NCAA Tourney Starts Friday for Spartan Icers

No. 4/4 Michigan State (24-9-3) at NCAA Regional
Date/Time	v. Western Michigan \| Friday, March 29 \| 5 pm ET/ 4 pm CT (if advancing: Regional Final vs. North Dakota/Michigan \| Sunday, March 31, 6:30 pm ET/5:30 pm CT)
Location	Centene Community Ice Center, Maryland Heights, Mo.
Tickets	T icketmaster Event Site Reserved Seats are SOLD OUT \| Secondary market tickets on Seat Geek
Television	ESPNU Roxy Bernstein (pxp) and Ben Clymer (analysis)
Radio	WJIM 1240 AM (Lansing) \| Listen Online: Click "Spartan Media Network" Scott Moore (pxp) and Rob Woodward (analysis)
Webstreams	ESPN+
Tourney Central	NCAA.com
Live Stats	Click Here
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Western Michigan \| Michigan \| North Dakota
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

THE ORIGINAL SIX
What you need to know about Spartan Hockey
Click on "game notes" above to see the entire notes packet for the weekend.

• No. 4/4 Michigan State has earned the Big Ten's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will be the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Maryland Heights regional. The Spartans will take on in-state rival and No. 14/13 Western Michigan in the first round, the first-ever meeting of the programs in the NCAA Tournament. No. 5/5 North Dakota and No. 10/10 Michigan are the other two teams competing in Maryland Heights, with the Friday winners advancing to the Sunday regional final. MSU is making its 28th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2012. The Spartans are 5-7 as a No. 1 seed in program history and have advanced to the Frozen Four as a No. 1 seed in 1984, 1989, and 2001.

• With a 24-9-3 record, MSU has its first season with 20 wins since the 2007-08 team went 25-12-5. The Spartans captured their first regular-season league title since 2000-01, and first post-season tournament crown since 2006. Big Ten Coach of the Year Adam Nightingale owns a two-year record of 42-27-5, and has improved the Spartans by six wins year-over year in each of his first two campaigns.

• MSU had finalists in each of the five major Big Ten postseason awards, headlined by freshman Artyom Levshunov who captured both the Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards (and was a finalist for Player of the Year). Levshunov also earned First Team All-Big Ten honors as well as a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman team with classmate Trey Augustine. Augustine is a Second Team All-Big Ten pick and was a finalist for Goaltender of the Year. Sophomores Karsen Dorwart, Isaac Howard, and Joey Larson earned Honorable Mention All-Big Ten accolades, while fifth-year senior Nicolas Müller was the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award recipient.

• The Spartans have two forward lines (the all-sophomore line of Howard-Dorwart-Daniel Russell and all-newcomer line of Gavin O'Connell-Red Savage-Larson) that have combined for 89 and 82 points, respectively. The all-senior line of Reed Lebster- Müller-Jeremy Davidson) has 68, and the fourth line of Tommi Männistö-Tiernan Shoudy-Tanner Kelly 42. Despite being a top-10 offense in the country (3.89 g/gm, seventh) MSU does not have an individual in the national top 70 in points, the top 49 in goals, or in the top 30 in assists.

• Levshunov averages just below a point per game (9-25-34, 36 GP), and is tied for 11th in the country and is atop the B1G with a +26. He is tied for the team lead and ranks sixth in the Big Ten in assists (25) and fifth in assists per game (0.69); among defensemen nationally, he ranks ninth in points and sixth in goals. Levshunov is MSU's first 30-point freshman blueliner since Jason Wooley tied MSU's all-time freshman defenseman scoring mark of 37 points in 1988-89. Wooley shares the mark with Pat Betterly (1974-75).

• Trey Augustine was named the Most Outstanding Player of the B1G Tournament, and is one of 10 semifinalists for the Mike Richter Award as the nation's top goaltender. Augustine has started 33 games this season, with a .918 save percentage (fourth B1G), 2.88 GAA (fifth B1G), and 22-8-2 record. He ranks fourth nationally in saves (1049), fifth in wins (22), ninth in winning percentage (.710) and shutouts (3), and 15th in save percentage among D1 goalies.

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Players Mentioned

Trey Augustine

Jeremy Davidson

Karsen Dorwart

Isaac Howard

Tanner Kelly

Joey Larson

Reed Lebster

Artyom Levshunov

Gavin O'Connell

Daniel Russell

Red Savage

Tiernan Shoudy