Spartans sweep psu to hold onto the #1 spot in hockey

[Spartanmack]

Shoudy nets the OT winner Friday night in a close game but today was all Spartans with a 5-0 victory to sweep #3 penn state. Suck it, McKenna.

Now we get to battle them on the gridiron in a week to see who can take one step on the basement steps of the B1G. Who would have thought that given expectations for the nittany kittens at the beginning of this season. I mean, I challenged the folks predicting they'd win it all because they still had Franklin, but nobody had them 0-6 in early November.

 

[Spartanmack]

a lot has happened in the last 2.5 months and things are heating up on the ice. Spartans are currently 2nd overall and tied for 2nd in the B1G PSU. We swept Wisco in Madison to get revenge and split the season with the badgers who just dropped behind in the race breaking a 3-way tie for 2nd in the B1G after getting swept by PSU this weekend.

We have our toughest test these next two weeks with back-to-back road trips to uofm (we split with them in a home-and-home in December). One of the games is technically a home game but it's at Little Caesar's arena so I'm not sure that's to our advantage. Then we travel to State College for two at PSU (swept them in Munn in November but they're playing really solid hockey right now). Would be nice to remind McKenna of the mistake he made.

If we can get 3 or even 2 wins in those 4 games, we are set up nicely for the title race wrapping up the season hosting the lowly Irish then the struggling buckeyes (who we split with in December at Columbus) followed by a road trip to West Mogadishu to face the beatable gophers (we just swept them at Munn this weekend).

 

[Spartanmack]

Looks like MSU has picked up Trey Augustine's replacement. Josh Ravensbergen, 30th pick of the SJ Sharks in the 2025 NHL draft has committed to MSU. Josh is 6'5" and a lean 180 and is considered the top college goalie prospect.

Many are taking this as an indication that Augustine will indeed sign with the Red Wings when MSU's season ends - reports indicate Ravensbergen would have likely gone elsewhere if Augustine was coming back. I haven't followed that story very closely but it sounds like a lot of folks thought he might stick around for his senior year ('26/'27) to become an unrestricted free agent.

Interesting to note Augustine turns 21 in 5 days - I thought he'd be older as it seems these days most or at least a lot of college hockey players still spend a year or two in juniors before going to college. I assume that will change with NIL - why play juniors if you can get paid to play in college?

 

[Spartanmack]

Suck it again, McKenna. Spartans notch another sweep of PSU, this time on the road including an overtime outdoor game in Beaver Stadium won with a goal that completed the second Spartan hat trick of the weekend.

Not likely to change the standings much (other than dropping psu to a tie for 3rd) as uofm will likely sweep osu tonight to hold on to first place. Go Buckeyes!

Edit: wisco dropped one last night at Minnie so psu should be all alone in 3rd after this weekend.

 

[Spartanmack]

Uofm sweeps in Columbus with an OT win Saturday night. Spartans are 1 point out of first behind uofm but with a softer remaining schedule. Sweeping the home and home with them would be huge. Winning at least one feels like a must do.

 

[biggunsbob]

Should be a wild finish for the regular season. Michigan has lost thier #1 goalie to an injury and a top defensive men. Michigan has to probably sweep msu to win the regular season title as like you mentioned msu plays the under .500 clubs after the two rivalry games. I think msu had the edge over next 8 games. .
The goalie for um may be back for the playoffs.


Michigan Has 2 with msu one at yost i think and one in Detroit.
2 at home with Psu.
2 on the road at Wisconsin
2 at home with Minnesota


Michigan state has the 2 with Michigan
2 with nd
2 with Osu
2 @ Minnesota

 

[Spartanmack]

Wisconsin is reeling losing their last 4 including 2 to Minnie. PSU is still in the hunt so the schedule is still tough for them but maybe not the gauntlet it looked like 2 weeks ago.

 

[Spartanmack]

after a third period letdown resulting in an OT loss, the Spartans bounce back to dominate Uofm in Detroit to split the series. The point for the OT loss however helps them take 1st place in the B1G.

We have the easiest remaining schedule of the top 3 teams so we control our own destiny for the moment

Nightingale is now 7-3-1 against teams ranked #1 in the country. Looking back where we were before he came around, you have to say the guy is a miracle worker. Curt Cignetti is the Adam Nightingale of NCAA football!

Big weekend in MSU sports with the win over Illinois in hoops. Go Green!