Spartans Excel, Medal At World Juniors
1/10/2024 3:23:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
East Lansing, Mich. -- Michigan State hockey players capped an impressive run at the 2024 World Junior Championships in Gothenberg, Sweden. Freshman netminder Trey Augustine (South Lyon, Mich.) and sophomore forward Isaac Howard (Hudson, Wis.) each earned gold medals with Team USA. Freshman forward Tommi Männistö (Riihimäki, Finland) and Maxim Štrbák (Košice, Slovakia) each were named to their nation's top three players list at the conclusion of the championship.
Štrbák was participating in his third straight World Juniors for his home nation and finished the tournament with a goal and six assists in five games. Štrbák was tied for second among all defensemen in scoring in the tournament and third overall on team Slovakia.
Unfortunately for Štrbák and the Slovakians, they were eliminated in the quarterfinal round by Männistö and Team Finland. Männistö compiled three goals and an assist in the tournament (tied for second among all Finnish goal scorers), which included an assist on Finland's first goal in the semifinals against Augustine and Team USA. Team Finland dropped a heartbreaker in the bronze-medal game to Czechia. Augustine and Howard came home with gold medals thanks to a 6-2 victory over host nation Sweden in the finals. Howard scored twice in that game to earn Player of the Game honors. He compiled a 7-2-9 scoring line for Team USA over the tournament – tied for the WJC lead in goals with Swede Jonathan Lekkerimäki.
Augustine led the tournament in both goals against average (1.75) and save percentage (.936), going a perfect 4-0 – including both the semifinal vs. Finland and the final vs. Sweden. Augustine was playing in his second world juniors, winning silver in 2023 with team USA.
The Spartan contingent was one of the deepest and most diverse of any school in the country. MSU had four players participating in the championship– tied for second with Minnesota and Michigan, behind the seven for Boston College. In addition, MSU tied Boston University with their participating players representing three different nations – BU had one each for the US, Sweden and Canada. 
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