This weekend in State College, Pennsylvania, the No. 1 ranked Michigan State University hockey team will stay on the road (the Spartans have played eight of their last nine games away from Munn Ice Arena, going 6-1-1 in that span) traveling to take on Penn State (8-9-1, 1-8-1 in Big Ten play) Friday and Saturday evening.
Michigan State currently sits at 17-2-1 on the 2024-2025 campaign (8-1-1 in conference play, with the tie against Minnesota being a shootout win).
The Spartans spent last week winning back-to-back 4-3 games over the Wisconsin Badgers at Munn Ice Arena and Wrigley Field (overtime win), respectively, which vaulted the Spartans to a first place tie in the B1G Standings with the Minnesota Golden Gophers, with the same number of games played.
Penn State is the last place team in the B1G, and for the Spartans, this weekend frankly needs to be a sweep to keep pace with the Gophers.
Penn State Nittany Lions
Penn State, to this point in the season, has battled with Notre Dame as the clear bottom team of an extremely talented league.
The Nittany Lions have wins over Alaska, St. Lawrence, Colgate, Army and Notre Dame this season. They have been clean swept by all of their league opponents outside of the Fighting Irish thus far; being outscored 31-19 by Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
When Penn State has had success as a program under head coach Guy Gadowsky is when it has been known for being a national leader in shot attempts, playing a style where the Nittany Lions send everything to the net, even when they haven't been an elite team in wins and losses. This season, that is not holding for the Nittany Lions, potentially a sign that things are really, really bad in Happy Valley.
The Nittany Lions have a total of 1,060 shot attempts this season, per College Hockey News Advanced Stats, 28th in the country and a full 309 shot attempts behind the Spartans (third in the country). This has put a ton of pressure on Penn State to hold its opponents to low-scoring games, something the Nittany Lions have struggled with in league play, holding Big Ten opponents under three goals just two times in 10 games so far this season.
Junior goaltender Arsenii Sergeev, a transfer goaltender from UConn and an NHL Draft pick for the Calgary Flames (seventh round, 2021) has been playing well to the task the last few weeks, recovering from a weekend where the Nittany Lions surrendered 16 goals, while Sergeev was out of the lineup. Sergeev was the Big Ten's Top Star last week after a shutout of Notre Dame, and is going to be key to the Nittany Lions getting off of the floor of the conference.
Up front, the Nittany Lions are led by sophomore Aiden Fink with nine goals in 18 games, and freshman Charlie Cerrato who has eight goals and is a product of the U.S. National Team Development Program where he was a teammate of Spartan goaltender Trey Augustine.
I would expect Augustine is back in net for the Spartans this weekend, after returning from play at the World Junior Championship in Ottawa, and his familiarity with Cerrato is beneficial to the Spartans.
Keys to the Weekend
1. Help Augustine Early- Now, Trey Augustine is an absolute pro in his game preparation and will be ready to compete Friday night. Still, though, he has played a lot of hockey the last few weeks in an international tournament and had to get back to business as usual in East Lansing this week on Tuesday. Letting him get into the game, in front of a raucous Penn State student section, with some easy shots, no breakaways, no back door plays, no penalty kills, and maybe even getting an early lead. That can go a long way in cutting off threats of an upset early. Penn State can get into track meets (they have with Wisconsin and Michigan) and Michigan State as the top ranked team in the country is best served to end that hope early and strangle out the game, not letting the Nittany Lions ride confidence from their Notre Dame series last weekend.
2. Keep Isaac Howard Going- Isaac Howard is playing his best hockey in a season-and-a-half in East Lansing right now. The chemistry with linemates Charlie Stramel and Daniel Russell is clicking right now, with the three of them scoring 11 points last weekend against Wisconsin. Howard playing to this level, where he was expected to be as a first-round NHL Draft pick, has raised the ceiling and the floor of the Michigan State season. He has found another gear and keeping him going against an overmatched opponent looms large heading into next weekend.
3. No Looking Ahead- Yes, about next weekend. Next weekend, for the first time this season, Michigan State will square of against its hated rivals, the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan currently is ranked No. 9 in the USCHO poll, and it is already a matchup fans are looking ahead to (I, for example, am already planning on guest appearances on podcasts). Penn State is a team struggling mightily, and is a clear step down from the rest of the league (again, outside of Notre Dame). That can cause a team to let up just a bit, looking ahead to their next top-10 battle, and not be fully dialed in. The Spartans have to avoid that this weekend. Penn State is still full of NHL picks, and scholarship hockey players as well, and avoiding a letdown will show this team is as mature as they appear.
Details/How to Watch
Time: 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday Jan. 10 and 6 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, Jan. 11.
Location: Pegula Ice Arena, State College, Pennsylvania
