoreless tie with three goals in the second period. Michigan State goalie Trey Augustine was good all night, and controlled rebounds like one of the best goaltenders in the country. But he had no chance on a deflection by Boston College’s Will Vote, which gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead at 1:47 of the second period.

Then a pair of Michigan State turnovers in the neutral zone led to odd-man rushes for Boston College. The quick, skilled and talented Eagles were able to turn transition opportunities into open-net finishes in the Spartans’ zone.

Michigan State is talented, too, with eight NHL Draft picks. But Boston College has 12, plus the likely No. 1 overall pick in next summer’s draft – and the talent disparity was evident. In this sport, grit and discipline can trump skill, but Michigan State didn’t play that way.

“We got way too cute out there, way too white collar,” said senior captain Red Savage. “When we play like that, they’re a better team than us.”

Down 2-0, Michigan State’s Charlie Stramel – a Wisconsin transfer – got loose for a short-handed breakaway. Stramel made a good deke to his forehand and tried to tuck it inside the right post, but Boston College goalie Jacob Fowler covered ground quickly and made a pad save. 

That proved to be Michigan State’s last quality chance to tighten the score.

Boston College made it 3-0 with :29 seconds left in the second period, all but sealing victory for BC before the third period began. 

POWER QUOTE 1: RED SAVAGE

Said senior captain Red Savage: “I think the message after the second was, ‘Wake up. We’re playing in front of our home crowd for the first time in six months. It’s embarrassing going into the third period down 3-0.’”

Michigan State showed some spark and togetherness in the third period, and ended up being outshot just 29-24.

“I liked our response in the third,” Nightingale said. “I thought we started to get to our game a little bit and give BC some credit. They did a good job making it hard on us and put us in tough spots. It’s an opportunity to learn and grow for our group. 

“I thought we started to play a little more north, we started to play a little more direct, we started hanging on to a few more pucks and not just chucking it around.

“We have a young group and sometimes when things happen like this you have a little more teeth to talk to the group about. We’ll be better tomorrow and obviously a lot of areas to clean up.”

ANY CHANGES?

Junior center Karsen Dorwart (6-1, 195, Sherwood, Ore.) missed last weekend’s series at Lake Superior State. Wisconsin transfer Charlie Stramel replaced him as the first-line center last week. Dorwart was back in the lineup as the No. 1 center, between his usual line mates, Daniel Russell and Isaac Howard.

Stramel centered the No. 2 line, between Gavin O’Connell and freshman Shane Vansaghi.

Nightingale said lineup changes for Saturday aren’t likely. 

“You can think of changing the lines and all the sudden it’s going to change when you’re not playing with the identity you want to play with (but) I don’t want to give our guys an out and say the lines didn’t work and that’s why,” Nightingale said. “It’s hard to find many bright spots of guys on our team. But that’s our job as coaches and obviously we haven’t done a good enough job of establishing how we want to do it. We have to get back to work and be better tomorrow.”

POWER QUOTE 2: ADAM NIGHTINGALE

On Michigan State’s “too cutesy” start to the game:

“I thought we just chucked some pucks around, especially in the neutral zone. It was a little bit of a hot potato, instead of picking your head up and either driving to open ice or hang onto it and pulling up. We wanted it to be easy, and that just fuels their transition game, and then that makes it hard on your D, they’ve got speed coming at you. Obviously we gave up multiple odd man rushes. You play a good hockey team, you can’t do that.”

Savage sounded like he received Nightingale’s message and is eager to reinforce it. 

“I think there’s no chance we’re coming out tomorrow the way we did tonight,” said Savage, who was the target of a brief shoving match with a pair of Eagles when the game ended on Friday. “We kind of embarrassed ourselves the first two periods and shot ourselves in the foot and left Trey out to dry. All we can do is regroup and come and play our game tomorrow.”