What a difference a week makes.
Last week, Wisconsin was the No. 1 team in the country, garnering 32 first-place votes in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll. The Badgers, then 9-1-0 overall with a 4-0-0 record in conference play, had just come off a bye week and by virtue of the ever-changing landscape among the top teams nationwide, they traveled to East Lansing as the team a lot of folks in college hockey thought was best in the land.
After earning that rank, coach Mike Hastings told his players to “appreciate it, but understand what it is. It’s a moment.”
As it turns out, it was a moment that lasted a single week. Michigan State swept Wisconsin 4-2 and 3-2, snapping the Badgers’ six-game win streak and extending the Spartans’ own undefeated streak to six games (5-0-1).
So, do the Spartans top the poll this week? Nope.
This week, Wisconsin drops to No. 6 and Michigan State moves up from No. 11 to No. 7 – and neither team earned any first-place votes in this week’s poll.
It’s difficult to explain, but as Dan Rubin and I discussed in this week’s TMQ, the poll is likely a response to two things: the perception of voters regarding the strength of conferences as much as (or maybe even more so than) the perceived strength of individual teams, and the real parity we’re seeing among the teams shaping up to be the top 15 or so nationally.
If it were a matter of consistency, No. 3 Quinnipiac would be No. 1. The Bobcats are 6-0-1 in their last eight games, the longest unbeaten streak among top 10 teams, better by one game than Michigan State’s current run. Quinnipiac earned eight first place votes this week.
And not one bit of that likely matters to Spartans coach Adam Nightingale.
Following Michigan State’s 3-2 win Saturday, Nightingale said, “Obviously, a really good weekend for our program.”
Not just the team, but the program.
In addition to sweeping “a really quality opponent” at home in conference play, Nightingale said that the series showed how far the Spartans have come since dropping two games on the road to Boston College Oct. 26-27.
“We obviously had a lot to work on,” said Nightingale.
He added that the Saturday win was notable, too, for how well the Spartans played after losing a lead and how well they responded when the game was tied. Leading 1-0 after the first period, Michigan State took a number of second-period penalties resulting in a 13-3 Wisconsin shot advantage and Owen Lindmark’s tying goal late in the second. Joey Larson’s goal at 1:55 in the third, though, put the Spartans ahead for good.
“A lot of times a team struggles when that happens,” said Nightingale, “after you give up a lead, and I just think for our guys to stay with it and then again for [it] to be a tie game going into the third [and] to finish it off, I think there’s a lot we can learn from it.”
Nightingale singled out goaltender Trey Augustine (2.99 GAA, .913 SV%) as a big reason for Michigan State’s success in the series, especially during the second period of Saturday’s game.
“I think he’s gotten better and better as the season’s went on,” said Nightingale. “If you look at true freshmen goaltenders, there’s not a ton of them and it’s an adjustment, right? I thought each game he’s gotten better and better, but for sure that was one when he was our best player.”
Nightingale credits Augustine’s development in part to the goalie’s relationship with associate head coach Jared DeMichiel, a goaltender for RIT (2006-10) who backstopped the Tigers to their Frozen Four appearance in 2010. From 2016 to 2022, DeMichiel coached at Massachusetts, first as an assistant and then an associate head coach. DeMichiel is widely recognized for his recruiting and player development skills.
“Jared does a great job of connecting with our players,” said Nightingale. “I think he treats them as a person first and when we went through the recruiting process with Trey, I think that was really important to him. There’s a connection there and when you look at Jared’s track record with goalies, it’s really good.
“I think there’s a mutual respect there. Obviously, we respect Trey and I think Trey respects DeMichiel and kind of his track record as a coach.”
The Spartans now top the Big Ten with 16 points, four ahead of second-place Wisconsin. For their part, the Badgers know they have some work to do.
“Do we need a reset? Yeah, after coming up empty, but again, every weekend’s a learning opportunity for us and we learned quite a bit last weekend,” said Hastings. “I want to give credit to State. I think they’re a good hockey team. We learned a little bit on the compete side of things. It’s one thing to get an opportunity. It’s another thing to finish it.”
The Spartans have the opportunity to increase their lead at the top of the B1G standings this weekend when they travel to face No. 8 Minnesota in a Friday-Sunday series, the only conference play on this week’s schedule for Big Ten teams.
Heading into Thanksgiving weekend a year ago, the Golden Gophers were at the top of the Big Ten standings with 18 points and just one point ahead of the Spartans, but the Gophers were poised to run away with the conference. Minnesota took the 2022-23 regular-season title with 57 points. Michigan finished second last season a full 19 points behind the Gophers.
What a difference a year makes.
With two wins in the Big Ten and a 6-4-2 overall record, Minnesota is five points ahead of last-place Ohio State. Last weekend, the Gophers split a pair of home games against Notre Dame.
“Twelve games, and we’ve been awful good in six of them,” said Minnesota coach Bob Motzko after the Gophers’ 4-1 win Saturday.
Motzko said that the early season is “reminding the older guys and the new guys how hard it is to create offense, how hard to hang in a game.”
He added, “And buckle up. We’ve got six to go ‘til break and every one’s going to be the same.”
