MADISON, Wis. — Whatever Adam Nightingale was feeling deep in his soul after coaching Michigan State’s hockey team to its first-ever Big Ten championship and first conference title in 23 years, he largely kept to himself Friday night.
What would make him visibly excited?
“Maybe like a 30-inch walleye,” Nightingale said, grinning at his own joke outside the Spartans’ locker room after their 5-2 win at Wisconsin, which clinched the outright conference title with a game to spare.
Somebody ought to take Nightingale fishing next weekend during MSU’s first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament just to see him really let loose.
Because what the Spartans’ accomplished Friday night is let-loose kind of stuff. MSU’s hockey program might well rise to greater heights. But a Big Ten championship for the Spartans will likely never again mean this much to this many people.
MSU could have more dominant teams in the coming years, more future pros, more NHL draft picks, more control of games against other quality teams. But it won’t have a collection of folks quite like this celebrating together on the ice and in the locker room.
Everything this MSU team is showed up Friday night:
Senior Jeremy Davidson, one of five holdovers from darker times, scored two goals.
Reed Lebster, a graduate transfer who dreamed of playing at MSU, delivered the game-winner.
Acclaimed freshman goaltender Trey Augustine stood on his head while under siege for two periods and then again against a breakaway chance for Wisconsin in a tie game in the third.
Freshman defensemen Artyom Levshunov, likely MSU’s first top-10 NHL draft pick in a quarter-century, scored the Spartans’ first goal.
On the ice afterward, the coach who was hired almost exactly 22 months ago embraced the athletic director who listened to MSU’s players when they said change was needed. Alan Haller gets credit for bringing in Nightingale. Nightingale deserves kudos for putting together a staff that’s helped him live up to everything he wanted the program to be in May of 2022.
No one in their wildest dreams then thought it could be this good this fast.
“I know probably for a lot of people it feels like a short time,” Nightingale said. “Our guys have been here since July. They’ve worked really hard and, go back to the year before, that’s a long time and some special commitment and making good decisions off the ice. Like all those things add up to a moment like this and it’s good the guys got to capitalize on…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at "ice hockey" – Google News…