It’s a good week to be a sports fan in Michigan.
As the top seed in the NFC, the Detroit Lions host the Washington Commanders in NFL playoff action Saturday night.
After a coaching change, the Red Wings won their first seven games of 2025, putting them right there in the hunt for an NHL wild card playoff spot.
Even the Detroit Pistons are contributing to the Mitten glowup. As of this writing, the Pistons won seven of their first eight games in January.
For most Michiganders, this is a week of statewide pride, a love unified behind teams that represent the state in singular style.
But this week is also Rivalry Week, when the No. 10 Wolverines take the ice against the No. 1 Spartans, and no amount of geographic commonality can overcome the animosity created by a mere 65 miles of highway in southeast Michigan.
“Just growing up in the state of Michigan,” said Spartans coach Adam Nightingale, “you’re either green or blue.”
Nightingale knows.
The Cheboygan, Mich., native played his last two years of college hockey at Michigan State (2003-05), where he’s now in his third season as head coach.
“I think for our guys, especially the guys that are from the area or the guys that were here last year, [they] understand that it’s a special thing,” said Nightingale in his weekly press conference.
His counterpart, Brandon Naurato, knows all about it, too. Naurato hails from Livonia, Mich., and is a four-year (2005-09) Wolverine alum. He’s in his third year as head coach behind the Michigan bench.
“I say this with all due respect,” said Naurato on his weekly radio show. “We have respect for that team. It doesn’t mean that we have to like them.”
The rivalry between the Spartans and Wolverines is hot in every sport, but for hockey, it’s particularly sharp. Perhaps that’s because the history between the teams on ice is so long.
Both programs agree that the first game in this rivalry was a 5-1 Michigan win played Jan. 11, 1922, but there is a difference of opinion about the overall number of games in this all-time series. The Spartans count 348 with Michigan holding the all-time edge of 181-143-24. The Wolverines say it’s 343 games and that their record is 177-142-24.
In the years before Nightingale’s tenure in East Lansing and through his first season with Michigan State, the matches didn’t bring much joy to Spartans fans. From the start of the 2019 season through the first meeting between the teams last year, Michigan was 15-4-0 against Michigan State in their previous 19 contests. During that span, the Spartans saw three losing streaks that lasted from four to six consecutive games played.
The game that broke the last streak was Michigan State’s 7-5 win in Yost Ice Arena Jan. 20, 2024, just one day after the Wolverines crushed the Spartans 7-1 on Michigan State’s home ice.
The Spartans went on to beat the Wolverines in their next three meetings, including a 3-2 win Feb. 10 in front of more than 18,000 fans at Little Caesars Arena, home of the Red Wings, and their 5-4 overtime win to clinch the Big Ten playoff championship title in Munn Ice Arena five weeks later.
Michigan had the last word in last year’s series, however, when the Wolverines beat the Spartans 5-2 in the NCAA Midwest final, ending Michigan State’s season and sending the Wolverines to the Frozen Four. It was the first time in program history that the teams had met in the NCAA tournament.
“We don’t like that they beat us four times to our two last season,” said Naurato. “We don’t like that we lost the Big Ten championship in overtime in Munn. They don’t like that we ended their season.”
Regardless of the emotional nature of the rivalry – and it is emotional, as evidenced by the 168 penalty minutes in that 7-1 Michigan win in Munn last year – both coaches agree that there is a lot of respect between the teams. Players on each team who grew up in Michigan know each other pretty well, and Nightingale and Naurato moved in overlapping professional circles for years before becoming head coaches at their respective programs.
Each coach knows that there’s more on the line than Big Ten points when the Spartans and Wolverines meet, and Naurato also appreciates the renewed competitiveness in the series.
“We don’t want to play a last-place Michigan State team and they don’t want to play a last-place Michigan team,” said Naurato. “You want these games to mean something, and they do. Big Ten standings for sure, [but to] alumni, current players, future players, recruiting, this stuff matters.
“Every recruit we talk to, they’re talking to State and vice-versa. Well, it’s a better pitch when you’re the one winning that season series.”
“I think it’s great for the state,” added Nightingale. “We want young hockey players to aspire to play college hockey. You’ve got us and Michigan, Western Michigan’s doing an unbelievable job there. You’ve got three schools right in our state that are great examples. If you’ve got a dream of playing college hockey, you’ve got three great options.”
Nightingale said that this series is “one of the many special things about playing at Michigan State” and that the Spartans are looking forward to the first game.
Michigan State heads into the weekend after picking up four road points against Penn State. The Spartans beat the Nittany Lions 6-4 and tied 2-2, with Penn State picking up the extra point in the shootout. The Spartans are unbeaten in their last nine games (7-0-2), and their last loss – against Wisconsin Dec. 6 – was only their second loss of the season.
“At Penn State, I really thought the first night, we did a good job of showing some resolve,” said Nightingale. “We were down, came back and we had tied it, and it was good get the win there on the road.”
Penalties were an issue the second night, said Nightingale, when the Spartans took eight minors and a power-play goal with less than two minutes remaining in regulation tied the game for the Nittany Lions. Nightingale said he liked the way the Spartans played “for about 52 minutes” in the tie.
“I thought the last eight minutes of the game, we got away from what we need to do to win hockey games,” said Nightingale.
With 28 points, the Spartans sit atop the Big Ten standings, one point ahead of Minnesota, five ahead of Ohio State and 10 up from fifth-place Michigan.
The Wolverines split on the road last against Notre Dame, and Michigan is 3-5-0 in its last eight games, all in conference play, but the Wolverines are still sitting at No. 12 in the PairWise Rankings.
“We’ve put ourselves in the position to be a tournament team,” said Naurato. “Our best hockey needs to be the rest of the season.”
Beginning with their series against the Spartans, said Naurato, the Wolverines will “see what we’re made of.” Michigan State is the top team in the country in both the USCHO Poll and the PairWise Rankings, while Minnesota is the fourth team currently in the PWR with Ohio State at No. 9.
Michigan has four regular-season games remaining against the Spartans, and two each against Minnesota and Ohio State.
“That’s real,” said Naurato. “Those are the teams you have to beat. They should know us better than anybody because they’re in our league, so it’s that much harder.
“There are no surprises. You have to earn it.”
“I think they’ve got a really good team,” added Nightingale. “I think we do, too.
“I think they’ve got a ton of talent. They’re very good on the power play. They definitely can score goals. I think it’s a very similar-type matchup, and I think regardless of where teams are at when they play, it’s going to bring out the best in everyone, and that’s what you want for your team.
“We want to see their best and they want to see our best and I think that’ll be the case Friday.”
The opening game in this series begins at 7 p.m. Friday at Yost Ice Arena. Saturday’s game at Munn Ice Arena begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be carried by the Big Ten Network.
