WATCH: MSU's Adam Nightingale Discusses Big Ten Race, Final Regular-Season Series, More
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- No. 3 Michigan State hockey no longer controls its own destiny in its pursuit of the Big Ten title following its disappointing series against Penn State.
The best the Spartans can do at this point is focus on the next series against Notre Dame.
It will be Michigan State's final series of the regular season. It kicks off on Friday at 7 p.m. in South Bend.
Spartans coach Adam Nightingale previewed the series when he addressed the media on Tuesday.
You can watch below:
Below is a partial transcript from Nightingale's opening statement from his postgame press conference that followed his team's loss to Penn State on Saturday. He spoke on the loss while also recognizing the team's seniors.
Nightingale: "I told the guys after the game, let's not let that cloud the season we've had -- obviously, we've got to get better and clean some things up -- and especially our four seniors and the fifth manager and what they've done to the program. I look at the job that Nick [Nicklas] Andrews did coming here. When you look at a Michigan kid, a chance to play at a school like Michigan State and come back home and share his college hockey experience with his family. He's added a ton of leadership to our group; he's obviously a heck of a hockey player. Savvy's [Red Savage] obviously our captain, right? And that's a tough loss, for sure, and he's still our leader of our team, but him making that decision to trust our staff and come here, and he's been a huge part of it and still is a huge part of our team in transforming it. And David Gucciardi, I [have] a ton of respect for him; I think Gucc has grown maybe the most off the ice and really understanding what it takes to be an elite player. And it starts in the classroom -- doing a better job; he's going to get his degree here, which is, this what this all about. College athletics, I think we can lose that sometimes with all the nonsense that's going on with it. And Tanner Kelly. I mean, Tanner -- I said to the guys after the game, I think when we go out and recruit, I'm always going to ask our guys to go find another Tanner Kelly. I'm not sure there's another one out there. He's relentless, he's low maintenance. I tell that story all the time -- he's a guy that played on every power play our first year when we took over. Second year, played on zero power plays. Scored nine even-strength goals. This year, back on the power play. Not one time in my office [saying] 'What do I got to do? Why am I not on the power play?' Not tripping over his lip; all he did is make his line great. That's really hard to find in athletics. We try to recruit those type of kids, for sure. So, couldn't be happier about those four. ... Obviously, we want to win the game; frustrating, no doubt. But that's the most important thing, and that's what college athletics is about is setting guys up for their next step in life."
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