Spartans Head West to Meet Colorado College

Games 3-4: Michigan State (1-1 | 0-0 B1G) at Colorado College (1-1 | 0-0 NCHC)
Dates | Times: Friday, Oct. 25 | 9:30 p.m. ET // Saturday, Oct. 26 | 8 p.m. ET
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado | Broadmoor World Arena
Web Stream: NCHC.tv
Radio: Spartan Sports Network (Listen Live) | Local: WJIM 1240-AM & 106.9-FM
SSN Mobile App: iPhone/iPad | Android
Game Notes: Michigan State | Colorado College | Big Ten

On The Fly…
• Michigan State is traveling west to meet Colorado College in what's the first series between the programs since February 1981 – the final year MSU was in the WCHA.

• The Spartans opened the regular season Oct. 11-12 with a series split at Northern Michigan and defeated the USNTDP U-18 team in an exhibition game last Friday at Munn, 2-1.

• MSU's exhibition win over the NTDP U-18 team was its sixth consecutive in the series … Goaltenders Drew DeRidder (13 saves) and John Lethemon (14 saves) split time in goal.

• The Spartans and Colorado College have met seven times since their last series in 1981, the last of which came at the 2010 GLI in Detroit.

• Both goaltenders got a start in the season-opening series … Senior John Lethemon started the opener and made 28 saves in the win, while Drew DeRidder made 24 stops the next night.

• Spartan defensemen accounted for 13 goals last season and picked up two in the season-opening series – both on the power play – courtesy of Cole Krygier and Dennis Cesana.

• In notching the first two-goal game of his career in the season-opener, junior Tommy Apap also recorded his first game-winning goal as his backhand tally just past the midway point of the third period served as the difference.

• MSU brings back 65% of its point production from last season, including four of its top six point producers in Patrick Khodorenko (37 points – 2nd), Mitchell Lewandowski (34 points – 3rd), Dennis Cesana (24 points – 4th) and Jerad Rosburg (16 points – 6th).

• MSU returns 71% of its goal scoring, including its top two goal scorers in Patrick Khodorenko (18 goals) and Mitchell Lewandowski (16 goals) … Khodorenko's 18 goals were fourth best in the league, while his 37 points were eighth.

• Four Spartans were voted to the Preseason All-Big Ten teams, announced on Sept. 30, as Mitchell Lewandowski and Dennis Cesana were both voted by the coaches to the second team, while Patrick Khodorenko and Jerad Rosburg earned honorable mention.

• Dennis Cesana led all conference rookies in assists (21) and was second in points (24) last season as he was voted to the Big Ten All-Freshman team … His 21 helpers were sixth most among all freshmen nationally and second best among defensemen.

• Sam Saliba will wear the 'C' on his jersey for the second straight year, while junior Tommy Apap has been added as a captain as well this season … Seniors Patrick Khodorenko and Jerad Rosburg will be the Spartans' assistant captains.

About Colorado College
Colorado College enters the weekend with the same record as the Spartans – 1-1 … The Tigers split a home series with Minnesota (W, 3-2; L, 4-3), Oct. 11-12, and were off last weekend … Senior forward Chris Wilkie leads the Tigers in goals (3) and points (5), while senior Nick Halloran leads in assists (5) … In goal, redshirt senior transfer Ryan Ruck, who went 38-25-8 in two seasons at Northeastern, is 1-1 with a .909 save percentage and 3.05 GAA … CC is 1-for-9 on the power play, while they killed 7-of-9 penalties against Minnesota in the season-opening series.

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USNTDP Exhibition Recap
The Spartans topped the USNTDP U-18 team for the sixth consecutive time on Friday, Oct. 18, 2-1, in an exhibition game at Munn … With the game tied 1-1, Gianluca Esteves scored on a breakaway with 3:12 to go to give the Spartans the win … In goal, NTDP alum Drew DeRidder started and made 14 saves, while John Lethemon played the final 30:23 of action and stopped all 13 shots he faced … Patrick Khodorenko also scored for MSU … The Spartans outshot the U-18s, 31-28.

NMU Series Recap
The Spartans never trailed in the season-opening 5-3 win and twice had two-goal leads … Tommy Apap had the first two-goal and game-winning goal of his career, while Brody Stevens notched his second career multi-point game with a goal and assist … John Lethemon made 28 saves, including 13 in the third period, in Friday's win … MSU was 2-for-5 on the power play on Friday and 0-for-5 on Saturday … MSU improved to 43-31-5 in season-openers, including 2-1 under coach Danton Cole.

Donnelly to Enter MSU Athletics Hall of Fame
Mike Donnelly (1982-86) will be inducted into the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame on Thursday, Oct. 24. Donnelly, who holds the NCAA single-season goal record with 59 in 1985-86, helped lead MSU to the national championship that same season. Donnelly scored the game-winning goal in the third period of the 6-5 victory over Harvard in the title game and was named the tournament's most outstanding player. The first-team All-American and Hobey Baker Award finalist went on to play 11 seasons in the NHL and helped the Los Angeles Kings to the 1993 Stanley Cup Final. Donnelly is the ninth Spartan hockey player or coach to be inducted into the MSU HOF.

Late Start
Michigan State's regular season home-opening series against Cornell on Nov. 1-2 will be its latest home-opening set at Munn Ice Arena since the 2005-06 season (Nov. 4-5). As a result, MSU will be playing four regular season games in December this season for the first time since 2013.

Schedule Notes…
• The Spartans' two home non-conference series will be against teams that made last year's NCAA Tournament (Cornell, Nov. 1-2; Arizona State, Dec. 14-15) … Cornell is currently ranked No. 5 in the USCHO.com poll, while Arizona State was slotted No. 20 in the preseason USCHO.com poll.
• The 24-game Big Ten schedule begins Nov. 8-9 at Penn State.
• The Spartans are currently slated to have 14 games televised, but that number could increase, pending further network selections.

The MSU-CC Series
Colorado College leads the all-time series 45-31-1, including 26-14 in games played in Colorado Springs … In the last meeting between the teams in Colorado Springs, the Spartans defeated the Tigers, 3-1, on March 28, 2008 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

106905 — The Spartans last met the Tigers in Colorado Springs in the 2008 NCAA Tournament - a 3-1 MSU win.

The Munn Project
The $18.8 million Munn Ice Arena expansion project broke ground in mid-July, while an official groundbreaking ceremony was held Sept. 6. The expansion will provide the Spartans a new locker room, weight room, video room, training room with hydrotherapy pools, team lounge, offices and a hall of history among several other amenities. Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo and his family have pledged $1.1 million toward the project.

...Speaking of Munn
The Spartans posted a winning record at home for the second straight season in 2018-19, going 7-5-2 at Munn, including a 5-4-2 Big Ten record … Home attendance average was up over 300 fans per game from the previous season as MSU ranked 10th nationally with an average of 5,461 in 2018-19.

Khodorenko Gets Better With Age
Patrick Khodorenko had his best season in the Green and White last year with career highs in goals (18), points (37), shots (117), power-play goals (9) and game-winning goals (2). Khodorenko has increased his output in all five of those statistical categories over each season during his time at MSU.

The native of Walnut Creek, California, who played for Danton Cole with the USNTDP entered the season with 87 career points, which was the 11th best total among all active players, while his 38 career goals were eighth among all active skaters. Khodorenko will be wearing a letter for his first time as a Spartan, as he was named one of the team's two assistant captains in May.

Lewandowski Lights the Lamp
Mitchell Lewandowski, who has ranked first (19 goals, 2017-18) and second (16 goals, 2018-19), on the team in goals over the last two seasons, enters his junior season with 68 career points, including 35 goals. The last Spartan to score more than 35 goals over their first two seasons was Adam Hall, who scored a total of 42 from 1998-00 (16, 1998-99; 26 in 1999-00).

The junior from Clarkston was voted by the coaches to the preseason Big Ten All-Second Team.

Back End Support
The defensive pairing of Dennis Cesana and Jerad Rosburg combined for 40 points last season. Cesana, who was an All-Big Ten Freshman Team selection, led all conference rookies in assists (21) and was second in points (24). His 21 helpers were sixth most among all freshmen nationally and second best among defensemen. Rosburg had a career high in goals (4), assists (12) and points (16) a season ago and was voted winner of the team's outstanding defensive player award.

The Spartans return all but one defenseman from last season and for the first year under Danton Cole will have more than one senior blueliner on the roster with four in Jerad Rosburg, Butrus Ghafari, Damian Chrcek and Anthony Scarsella.

Up Next
The Spartans will play their first regular-season home series Nov. 1-2 at Munn Arena when they host No. 5 Cornell.