Martone’s Hat Trick Leads No. 1 Hockey Past Notre Dame

Friday, February 20

East Lansing, Mich.

6 PM

Michigan State University

24-6-0, 15-5-0

Notre Dame

6-22-4, 2-17-1

Notre Dame

Michigan St.

Martone Celebration, 2025-26, action, hockey

Photo by: Michael Caples

2/20/2026 11:18:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Freshman forward Porter Martone tallied his first career hat trick and No. 1-ranked Michigan State hockey put up season-best eight goals in an 8-2 win over Notre Dame on Friday night at Munn Ice Arena to complete the season series sweep.

"It was good to get a sweep, hard to get in our conference," said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. "They tied it up on the power play, and then we had a big kill there, a 5-minute major that turned into a 5 on 3, and I thought the guys did a heck of a job of digging in, it would have been easy to melt at that moment. I thought it was a great weekend for our team, some stuff still to clean up."

MSU improves to 24-6-0 overall and 15-5-0 in Big Ten action, good for 45 points towards the conference standings. The Spartans are back in action at Munn next weekend, February 27-28, for a pair of contests against Ohio State on Big Ten Network.

Michigan State outshot Notre Dame 42-26, which included a 12-4 difference in the third period. The Spartans held a 48-26 advantage at the dot with senior forward Charlie Stramel winning 20 draws on a .741 face-off winning percentage. Junior goaltender Trey Augustine made 24 saves and was instrumental in killing three of Notre Dame's five power play chances, including a five-minute major. Senior goaltender and South Bend, Indiana native Dolan Gilbert played the final 3:23 in goal.

Martone led all players with three points on Friday and was joined in his multi-point effort by freshman forward Ryker Lee (2 G), senior forward Daniel Russel (2 A) and junior forward Tommi Mannisto (1 G, 1 A). Also scoring for the Spartans on Friday night were sophomore defenseman Owen West and junior forward Griffin Jurecki. Senior defenseman Matt Basgall, junior defenseman Maxim Strbak, freshman forward Anthony Romani and junior forward Gavin O'Connell contributed assists.

How It Happened
A pair of Notre Dame penalties just 26 seconds into the contest put Michigan State on a power play early. Martone netted his second of the weekend 1:16 into the first period, winning the draw before collecting a pass from Basgall at the right circle and putting a shot on goal that ricocheted off an Irish defenders stick and in.

Michigan State was called for a penalty late on its own power play to give the Fighting Irish a power play chance of their own, leading to the tying goal at the 9:44 mark of the first.

Porter Martone wins the face-off and puts a shot on goal to score on the power play! pic.twitter.com/oQMI3JhfTQ
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) February 20, 2026

Another early Notre Dame penalty put Michigan State on the power play 29 seconds into the second period. Lee put the Spartans in front less than 20 seconds later when he put the puck in the upper corner of the goal unassisted. MSU appeared to have taken a 3-1 lead in the period on a goal by freshman forward Eric Nilson, but a successful challenge by Notre Dame saw the Spartans take a five-minute major penalty.

Michigan State's penalty kill came up big in the period, killing the major penalty and a separate minor penalty that included 44 seconds of 3-on-5 play. Martone's second goal of the night put MSU up 3-1 at the 11:13 mark. Martone beat three Notre Dame defenders and the goalie one handed as he muscled the puck into the back of the net.

The heart, the hustle and the muscle - Porter Martone's second goal of the night makes it 3-1! pic.twitter.com/LL0RCwuXPf
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) February 21, 2026

A short-handed goal by Mannisto briefly provided MSU with a 4-1 lead before the Irish capitalized on their power play at the 14:18 mark of the period. Mannisto played the passing lane and poked the puck down ice, using his speed to get a 1-on-1 with the Notre Dame goaltender.

West capped off the second period with a power play goal of his own, blasting a shot from the point after a great screen from sophomore forward Shane Vansaghi.

Tommi Mannisto scores a shorty to put us up 4-1 in the second! pic.twitter.com/kCl5Q8psEL
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) February 21, 2026

Martone completed his first career hat trick 12:14 into the third period, putting home a rebound following a shot by Russell. Jurecki later made it 7-2 after leading a 2-on-1 break alongside Mannisto. Jurecki's head fake towards a crashing Mannisto diverted the goaltenders' eyes and allowed him to score a wrister from the right circle. Lee capped off the scoring just 20 seconds later going forehand, backhand, forehand to take advantage of a Notre Dame giveaway in their own D-Zone with some of his patented wizardry.