Rehash & Analysis: Road back to prominence hits early checkpoint for Michigan State hockey with weekend sweep

East Lansing, Mich. – The road back to national prominence is paved with some modest checkpoints for Michigan State hockey. The Spartans achieved one on Sunday by finishing a weekend sweep of Lake Superior State with a 4-2 victory before 6,555 at Munn Ice Arena.

It marked the first time Michigan State has swept an opponent in the opening series of the season in 14 years.

“It’s super hard to sweep in college hockey and we wanted to do it,” said sophomore right wing Joey Larson, a Brighton, Mich., native and a transfer from Northern Michigan. “We just stuck to the game plan and got it done.”

No. 9-ranked Michigan State (2-0) will play at Air Force on Thursday.

“I liked our poise,” said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. “I thought we were better tonight than we were last night in some areas.

“We played north, we played fast, we played behind them. Our shift lengths were good. We did a better job in the o-zone of taking what was given rather than trying to force plays. They do a good job of making it hard to get to the inside and I thought our guys stuck with it.”

TOP STORYLINES

* Freshman defenseman Artyom Levshunov turned 18-years-old on Sunday, and celebrated with the first goal of his college hockey career.

Levshunov, a native of Belarus who is projected to be a Top 10 NHL Draft pick in June, scored a power play goal with a one-timer from the point to give Michigan State a 1-0 lead in the first period. Seniors Nicolas Müller and Jeremy Davidson assisted on the play.

Earlier in the period, Levshunov displayed eye-catching talent when he carried the puck through the neutral zone with terrific speed, covering ground with a long, 6-foot-2 stride. He’s a racehorse.

“With a young player there are going to be moments, and our job is to help coach him through it,” Nightingale said. “But he does some things that we will never be able to coach him to do. 

“He’s a special person. The type of teammate he is, he doesn’t want special treatment. Those are things that are pretty rare for a high-end guy, and thankful we have him.”

* UMass transfer Reed Lebster, a fifth-year grad student and Grand Rapids native, scored his first goal as a Spartan on a deflection, giving Michigan State a 3-1 lead with 16:29 left in the third period.

Lebster was a Michigan State commitment several years ago, but the previous Spartan staff de-committed him and he ended up at UMass in 2019. 

He scored a goal and an assist in the 2021 National Championship Game in helping UMass defeat St. Cloud State and win it all. 

He played four seasons at UMass, earned a degree in finance, and then hit the transfer portal for his COVID waiver year of eligibility. 

Spartan associate head coach Jared DeMichiel was an assistant at UMass during the National Championship run and helped Michigan State scoop Lebster out of the portal. It was an easy sell. Lebster’s parents are Michigan State grads, and he grew up a Spartan fan. 

“To be here, playing at Munn and throwing on a Michigan State sweater was awesome for me, really special,” Lebster said after Sunday’s game. “I grew up going to games here and watching as a kid. Having family in the stands and for them all to be here and watch that, that was very cool for me.”

CHAMPIONSHIP TALENT?

Michigan State is one of the 10 youngest teams in the country, but is piping with an interesting blend of young NHL prospects and hungry veterans.

Teammates have asked Lebster a little bit about what it takes to win a National Championship.

“To get there, it’s tough,” he said. “You have to climb a mountain. Our team is pretty young. As the season progresses, we’re going to mature more each weekend, finding the adversity that we have and growing from that. Come playoff time, I think we will kind of be ready to take on that challenge to make a run at it.”

Does Michigan State have enough talent?

“Talent-wise for sure,” he said. “Definitely a lot of talent on the team. A lot of younger kids that are playing their first weekend of college hockey. I thought they played great. They have a lot of skill and as they mature as players, I think they are going to be great players for us and as a team we are going to be really strong and tough to beat.

“Competitiveness, I think that’s there as well. In practice, the compete of the team is definitely there. Talent can only carry you so far but as a team I think we have a really good group and we are definitely going to make a run at it.”

QUOTABLE I

“We have a high ceiling. There’s a lot of room. There are going to be moments. The biggest thing is we don’t want to clip our guys’ wings. They are going to make mistakes. Our job is to coach them through those moments. We don’t want to take the stick out of their hands, either. Teach them how to play winning hockey but also allow them to be themselves.” – Adam Nightingale

QUOTABLE II

“I thought Reed Lebster had a really good game. In the first period he could have had a handful of goals. He was on it. He had a big block. I thought Jeremy Davidson had a really good game. He was on the puck.  It’s great when you have older guys leading the way with that. Red Savage has had a really good start to his career here. Artie (Levshunov) had a good game. Nash (Nienhuis), too. Give him credit.” – Nightingale

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

* Levshunov, Savage, Lebster and Karsen Dorwart (empty-netter) scored for Michigan State.

* Jeremy Davidson, Nicolas Müller, Joey Larson, Patrick Geary, Daniel Russell and Tiernan Shoudy had assists for Michigan State.

* Freshman goaltender Trey Augustine recorded the win, turning away 26 shots. He made a great save off his left pad to thwart Lake Superior State’s Sasha Teleguine on a three-on-one break with 3:59 left in the second period and Michigan State leading 2-1.

* Levshunov was named first star of the game. Larson was the second star and Lakers goalie Ethan Langenegger was the third star.

* The last time Michigan State won the two opening games of the season was in 2009-10 when the Spartans swept Clarkson.

* Of Michigan State’s 20 players on Saturday and Sunday, 10 of them were newcomers. That includes six true freshmen and four transfers.

The freshmen:

G Trey Augustine. He’s from South Lyon, Mich., and is a second round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings.

D Artyom Levshunov (6-2, 198, Shlobin, Belarus).

D Maxim Strbak (6-2, 205, Kocice, Slovakia).

LW Gavin O’Connell (6-0, 181, Plymouth, Minn.).

LW Tommi Maanisto (6-0, 185, Riihimaki, Finland).

D Patrick Geary (6-1, 185, Fr., Hamburg, NY).

The transfers:

LW Isaac Howard (5-11, 190, Soph., Hudson, Wis.) The transfer from Minnesota-Duluth was selected in the first round of the NHL Draft by Tampa Bay in 2022. He played on the first line this weekend, with center Karsen Dorwart and right wing Daniel Russell.

LW Reed Lebster (6-0, 188, Grand Rapids). The 24-year-old transfer from UMass played on the second line, with Nicolas Müller at center and Jeremy Davidson on the right wing.

C Red Savage (5-11, 185, Jr., Scottsdale, Ariz.). The transfer from Miami of Ohio centered the third line, with O’Connell and Joey Larson. Savage scored seven goals for the Redhawks last year.

RW Joey Larson (6-1, 200, Soph., Brighton, Mich.). The transfer from Northern Michigan scored 13 goals for the Wildcats last year.

COMP’S TAKE

I haven’t seen every Michigan State hockey game over the last 20 years but it struck me this weekend that it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Spartan team have as much of an edge in team speed as Michigan State had this weekend. Lake Superior State is not a good team, so I’m careful to keep that in mind. But Michigan State hasn’t been able to outskate anyone in recent years the way they did on this weekend.

Winning loose pucks, maintaining possession and dominating face-offs led to a shots-on-goal advantage of 32-9 late in the second period, and 48-18 at one point in the third period.

Again, I don’t remember the last time Michigan State had that kind of edge in shots on goal at any point in a game.

I don’t know what’s going to become of this team. There are Top 15 type of teams in the conference who get mired with a .500 record in the ultra-balanced Big Ten. But the depth of talent on this squad is noticeably better.

For years, Michigan State’s third line has been a wasteland of non-productivity. But on Saturday, I noticed third-line center Red Savage, a junior transfer from Miami, charging hard and making things happen. His right winger, Joey Larson, a sophomore transfer from Northern Michigan, flashes skill.

Those two combined for a greasy goal to give Michigan State a 2-1 lead midway through the second period on Sunday.

All the way down on the fourth line, left wing Tommi Mannisto of Finland turned on good speed a few times this weekend.

I don’t know about team maturity, physicality and other intangibles, but this squad is going to be competitive and likely on an upward trend all season.

I won’t be able to catch every game. This weekend was special in that we had a weekend off from football, and we were able to take in a pair of afternoon hockey games at Munn, enjoying the walk to the rink amid temperatures in the high 40s and the changing colors of the trees. It felt like fall semester. It felt like hockey. It felt like a winner. It felt like Michigan State.