Spartans Host Miami In Rekindled Rivalry


Michigan State (1-1-0) vs. Miami (1-1-0)
Dates/Times	Friday, Oct. 15, 7 pm \| Saturday, Oct. 16, 7 pm
Location	Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing, Mich.
Tickets	Spartan Ticket Office Ph: 517-355-1610 \| Gameday Answers
Radio	Spartan Media Network *Games air live on WJIM 1240 AM* Scott Moore (pxp) and Rob Woodward (Analysis) Broadcast on the Web: Friday \| Saturday
Television	none
Webstreams	(B1G+/$): Friday \| Saturday
Live Statistics	Click Here
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Miami
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram
Press Conference	Watch this week's Danton Cole Press Conference
Game Program	Download this week's digital game program

In line with indoor mask mandates campus-wide, all fans, media, and individuals working at Michigan State hockey games at Munn Ice Arena will be required to correctly wear a mask.

WEEKEND PARTICULARS

• Michigan State wraps a four-game homestand with a series against Miami (Ohio) at Munn Ice Arena.

• Both games this weekend will have a live webstream on B1G+, the Big Ten Network's streaming channel.

• Scott Moore and Rob Woodward will call the action on the Spartan Media Network. The game will air live on both WJIM 1240 AM in the Lansing area as well as on the web via MSUSpartans.com.

• MSU and Miami rekindle a rivalry from when both teams were members of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). This will be the first meeting of the teams since 2013, the final season of the former conference. MSU leads the all-time series by a 69-34-6 margin, which includes a 36-18-3 mark in games played in East Lansing.

• Head coach Chris Bergeron enters his third season at his alma mater. Bergeron was an assistant coach for the RedHawks for 10 seasons before a nine-year run as the head coach at Bowling Green (2010-19). He is 14-40-7 in his first two seasons back in Oxford, and 185-194-51 overall in his head coaching career.

• Miami split a series at Ferris State last weekend, winning the opening game 7-4 before dropping a 4-3 OT decision on Saturday. Miami's 10 goals came from nine different players.

TEAM NOTES
• The Spartans split their opening weekend against the Air Force Academy, dropping the first one in an OT heartbreaker (3-2) before rebounding with a 5-1 victory on Saturday.

• MSU has carried over last year's dominance in the faceoff circle. MSU won 72 of 118 draws in the first two games (.610), good for third in the Big Ten and third nationally.

• The Spartan power play showed off a bit in the opening weekend, potting three extra-man goals in seven chances (.429). The Spartans are third in the Big Ten and sixth nationally in conversion percentage.

• Michigan State is coming off a 7-18-2 record in the Covid-19-shortened 2020-21 season in which the Spartans played a Big Ten (plus Arizona State) schedule only. MSU finished seventh in the Big Ten.

• MSU averaged 16.5 penalty minutes per game in the first series of the year, which is third in the Big Ten and 10th nationally.

• MSU scored five goals in Saturday's game, a total it reached just once in 2020-21 (a 5-1 win over Penn State at home)

• After playing just four non-conference games in 2020-21 (all against ASU), the Spartans have 10 on the schedule for the upcoming season. MSU will play two-game sets at home against Air Force and Miami, on the road at UMass-Lowell, a home-and-home with Ferris State, and host the two Great Lakes Invitational games against Western Michigan and Michigan Tech.

• Michigan State returns 19 letterwinners for the 2021-22 campaign and welcomes seven new players. Of the newcomers, four come in with previous college hockey experience, and there are three true freshmen.

• Of MSU's 15 forwards on the roster, nine are returning to the Green and White from 2020-21. With the bolster of some transfers, MSU's forward corps has a combined 678 college hockey games under its belt. Seven defensemen return with 346 games played (all at MSU), and the three goaltenders have a combined 52 games played.

• MSU's four newcomers with previous experience (Chris Berger, Jeremy Davidson, Griffin Loughran, and Erik Middendorf) bring 222 man-games to the Spartan lineup, and a combined 54-62-116 scoring line. All have at least two remaining seasons of eligibility.

• The Spartans were selected sixth in the Big Ten preseason coaches poll. Minnesota topped the coaches survey, followed by Michigan, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Penn State, MSU and Ohio State. Wisconsin is the regular-season defending champion, while Minnesota captured the 2020-21 Tournament title.

• In 2020-21, Michigan State was one of the top teams in the country in the faceoff circle, ranking seventh nationally and second in the Big Ten with a .537 winning percentage.

• The Spartans were 5-9-1 at home in 2020-21, and 7-8-1 the year prior before the season was halted due to Covid-19. MSU has 20 home dates on its schedule at Munn Ice Arena.

• Eighteen of MSU's 27 games a year ago were decided by two goals or less, with MSU going 6-12 in those contests. MSU was 4-5 in one-goal affairs.

• MSU surrendered 77 goals a year ago, the third-fewest of any B1G team behind Minnesota (51) and Michigan (64).

PLAYER NOTES - FORWARDS
• Only five players appeared in all 27 games a year ago - Mitchell Lewandowski, Dennis Cesana, Josh Nodler, Kyle Haskins, and 2021 graduate Tommy Miller. The first four return to the MSU lineup this season.

• Three Spartan seniors – Lewandowski, Cesana and Drew DeRidder – all garnered All-Big Ten Preseason honorable mention accolades.

• MSU's top three scorers from a year ago all return to the roster, and will serve as captains. Cesana will wear the C, and both Lewandowski and Nodler A's.

• Lewandowski led MSU with three goals and an assist last weekend. His Friday goal was the 50th in his career, and he had a pair of goals and an assist in Saturday's victory. His 1.50 goals per game ranks in a tie for first nationally, and his 2.0 ppg ranks eighth among Division I players.

• Lewandowski, owns the sixth-highest career point total among active NCAA skaters with 105. He also ranks fifth in power-play goals (18) and is tied for first in game-winners (10). Lewandowski has never missed a contest in his four-plus collegiate seasons.

• Lewandowski earned Honorable Mention Preseason All-Big Ten honors this season. He led the Spartans in scoring a year ago (6-7—13), sharing the team led in goals with six. He already has three scores this season.

• Griffin Loughran made a splash in his first series in Green and White. He recorded an assist on the first MSU goal of the season, and then added two scores of his own less than two minutes apart of the first period in Saturday's game.
• Loughran's two power-play strikes puts him tied for third on the national leaderboard in that category.

• Loughran is the top-scoring transfer to join the Spartan lineup this season. He scored 72 points (35 goals, 37 assists) in three years at Northern Michigan.

• With both Lewandowski and Loughran scoring twice on Saturday, it was the first game since Dec. 1, 2013 that MSU had a pair of two-goal scorers in a single game. Both Villiam Haag and Greg Wolfe scored twice in an 8-2 victory over Princeton in that game.

• Josh Nodler scored the opening goal of the 2021-22 series for MSU, lighting the lamp at 6:24 of the first period on Friday. He added a pair of assists on Saturday to give him a three-point weekend. Nodler was also 23-35 on faceoffs (.657), which ranks seventh nationally, and his 23 faceoff wins ranks fifth in the Big Ten.

• Jeremy Davidson recorded an assist in each game last weekend. A Kalamazoo native, Davidson played for the Fargo Force in 2020-21 after a year of playing collegiately at UMass (2019-20). He had a goal and two assists for the Minutemen.

• Sophomore Kristof Papp had an assist, a pair of blocked shots, and won 74.1% of his faceoffs last weekend (20-27). His faceoff percentage ranks fourth nationally.

• Erik Middendorf recorded his first point as a Spartan in Saturday's victory, and ranked third among Spartans in shots on net on the weekend.

• Middendorf played two seasons at Colorado College before returning to junior hockey for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, where he won a Clark Cup with the Chicago Steel (USHL). He comes to MSU with seven goals and 13 points in 47 contests at CC.

• Middendorf played in the USNTDP prior to heading to CC, where he played for Danton Cole in 2016-17 for the U-17 team.
• Junior Nicolas Muller recorded his first point of the season in the second game against Air Force.

• Freshman Jesse Tucker recorded his first collegiate point on Saturday on the power play. He comes to MSU from the Green Bay Gamblers, where he holds the record for career assists (88).

• First-year winger Tanner Kelly also made his collegiate debut in the Air Force series. He is a San Diego native who played in the USHL for the Muskegon Lumberjacks (21-26--47 in 2020-21).

• Senior Adam Goodsir was the team's third alternate captain last weekend. He had three penalties (17 minutes) over the two games.

PLAYER NOTES - DEFENSEMEN
• Cesana skated in his 100th career contest in Friday's season opener against Air Force, and scored a highlight-reel goal on Saturday to open his season scoring. He led the team with a +3 on the weekend.

• Cesana has been one of the Big Ten's top-producing defensemen over the last three seasons. The two-time All-Big Ten selection has 59 points (13g, 46a) in 101 career games for the Green and White. He earned Preseason Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors this fall.

• Nash Nienhuis had his second career multi-point game with a pair of assists in the second game against Air Force. His first came last Feb. 14 against Arizona State.

• Christian Krygier had his first point of the season with a Saturday assist, and he shared the team lead with three penalties last weekend. He added two blocked shots. Twin brother Cole also played in both games, with one penalty and a pair of blocks. The pair is both approaching 100 career games - Cole has 89 games played, while Christian has logged 96.

• Powell Connor skated in both games last weekend and had a combined five blocked shots to lead all Spartans.

• David Gucciardi is the lone freshman on the Spartan blue line and he comes to East Lansing after two seasons with Waterloo (USHL).

• Aiden Gallacher played in Saturday's game when the Spartans dressed seven defensemen. He had one blocked shot.

PLAYER NOTES - GOALTENDERS
• MSU split its weekend between senior Drew DeRidder and sophomore Pierce Charleson. DeRidder made 36 saves in his season debut on Friday in the OT loss, while Charleson stopped 28 pucks on Saturday.

• DeRidder was named the Spartans' MVP and winner of the most improved player award last season. The native of Fenton posted a 2.76 GAA and .923 save percentage. DeRidder led the Big Ten in total saves with 723 and saves per game at 30.12.

• DeRidder started 24 of 27 games a year ago, posting a pair of shutouts and a 7-15-2 record. He was named to the Mike Richter Award Watch List as a junior.

• Charleson made three starts and appeared in seven games for Michigan State in the crease last season. He compiled a 2.57 GAA and .938 save percentage in those contests, making 210 saves in 326:49.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Chris Berger

Dennis Cesana

Pierce Charleson

Powell Connor

Jeremy Davidson

Drew DeRidder

Aiden Gallacher

Adam Goodsir

David Gucciardi

Kyle Haskins

Tanner Kelly

Christian Krygier

Mitchell Lewandowski

Griffin Loughran

Erik Middendorf

Tommy Miller

Nash Nienhuis

Josh Nodler

Kristof Papp

Jesse Tucker