Hockey fans are in for a unique opportunity this winter when Michigan State faces off against Wisconsin at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 as part of "The Frozen Confines: Big Ten Hockey Series." The Spartans went 3-1 versus the Badgers last season.
The series will also include men's games between Penn State and Notre Dame, and Ohio State versus Michigan on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. Prior to the UW-MSU game Saturday will be a women's game between OSU and UW. That series will be a rematch of last year's national title game that saw the Buckeyes down the Badgers 1-0 for the national title.
An NHL matchup between the Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blues will also be played on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024 at Wrigley Field as part of the venue's outdoor hockey series this winter.
The event will mark the sixth outdoor game for the Spartans' program all-time. MSU's first outdoor event came in 2001 at Spartan Stadium and sparked the proof of concept for outdoor games that have begun to be more common place in modern years. The event, dubbed "The Cold War," set a world record at the time for hockey attendance when held on Oct. 6, 2001 (75,544) and ended in a 3-3 tie against rival Michigan.
A repeat of the event came on Dec. 11, 2010 at Michigan Stadium. "The Big Chill," as that game was called, ended in a 5-0 shutout loss for the Spartans against the Wolverines.
Other events came in 2013 when the Great Lakes Invitational saw games against Michigan Tech (Dec. 27, 2013) that ended in a MTU shootout win following a 2-2 tie, and Michigan (Dec. 28, 2013) that saw the Spartans win in a 3-0 shutout. MSU last played outdoors Feb. 7, 2015 at Soldier Field in Chicago, falling 4-1 to Michigan.
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A return to the Windy City comes a decade later now and at a time Spartan fans are seeing a new energy in the hockey program. Head coach Adam Nightingale is entering his third season at the helm in East Lansing and the Spartans come into the 2024-2025 campaign as the defending Big Ten regular-season and Big Ten Tournament champions from last season. MSU finished the season 25-10-3 overall and 16-6-2 in conference play.
The Spartans also advanced to the Midwest Regional Final in the NCAA Tournament before falling to archrival Michigan after going 4-1 during the regular season and Big Ten Tournament against the Wolverines. It marked the first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 12 seasons for MSU.
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