No. 2/3 Hockey Clinches Third Consecutive Big Ten Regular Season Championship

Thursday, March 5

Minneapolis, MInn.

8 PM

Michigan State University

25-7-1, 16-6-1

Minnesota

11-21-2, 7-15-1

Michigan St.

Minnesota

Photo by: Michael Caples

No. 2/3 Hockey Clinches Third Consecutive Big Ten Regular Season Championship

3/6/2026 1:21:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

EAST LANSING, Mich. – For the first time in program history, No. 2/3-ranked Michigan State hockey secured its third-straight conference title on Thursday night, toppling Minnesota 7-1 from 3M Arena at Mariucci. The Spartans locked up the No. 1 seed and home ice for next week's Big Ten Tournament, earning a bye into the semifinals where they'll face the lowest remaining seeded team.

"I thought the second (period) was as good as we've played this year," said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. "I thought we did a lot of the things we try to do as a hockey team. I thought the guys stayed with it. Tough to win a regular season championship. I think that is the best test of the health of your program. For our guys to do it three times in a row is pretty special."

MSU improves to 25-7-1 overall and 16-6-1 in the Big Ten, earning three points for Thursday's regulation win to secure first place with 50 season standings points with one regular season game remaining. Minnesota falls to 11-21-2 (7-15-1 B1G) ahead of Friday night's regular season finale.

Michigan State outshot Minnesota 45-24 overall and 19-8 during a dominant second period that saw the Spartans score four goals. MSU held a 45-26 advantage on the draw led by freshman Eric Nilson's 15-6 performance at the dot. On special teams Michigan State was 2-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill against Minnesota's No. 3-ranked power play. The Spartan power play is cooking at a .362 percent clip in 2026 (17-for-47).

A trio of Spartans tallied multi-goal performances led by freshman Porter Martone, freshman Ryker Lee and senior Tiernan Shoudy. Shoudy led all players with three points on Thursday. Freshman Cayden Lindstrom notched his second goal of the season in the third period.

Nine different skaters recorded assists in game one led by two-assist nights from senior Charlie Stramel and junior Gavin O'Connell. Junior Maxim Strbak, senior Matt Basgall, sophomore Owen West, junior Griffin Jurecki, freshman Matt Lahey and freshman Anthony Romani posted one assist each.

In goal junior Trey Augustine made 23 saves on 24 shots faced, good for a .958 save percentage.

Glove save for Trey through traffic to stop the Gopher power play! pic.twitter.com/l640fk2Rl5
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) March 6, 2026

How It Happened
Michigan State killed an early Gopher power play before Martone opened the scoring five minutes into the contest. Stramel intercepted a pass near the blue line, finding Martone who deposited his 22nd goal of the season to put the Spartans up 1-0. MSU nearly capitalized on a rebound shortly thereafter, but the puck was cleared off the goal line by the Minnesota defense, and the Minnesota goalie's helmet coming off stopped play.

Charlie Stramel intercepts a pass at the blue line and finds Porter Martone for his 22nd goal of the season! pic.twitter.com/C2wDeGBxEn
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) March 6, 2026

The Spartans took control of the game in the second period scoring four goals to amass a 5-0 lead over Minnesota. Lee scored his first goal of the night eight minutes into the period when Romani secured a blocked puck and found Lee waiting on the wing. Shoudy made it 3-0 after Jurecki forced a turnover in the Gopher defensive zone and great vision from O'Connell spotted Shoudy waiting on the back door.

Michigan State's power play prowess late in the season continued when Martone tallied his second goal of the night just 17 seconds into the man-up situation to make it 4-0. Lee scored his second of the period less than a minute after Martone's second, using traffic in front of the net to deflect a puck past the Gopher goaltender.

Tiernan Shoudy making it look easy! He makes it 3-0 after a great pass from Gavin O'Connell! pic.twitter.com/9vDJVJGVSz
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) March 6, 2026

A one-timer by Lindstrom extended MSU's advantage to 6-0 just 1:54 into the third period. Back-to-back Minnesota penalties late in the contest provided Michigan State with a 5-on-3 power play opportunity with less than 3:00 remaining in regulation. Shoudy capitalized for his second goal of the night to match his season best set earlier this year at Northern Michigan.