Michigan State Hockey Series Preview: Opening Big Ten series at Ohio State

For the first time in the 2023-2024 season, the Michigan State Spartans have a losing streak in hockey, after being swept at now top-ranked Boston College (losing by final scores of 6-4 and 5-1, respectively) in Chestnut Hill last Thursday and Friday.

There is no time for the Spartans to lick their wounds, however, as they will again take to the road this weekend for a top-15 matchup with No. 13 Ohio State to open Big Ten play for the Spartans.

Ohio State is 3-1-3 on the season and 0-1-1 in B1G play as the Buckeyes previously began their league season two weeks ago at Michigan. The Buckeyes' three wins have been over Lindenwood (which also somehow played OSU to a tie, which is not a great look for the Buckeyes), Mercyhurst and Nebraska-Omaha. So each of these teams are full of wins against overmatched opponents, but neither have won a game over quality competition yet (the closest being Ohio State getting a tie at Michigan).

So this weekend sets up to be a great early litmus test for which program can play its way into the top-three possibly of the Big Ten standings, also battling with Minnesota, Michigan and somehow(?) Wisconsin in year one under a new coaching staff.

Ohio State has become a steady team under head coach Steve Rohlik, making the NCAA Tournament in four of his 11 years, and being on the bubble most years the Buckeyes did not qualify. While Rohlik has brought the floor way up for the Buckeyes, they still are mostly made of a roster of NHL fringe-type players at the top and hard-working, older players down the lineup.

This year, the roster is highlighted by sophomore Davis Burnside who has three goals in seven games, after a freshman season where he piled up 14 goals total. Ohio State is not top-heavy, as the Buckeyes have just four players who have scored more than one goal, and overall the Buckeyes are scoring just 2.7 goals per game (compared to 4.25 per game for the Spartans) with an anemic power play (4-for-30 on the season).

With the graduation of Jakub Dobes in net, for the first time in a few seasons, the Buckeyes entered with an unknown in the crease. However their team defense and play of goaltender Logan Terness has led them to allowing just 2.6 goals against per game (made all the more impressive considering they surrendered seven goals against Michigan in one night). Terness is a transfer goaltender from UConn (17 games played in 2022-2023, 2.53 goals against average, .913 save percentage with the Huskies) and he has taken over the starting job immediately starting every game this season.

1. Show some discipline- As previewed before the series against Boston College, Hockey East refs can make the show about themselves, and that was certainly the case last week. Getting back to B1G play should help MSU avoid the box a little bit, but the Spartans also are playing too undisciplined for a team with their aspirations this season. While Ohio State has not had a good start to its power play so far, best to avoid giving the Buckeyes a chance to get hot and more so than that every penalty kill wipes out possibly two full minutes of your own play going on the offensive. The Spartans are currently at 14.9 minutes in penalties per game, 10th in the country, and 25% of the game in the box is unacceptable.

2. Trey Augustine- The numbers may not be as pretty as some have wanted, but for an 18-year-old freshman, goaltender Trey Augustine has been great this year so far. He has been under siege (especially last weekend) for stretches of games and has shown a propensity to fight through screens and make saves on second and third chances. While the defensemen in front of him have been exceptionally shaky to start the year, Augustine has been a steading force. With what I suspect to be the lowest scoring weekend the Spartans have played in their season so far coming ahead, I think this is a weekend where you maybe need Augustine to steal a road game by outplaying his more seasoned opponent in Logan Terness.

Time: 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, Nov. 3 and 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov 4.

Location: Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio

Streaming: B1G+ ($$$)

_______________________________________________________________________________________

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.