Spartans Head East For Series at UMass-Lowell


Michigan State (3-1-0) vs. UMass-Lowell (1-1-0)
Dates/Times	Friday, Oct. 22, 7:15 pm \| Saturday, Oct. 23, 6 pm
Location	Tsongas Center, Lowell, Mass.
Tickets	UMass Lowell Ticket Office
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	(CollegeSportsLive /$): Friday \| Saturday
Live Statistics	Click Here
Game Notes	Michigan State \| UMass-Lowell
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

WEEKEND PARTICULARS
• Michigan State takes to the road for a non-conference series for the first time since the 2019-20 season. The destination is Lowell, Massachusetts for a two-game series with UMass-Lowell.

• Both games this weekend will have a live webstream through Hockey East Online.

• 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.

• UMass-Lowell is under the direction of head coach Norm Bazin, now in his 11th season behind the bench of his alma mater. In 10 seasons, he owns a 215-119-33 record, and owns the highest winning percentage of any coach in program history (.631). He is in his 14th season overall as a head coach.

• The Riverhawks were idle last weekend due to Covid-19 issues within the LIU Hockey program. They opened the season with a split at Arizona State, (3-5, 4-2).

• MSU and UMass Lowell meet for the 11th time on Friday, with the series tied at five wins each. The teams last played in the 2014 season, a 2-1 Riverhawk victory in Lowell. The games this weekend will be the second and third meetings of the teams at Tsongas Arena.

• MSU is bringing several players with New England ties back to Massachusetts. Senior captain Dennis Cesana hails from Providence, Rhode Island and attended Kimball Union Academy (2013-16).
Kyle Haskins is a native of Huntington, Vermont and played for three seasons at South Kent School in Connecticut, where he helped the team to the U18 national championship in 2018.
Jeremy Davidson played at Hockey East rival UMass in 2019-20. He joined the Spartans this year after a year in juniors with Fargo (USHL).

TEAM NOTES
• The Spartans earned a series sweep of Miami at Munn Ice Arena last weekend, getting game-winners in the final four minutes of regulation in each game to post the two victories.

• MSU earned its first series sweep at Munn since 3-0 and 5-4 wins over Wisconsin Dec. 6-7, 2019.

• MSU's defense limited Miami to just one goal in each contest last weekend, and improved the team's scoring defense to just 1.50 goals per game, whih ranks third nationally and first in the Big Ten. MSU averages 3.0 goals per game, good for sixth in the B1G.

• MSU has carried over last year's dominance in the faceoff circle. MSU is 138-110 on draws in the first four games (.556), good for third in the Big Ten and 10th nationally.
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 Spartan power play showed off a bit in the opening weekend, but the penalty kill was the showpiece of special teams against Miami. The Spartans were 6-for-6 on the PK, which included a five-minute major and seven overall minutes of penalty-kill time in game two. MSU's penalty kill is 10-for-11 on the season, which is good for third in the Big Ten (.909).

• MSU is a combined 4-for-10 on the power play in four games (.400), which ranks fifth nationally and second in the league.

• 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.

• After playing just four non-conference games in 2020-21 (all against ASU), the Spartans have 10 on the schedule for the 2021-22 season. MSU played two-game sets at home against Air Force and Miami, this weekend's 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.

PLAYER NOTES - FORWARDS
• Jeremy Davidson earned the Second Star of the Week from the Big Ten. Davidson led MSU's offense with three goals last weekend, including his first career multiple-goal game on Friday and the game-tying marker on Saturday. At 0.75 goals per game for the season, he and Mitchell Lewandowski are tied for fourth in the Big Ten in that category and share the team lead in goals (3).

• With a 3-2--5 scoring line, Davidson has his career best in goals and points, and tied his career high with two assists this season. He played one season collegiately at UMass (2019-20) and had a goal and two assists in 22 games, then returned to the USHL to play for the Fargo Force in 2020-21.

• Lewandowski leads MSU with six points (3g, 3a), which ranks second in the Big Ten. He had a pair of assists in last weekend's games against Miami, His 1.50 goals per game ranks in a tie for 10th nationally.

• Lewandowski, who has logged 139 career games in his MSU career, is the leader in career games played owns the second-highest career point total among active NCAA skaters with 106. 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.

• Erik Middendorf recorded his first goal as a Spartan last Saturday, and it was a big one - the game-winner with just over two minutes remaining in a 2-1 win over Miami.

• 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 came 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.

• Sophomore Kristof Papp had a pair of assists and won 55% of his faceoffs (23-19) last weekend vs. Miami. He assisted on Davidson's game-winner on Friday and his winger's game-tying goal on Saturday. Papp shares the team lead in assists (3) this season.

• Griffin Loughran is second on the team in goals this season (2) and is tied for third in points. He assisted on Middendorf's game-winner last Saturday.

• Loughran's two power-play strikes puts him tied for eighth on the national leaderboard (second in the B1G) 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.

• Josh Nodler scored the opening goal of the 2021-22 season for MSU, and with a 1-3--4 scoring line, he shares the team lead in helpers and ranks in a tie for third with four points on the year. He had the primary assist on Middendorf's Saturday game-winner.

• Nodler's 46 faceoff wins ranks first in the Big Ten, and he has won 67% of his faceoffs on the season (46-23). He won 68% of his faceoffs last weekend (23-11) against Miami.

• Junior Jagger Joshua recorded his first goal of the season with his late empty-netter vs. Miami on Friday.

• Nicolas Muller and AJ Hodges had assists on Joshua's tally last Friday. It was Hodges' first of the season.

• Senior Adam Goodsir's next game will be the 100th in his career.

PLAYER NOTES - DEFENSEMEN
• Dennis Cesana had a pair of assists in the Friday game vs. Miami, both on Jeremy Davidson scores. He is the team's top-scoring blueliner and ranks fifth with a 1-2--3 scoring line, and shares a +4 rating to lead the team as well.

• 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 61 points (13g, 48a) in 103 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. He was a +2 last weekend and is a +3 overall on the season skating as a pair with Cesana.

• Christian Krygier has appeared in 98 career games through the Miami series, and twin brother Cole has played 91. Cole is ranked third in the Big Ten in penalty minutes (19), while Christian shares the team lead in penalties with his brother (4).

• Powell Connor leads the Spartans with 11 blocked shots, which is tied for second in the Big Ten and 11th nationally. Christian Krygier has seven blocks and Cesana five. That trio accounts for 23 of MSU's 44 blocked shots on the year.

• David Gucciardi is the lone freshman on the Spartan blue line and he comes to East Lansing after two seasons with Waterloo (USHL). He has played in all four games with Christian Krygier as his D-partner.

PLAYER NOTES - GOALTENDERS
• MSU split its weekend between its two goalies for the second straight week.

• Sophomore Pierce Charleson got the nod on Friday and made 28 saves in a 3-1 MSU victory. He ranks second in the Big Ten and second nationally in save percentage on the season (.966), and his 1.00 GAA is fourth nationally and third in the B1G.

• Senior Drew DeRidder has two of the top three single-game save performances in the Big Ten this season. He made 35 stops against Miami last Saturday and had 36 saves in his season debut, a 3-2 OT loss to Air Force.

• DeRidder's 35-save performance last Saturday vs. Miami was impressive, and more so considering he made nine stops on the power play - eight on a major penalty kill in the second period.

• DeRidder ranks seventh nationally with a .947 save percentage and 16th in goals against average (1.96).

• 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.

• 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

Adam Goodsir

David Gucciardi

Kyle Haskins

Jagger Joshua

Christian Krygier

Mitchell Lewandowski

Griffin Loughran

Erik Middendorf

Nash Nienhuis

Josh Nodler

Kristof Papp