For the first time in the 2023-2024 season, the Michigan State hockey team will play a return series against a Big Ten opponent, as the Spartans hit the road to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions.

The two teams met in November for a conference series at Munn Arena, which saw the Spartans take four out of a possible six points from the series, with a shootout loss on Friday night in a 3-3 game, followed by a 5-3 win on Saturday night.

Since that series, Penn State has gone 5-4. PSU had some impressive wins over Minnesota and Michigan, balanced with a sweep taken at Wisconsin and needing a massive comeback to beat Army last week, in the Nittany Lions' first game since the semester break.

Counter to the Nittany Lions having a middling performance since that November series, the Spartans have elevated to another level, both as a team and with some individual performances from players at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) U20 World Junior Championships.

Since that 5-3 win over Penn State on Nov. 11, the Spartans swept Wisconsin, and are the only league team to beat the Badgers this season, took two of six points on the road at Minnesota, swept Notre Dame, and dominated the Great Lakes Invitational against Ferris State and Michigan Tech. While MSU ultimately lost the GLI title in a shootout, the Spartans had huge advantage in shots over the Huskies and were missing four top players.

Part of this hot streak for the Spartans has been led by freshman goaltender Trey Augustine becoming more comfortable in the college game and finding consistency in his performance. By no means was Augustine poor in the early part of the season, but the series against Air Force and Boston College showed some areas for improvement needed in rebound control, playing the puck and fighting through screens.

Now as the Spartans get the second semester started, they get to ride a hot Augustine who was playing great at the NCAA level, and then went on and won a gold medal with Team USA at the U20s. While there, he posted a 4-0 record and a 1.75 goals against average, supported by a .936 save percentage.

Augustine outplayed Boston College freshman Jacob Fowler at the U20s to win the net for the medal round, and should be riding high on confidence right now after facing the best U20 competition out there as an 18-year-old goaltender.

It is more than just Augustine who should come home feeling confident in their game, and the Spartans could benefit from an elevation of play from their players who played internationally.

Sophomore forward Isaac Howard led the American team in goals scored (seven), including two goals in the gold medal game win over host Sweden, and has come home with NIL (name, image and likeness) opportunities expanded and has been on the media circuit heavily It is encouraging to see for the Tampa Bay Lightning's first-round draft pick, and speaks to the job done by MSU head coach Adam Nightingale.

Howard struggled greatly in his freshman season at Minnesota-Duluth, leading to him transferring to find his game again with Nightingale, who had coached him with the USA National Team Development Program for two seasons.

Howard has plugged in well with Karsen Dorwart and Daniel Russell on the top line, but had just five goals scored in the first half of the season with the Spartans, being more of a distributor with 15 assists. Coming off a tournament where you pop seven goals in seven games, I look at Howard as someone to ride the wave this weekend against a team like Penn State that struggles defensively.

It was not just the Americans having good weeks abroad over the semester break. Freshman defensemen Maxim Strbak captained the Slovakian team, and made some noise as a steady force on their blueline, while also contributing offensively with one goal and six assists in five games played.

Freshman Tommi Männistö was the biggest surprise Spartan at the WJC. Männistö rose up the Finland minute distribution after the Finns were slow to start, beginning 0-2, and ended the tournament with three goals and an assist in seven games, including multiple goals in the medal round.

While Männistö was away, his fourth-line partners Tiernan Shoudy and Tanner Kelly had a strong GLI, with Shoudy scoring a goal and Kelly being elevated to the top line, filling Isaac Howard's spot. I look for that fourth line to be a huge asset to the Spartans in the second half of the season.

Time: 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, Jan. 12 and 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan 13.

Location: Pegula Ice Arena, State College, Pennsylvania

Streaming/TV: B1G+ ($$$) on Friday, B1G Network on Saturday

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