On Friday night and Saturday night, the No. 4-ranked Michigan State hockey team continues its four-game Big Ten homestand, hosting Notre Dame at Munn Ice Arena.
The Fighting Irish are led by head coach and Spartan alum Jeff Jackson, and these two games this weekend could be the last contests in which Jackson coaches against MSU. Jackson has already announced his retirement at the end of the season, and barring a playoff matchup, this will be the last time he comes to Munn as the visiting head coach.
Notre Dame spent last weekend in the state of Michigan, being swept by (now) No. 5 Michigan, 2-1 (in overtime) and 4-2 at Yost Ice Arena. This followed a series split with Wisconsin, leaving Notre Dame at 1-3 in the conference, and 5-5 overall.
This weekend now becomes a pretty important road series for the Irish, as a sweep would put them at 1-5 in Big Ten play and creates a mighty large hole to crawl out of to fight for a home playoff series.
For the Spartans, this weekend presents an opportunity to remain workmanlike, like last weekend against Ohio State, taking care of home sweeps against the lower half of the league.
Jackson is known for defensive hockey, play on the counter attack and park the bus tactics, and this shows through in the scoring for the Irish so far this season. The Irish are in the bottom half of the country in goals per game (2.6) compared to the Spartans' 3.3 goals per game.
Sophomore Cole Knuble is the most potent threat up front for the Irish. The Grand Rapids, Michigan native has six goals and seven assists in 10 games played this season, and he is on pace to blow past his 20 points from last season. The Philadelphia Flyers' draft pick will be a player to watch closely for the Spartans, as he is a perfect offensive player for Jackson — a player who never stops moving his feet and looks to get his pass back in great shooting lanes.
Sophomore Danny Nelson (three goals, one assist) doesn't have the stats right now that jump off the page at you, but he is absolutely a threat the Spartans need to monitor this weekend. Nelson is a second round NHL Draft pick of the New York Islanders who plays a full 200-foot game and will be a pest all over the ice. He hasn't had the goal output that he may have hoped for so far in his sophomore campaign, but that ability is always there and he can take over a game.
In net, the Fighting Irish are led by Owen Say, a Mercyhurst transfer, who has started every Big Ten game this season, and I expect Say will be the guy both nights this weekend. The stats are excellent for Say with a save percentage of .853 and a goals against average below 2.0 (1.71). This is helped tremendously by three non-conference games with one goal against in each game, but the high-powered Michigan offense was held in check as well last weekend, including Say making 45 saves in the 2-1 overtime loss to the Wolverines last Friday.
Keys to the Weekend
Fast Start
Just like last weekend, the Spartans should look to make their opponent chase the game. It may be even more vital this weekend as the Irish have less offense than the Buckeyes, and they have a more suffocating defense that can sit on a lead if they are able to get one. Jump up 2-0 on the Irish either night and you have to feel very good with goaltender Trey Augustine behind you to close out a game.
I have been hard on Strbak, after also making him my defensemen of the season prediction in the 2024-2025 season preview. While he has struggled with turnovers in the early going, I need to shout out that he has got his legs under him and had his best weekend of the season come conference play against Ohio State last week. Strbak has increased his offensive output with five assists already, and if he can start to stack weekends where he shuts down the top lines of the opponent (which he and partner Patrick Geary will often draw as their task), the ceiling on this season nudges up just a little bit.
Bonus: Recruit on the Move Update
Last week, there was a monumental shift in college hockey, as now CHL players (OHL, QMJHL, WHL) are eligible to play NCAA hockey beginning in the fall of 2025. This has led to a run of commitments from the WHL and OHL this week, mostly of 20-year-old age outs to CCHA and Atlantic Hockey teams, but there has begun to be some impact to the B1G as well.
This includes Michigan State which saw 2007 birth year commit Savin Virk sign with the WHL's Tri-City Americans (Kennewick, Washington). The Americans drafted Virk, a Surrey, British Columbia, Canada native in the third round of the 2022 Bantam Draft. Virk had been playing in the BCHL for a Spartan alum Brian Maloney, with seven goals and five assists in 18 games played with the Chilliwack Chiefs.
I have confirmed with MSU sources that Virk is still committed to the Spartans, and is expected on campus in the fall of 2026 or 2027 at the latest. This move was a move made to challenge Virk more, and continue to build his profile for the NHL draft. I will be working on a longer article over the next week or so to share my thoughts on the change in NCAA recruiting from this move, but overall, while this a new adjustment, I think I like this move for Virk and look forward to seeing him adjust to the WHL beginning this weekend.
Details/How to Watch
Time: 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, Nov. 15, and 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, Nov 16.
Location: Mason Rink at Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, Michigan
