Michigan State hockey played a near-flawless game on Friday night to beat bottom-dwelling Notre Dame, 8-2.
This game had a little of everything from great goalie play to a hat trick, to an ejection, to a dirty hit that probably should have resulted in at least a 5-minute major and an ejection.
The Spartans dominated from the second period on, turning a 1-1 tie after one into an 8-2 victory thanks to one final goal by Ryker Lee that had the crowd on its feet. The Lee goal didn’t come without a price, though. A Notre Dame defender apparently took exception to the fact that Lee made a filthy move on his goalie to score the eighth goal of the night with five minutes left.
No. 12 on Notre Dame had no chance to make a play on a wide-open Lee so he decided to dirty it up and check the Michigan State freshman into the net.
The goal was beautiful, but the sequence that followed was ugly and yet no penalty was called on the Irish which may have been the most egregious part of this whole play.
Another look at that last goal from Ryker Lee! pic.twitter.com/2wlGQBMxDr
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) February 21, 2026
Not only was this a dirty and unnecessary hit, but it was also dangerous. Hitting a defenseless player in the back when the only thing in front of him is the post could have gotten even uglier. Junior defenseman Henry Nelson is lucky that Lee didn’t get hurt, but he deserved a major penalty and an ejection. There’s just no place for that hit especially when the game is over.
Lee was on the ground for a second as everyone held their breath and he got back up before trying to join the scrum on the boards between a couple of Spartans and Nelson.
Michigan State won the game by six goals and Lee’s mastery on the final goal must have embarrassed the Irish a little too much so they took it out on him in the dirtiest way possible.
Lee scored two goals on the night and is now up to 11 on the season but I’m going to assume he’s going to remember this one for a while, not just because of the dirty hit, but because that move should be on Sportscenter’s Top 10 plays in the morning.