After a 12-4-2 start to the season that saw Michigan State climb up to the second most prolific offense in the country, and an 18-day break, the Spartans hit the ice again on Thursday in Grand Rapids at Van Andel Arena for the 57th Annual Great Lakes Invitational event.

The Spartans enter the holiday tournament as heavy favorites to win, even with four players currently away from the team as they compete in the 2023 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) U20 World Junior Championships.

MSU will begin the tournament in the evening session on Thursday, facing off against former Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) foe Ferris State University.

The Ferris State Bulldogs enter the GLI as the lowest-ranked opponent in the field, and are coming in on a four-game losing streak.

The Bulldogs rank as one of the worst defenses in the country (58th), surrendering 3.65 goals against per game, which could be a matchup nightmare for them against the Spartans. Scoring hasn't come easy for the Bulldogs either during this four-game losing skid, as they have been outscored 17-5 by St. Thomas, Bowling Green and Lake Superior State.

The biggest scoring threat for Ferris State is senior Antonio Venuto, a Whitmore Lake, Michigan native. He has scored 11 goals in 17 games this season, matching his 11 career goals in 84 games played in his first three seasons on campus. It has been a breakout campaign for a player looking to likely earn a healthy American Hockey League (AHL) contract at the conclusion of his hockey career at Ferris State.

Venuto is big at 6-foot-3 and over 200 pounds, and he will test a Michigan State defense missing Maxim Strbak, who is currently at the World Juniors. I imagine head coach Adam Nightingale will look to match Venuto with the Nash Nienhuis-Artyom Levshunov defensive pair.

This game will provide back-to-back years of a Shoudy family contest in the Great Lakes Invitational. Sophomore forward Tiernan Shoudy and the Spartans lost last season in this matchup, 4-2, in the GLI consolation game to sophomore defensemen Travis Shoudy and the Bulldogs.

That loss very likely was the cause of the Spartans being the last team left out of the NCAA Tournament last season as well. Tiernan and Travis are twins who grew up playing youth hockey with Spartan junior forward Tanner Kelly in the Little Caesars AAA organization.

Travis and Tiernan jumped to junior hockey together in 2019-20, playing with the Austin Bruins in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) in Austin, Minnesota. Tiernan developed a little quicker than Travis, as he spent just one year in the NAHL, the second-tier junior hockey league in the U.S., as he made the jump to the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League (USHL) for 2020-21, with Travis making that jump by joining the Cedar Rapids Roughriders after another year in Austin, in 2021-22.

Travis was lightly recruited by the Spartans under the Danton Cole coaching staff, but was presented with the chance to enroll at Ferris State in 2022-23 rather than an additional year of junior hockey. Travis took that jump and had a successful freshman campaign with four goals and seven assists in 32 games played (Tiernan had six and six for 12 points in 38 games played with the Spartans).

This sophomore year in 2023-24 has seen Travis become the leading points producer for the Bulldogs (one goal and 14 assists), while Tiernan and Kelly have become a very productive fourth line for the Spartans, mostly working with Tommi Männistö, but will be with someone else this weekend as Männistö is at the WJC.

Kelly and Tiernan will certainly be looking to even the score against their former teammate with Little Caesars, and in the case of Tiernan, even the twin battle at one win each.

As mentioned the Spartans have four players at the IIHF U20s right now in Gothenburg, Sweden. Freshman goaltender Trey Augustine (1-0, 22 saves) and sophomore forward Isaac Howard (one goal in one game played) are skating with the United States.

Freshman forward Tommi Männistö (one goal in two games played) is skating for Finland and freshman defensemen Maxim Strbak (one goal, two assists in two games played) is on the blue line with Slovakia.

Four players out of the lineup certainly opens up opportunities for guys who have been scratched for the Spartans to come into the lineup and fight for more minutes and opportunities in the second half of the season. The easiest name to swap in is Luca Di Pasquo, a freshman goaltender who will start the games in Augustine's absence. Di Pasquo is 1-1 on the season, with one start against Canisius.

Up front, Isaac Howard moving off the first line means someone new will be playing with Karsen Dorwart and Daniel Russell. I would look maybe for Jeremy Davidson, a senior forward who has played in the past with these two, to slide into that role, or maybe sophomore Joey Larson.

Replacing Männistö, means drawing in a fourth-line forward, and among guys who have gotten some game action, Gavin Best has looked the best to me (no pun intended), but Owen Baker or Griffin Jurecki could get starts as well, especially if the Spartans decide to go 13 forwards (doubtful in my mind).

On defense, look for Viktor Hurtig or James Crossman to come in for Strbak. Hurtig plays closer to the style of Strbak and gets the slight edge from me.

Time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Dec. 28

Location: Van Andel Arena Grand Rapids, Michigan

TV/Streaming: WILX TV 10 in Lansing, FloHockey ($$$) for streaming

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Join the discussion on this article in our premium forums by clicking here.

You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, and Instagram.

For video content, including our Red Cedar Radar podcast, find us on YouTube and consider subscribing.