Spartans Shuffle Off to Buffalo for Canisius Series

THE ORIGINAL SIX

What you need to know about Spartan Hockey

Click “Game Notes” above to see the entire notes packet for the weekend. 

•  • MSU heads to Buffalo, NY for a two-game set with Canisius.  The Griffs and the Spartans met for the first time last year in East Lansing, and the Spartans make the return trip this fall.

• The Spartans last countable games were on Oct. 11-12 split a home series with No. 2 Boston College (0-3, 4-3) – the only scheduled non-conference series throughout college hockey featuring two preseason top-five teams.  In the first game, the Eagles held a 29-24 edge in shots on goal and got two goals from Will Vote.  Jacob Fowler earned the 24-save shutout, and Trey Augustine made 26 saves.  In the rematch, Charlie Stramel had two goals with Red Savage and Daniel Russell each adding a score in a 4-3 victory.  MSU overcame deficits of 2-1 and 3-2, and got the final two goals in the last 13 minutes of the second period.  Augustine made 32 stops, and Fowler 25.  

• MSU returns 67.7% of its scoring from a year ago – 278 of 411 points, 102 of 145 goals (59.9%)  and 176 of 264 assists (66.6%).  The Spartans return the second-most goals (behind Denver’s 129) among Division I teams and the third-most points (behind Denver and BC).  

• Daniel Russell is tied with Isaac Howard for the team lead in goals (3), with single scores and an assist in each of the LSSU games and a goal against Boston College in the Saturday win.  He has a 3-2-5 scoring line.  Russell has scored the game-winning tally in each of MSU’s victories,  making him the national leader in that category.  Howard leads the Spartans with a 3-4-7 scoring line, is tied for second in the Big Ten in points, is fifth in assists, and tied for sixth in goals.  He is tied for third in the Big Ten in points per game (1.75).

 

•  Junior transfer Charlie Stramel was the B1G Third Star of the Week after scoring twice in MSU’s 4-3 win over Boston College.  They were his first two goals as a Spartan, and nearly matched his three goals from a year ago as a sophomore at Wisconsin.   He has a 2-1-3 scoring line with three blocked shots (+3) through four games. 

• Buffalo draft picks Patrick Geary and Maxim Štrbák have skated together in all four games this season. Štrbák delivered a two-assist game in the Saturday win at…