Weekend sweep of Boston U propels Michigan State hockey to No. 1 ranking

Michigan State hockey traveled to Boston this past weekend for a road series against the consensus No. 1-ranked team in the country, Boston University.

BU, like the Spartans, boasts a ton of talent. In fact, it’s the only team that has more NHL draft picks on its roster than Michigan State with 19. So, take the Nos. 1 and 3 teams, the 19 combined NHL picks, the program traditions, and wrap everything together. It shaped up to be one heck of a hockey weekend in Boston.

And boy, it did not disappoint.

Michigan State came out of the gates firing on Friday night. The game, which was broadcast on ESPN2 for a national audience, ended with a 4-2 Spartan win. Goals Friday night came from Charlie Stramel, Eric Nilson, Cayden Lindstrom (his first collegiate goal), and Shane Vansaghi. Trey Augustine added 18 saves and looked sharp and the Spartans won a major statement game.

Saturday proved to be the tougher test. The Terriers came out of the gate hot but could not capitalize. About halfway through the first period, freshman Ryker Lee took a pass from Eric Nilson and made an outstanding couple of moves to shake the Terrier defense and buried home the first goal. Porter Martone and Tommi Mannisto added two more goals but the Spartans could not finish.

BU tied it up 3-3 with five minutes to play in regulation and the game ended up going to overtime.

In overtime, the Spartans were able to capitalize on one of the craziest sequences you’ll see in hockey to win 4-3. The Terriers’ Cole Eiserman let off a crazy shot on a two on one that partially beat Trey Augustine. As it was slowly trickling towards the net, Shane Vansaghi was able to get back and clear the puck literally off the goal line to prevent BU from the win. That clear ended up going out of the zone and sent Ryker Lee off to the races on an MSU two on one with Matt Basgall.

From there, the Spartan captain did not miss on the one timer feed from Ryker and he scored and won the game for MSU. That sequence and play was wild enough to land the No. 1 play on Sportscenter’s “Top 10” plays of the day.

The weekend sweep of Boston was impressive. To go to Agganis Arena and beat the No. 1 team in the country in back-to-back games is no small feat. The college hockey world was also put back on notice that the Spartans are absolutely going to be a force to be reckoned with this season. Some may had lost sight of that after dropping the first game of the season against New Hampshire, but not anymore.

To no one’s surprise, the weekend performance was well-rewarded in the eyes of the pollsters on Monday, too. Michigan State is back to the No. 1 ranking in the country for the first time this season. Not only are the Spartans No. 1 in the USCHO.com poll, but they are also No. 1 in the USA Hockey poll as well.

The Spartans beat out other familiar names from the state of Michigan for the top spot. Coming in at No. 2 in the poll are the defending national champion Western Michigan Broncos. The No. 3 spot also is being occupied by the school down the road as well. 

What a big weekend for Adam Nightingale and the Spartan hockey program. The Spartans will first defend their No. 1 ranking this weekend against the Northern Michigan Wildcats in Marquette for two games on Friday and Saturday. This will be the last non-conference test before opening up Big Ten play on Nov. 7-8 against the much-hyped Penn State Nittany Lions in East Lansing.