MSU Hockey Caps Regular Season with Tie at Minnesota, Shootout Loss
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March doesn't just mean the end of college basketball's regular season. It's also where things get intense in the college hockey world, too.
No. 2 Michigan State settled for a 3-3 tie at Minnesota on Friday night, but allowed the Gophers to pick up the additional point in the shootout (2-1). The result comes one day after the Spartans' sealed their third consecutive Big Ten regular season title with a 7-1 victory over the Golden Gophers on Thursday night.
MSU wraps up the season with a 25-7-2 overall record and a 16-6-2 record during Big Ten play, finishing with 51 points in the conference standings. That beat out top-ranked Michigan (49 points) for the conference crown.
Next up is the Big Ten Tournament. As the No. 1 seed, the Spartans need to win just two games to win the conference's postseason tourney for a third straight year. They'll face the worst seed remaining in Big Ten semifinal on March 14.
Game Recap
With the Big Ten title already clinched, Adam Nightingale opted to give star goaltender Trey Augustine a well-deserved night off, instead giving the start in net to backup Melvin Strahl.
Minnesota ended up striking first at 6:11 in the first on the 23rd goal of the season from Brody Ziemer, but then Michigan State quickly put together a run of three straight goals of its own. The first goal for the road team went to Cayden Lindstrom, who was able to lead a rebounding puck that bounced high into the air into the net.
MSU then took its first lead of the game in the waning moments of the first period. This goal went to Tommi Mannisto, who got his own rebound with some space in the slot in front of the crease. His shot hit the back of the net with 33 seconds to go in the opening period to make it 2-1. Daniel Russell then got the lead to two goals after being set up by a couple of nice passes from star players Porter Martone and Charlie Stramel.
The Gophers didn't go quietly, though. They made it 3-2 a couple of minutes after Russell's goal on a wraparound goal for Beckett Hendrickson. Later on in the second, Minnesota leveled the deal at three apiece after a wrister from Mason Moe in the slot at the top of the circles beat Strahl to his left side.
Both teams reached a bit of a stalemate in the third period. Time kept ticking down with the score remaining deadlocked. Owen West took a critical penalty with 2:18 left on a trip. The penalty kill was a bit shaky, with the Golden Gophers getting one grade-A chance, but MSU staved it off to take the game to overtime.
It seemed like Michigan State had won for half a second in overtime when a pass from Daniel Russell got deflected in off the skate of a Minnesota player, but Stramel got whistled for interference as Russell was driving to the net.
That put the Gophers on a 4-on-3 power play for the remainder of OT. MSU then killed that off, too, to officially mark the game down as a tie.
The game went to a shootout. Both teams scored on their first go-around. Minnesota scored on round two, and then MSU missed. The door stayed open when Ziemer missed in round three, but Ryker Lee hit the post on his shot to end the game.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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