THE ORIGINAL SIX
What you need to know about Spartan Hockey
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• No. 4/4 Michigan State has earned the Big Ten’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will be the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Maryland Heights regional. The Spartans will take on in-state rival and No. 14/13 Western Michigan in the first round, the first-ever meeting of the programs in the NCAA Tournament. No. 5/5 North Dakota and No. 10/10 Michigan are the other two teams competing in Maryland Heights, with the Friday winners advancing to the Sunday regional final. MSU is making its 28th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2012. The Spartans are 5-7 as a No. 1 seed in program history and have advanced to the Frozen Four as a No. 1 seed in 1984, 1989, and 2001.
• With a 24-9-3 record, MSU has its first season with 20 wins since the 2007-08 team went 25-12-5. The Spartans captured their first regular-season league title since 2000-01, and first post-season tournament crown since 2006. Big Ten Coach of the Year Adam Nightingale owns a two-year record of 42-27-5, and has improved the Spartans by six wins year-over year in each of his first two campaigns.
• MSU had finalists in each of the five major Big Ten postseason awards, headlined by freshman Artyom Levshunov who captured both the Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards (and was a finalist for Player of the Year). Levshunov also earned First Team All-Big Ten honors as well as a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman team with classmate Trey Augustine. Augustine is a Second Team All-Big Ten pick and was a finalist for Goaltender of the Year. Sophomores Karsen Dorwart, Isaac Howard, and Joey Larson earned Honorable Mention All-Big Ten accolades, while fifth-year senior Nicolas Müller was the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award recipient.
• The Spartans have two forward lines (the all-sophomore line of Howard-Dorwart-Daniel Russell and all-newcomer line of Gavin O’Connell–Red Savage-Larson) that have combined for 89 and 82 points, respectively. The all-senior line of Reed Lebster– Müller-Jeremy Davidson) has 68, and the fourth line of Tommi Männistö-Tiernan Shoudy–Tanner Kelly 42. Despite being a top-10 offense in the country (3.89 g/gm, seventh) MSU does not have an…
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