When fans think of Big Ten rivalries, the classic that comes to mind is Michigan vs. Ohio State.
It’s easy to forget that the mutual disdain between these two bordering states extends well beyond the Wolverines and Buckeyes. While it may not be as well known, the Michigan State-Ohio State rivalry is intense, especially when it comes to hockey.
“You can go back since I’ve been here and it seems that everything’s a one-goal or overtime game, no matter what team’s doing well or not doing well,” said Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik.
Since the start of Big Ten Hockey in 2013-14, the Buckeyes and Spartans have each seen ups and downs. Ohio State has been all over the place in the final standings, making a Frozen Four appearance in 2018, taking the regular-season championship in 2019 and two seasons later finishing five points ahead of the last-place Spartans, tied with Penn State for fifth in the final standings.
In that same span, Michigan State finished at or just one step above last place in the conference every year but once, when the Spartans finished the 2014-15 season in second place.
This weekend, the Buckeyes travel to East Lansing for two games. To start the season, Ohio State is 7-2-1 and coming off a bye week after playing all of their first 10 games in October. Michigan State is 6-3-1 and is fresh off a home sweep of Wisconsin to open B1G play.
Rohlik, whose Buckeyes are a point ahead of the Spartans in early league standings, knows that Michigan State’s new head coach Adam Nightingale has a strong start to rebuilding in East Lansing.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for what Adam’s doing up there and where their program’s going,” said Rohlik, “and we’ve got to be ready for that. We expect tight games. We expect that every weekend and, again, we’ve got to be at our best.”
Nightingale said that the Buckeyes are “probably the toughest team” that the Spartans are facing so far this year. “They’re an older team, they’re well coached, and they have a really good goalie. They got some guys in the portal that have impacted their roster. We’ve got to get to our game early and often this weekend.”
Getting to their game is what Nightingale is all about right now.
“We’ve got to stay disciplined,” said Nightingale. “We’ve got a long way to go to where we want to get to as a team, so every time we play, every shift, we’ve got to play our game. Not that it’s always going to go your way, but so we’re perfecting being us.”
The Spartans outscored the Badgers 10-1 on the weekend but were outshot 89-61, in part because of the 48 penalty minutes they took – including major penalties each night – to Wisconsin’s 14. In spite of the lopsided shots, Michigan State goaltender Dylan St. Cyr made 88 stops on the weekend, registering his first shutout for the Spartans. St. Cyr had 10 shutouts in three years with Notre Dame and five last season with Quinnipiac.
“When you talk about being a repeatable winning hockey team, you don’t want to give up 44 shots a night,” said Nightingale. “Dylan played great. I really give him a ton of credit because when you go back to the Notre Dame game and we lost that game five-nothing, really there wasn’t anything he could do on four of their goals. They were backdoor. We need to clean that up. Dylan kept his head.”
Another Spartan who had a big weekend against the Badgers was forward Erik Middendorf, who scored his first four goals of the season in the 5-0 Friday win. Middendorf had 12 goals in 36 games last season.
“He’s a big part of our team, a guy who wants to do it the right way,” said Nightingale. “Everyone wants to have personal success, wants to score, wants to get a shutout or get an assist and that’s stuff’s all important, but our group of guys actually has an even more unique opportunity here to leave their fingerprints on a really proud program and turn it around, Middy’s done a really good job of being a leader, practicing hard.”
Both St. Cyr and Middendorf were recognized by the Big Ten for their performances, St. Cyr as this the first star and Middendorf third.
Middendorf’s standout weekend aside, Nightingale is quick to point out that Michigan State has depth up front. “Our scoring’s been spread out. I think that’s something that’s really important for what we’re trying to build here, too, and I think it helps us in third periods, too, when you’re not riding a couple of guys. The guys have done a good job of buying into that. We have confidence in all four lines.”
Both the Spartans and the Buckeyes have done the proverbial scoring by committee. Each team has 14 players who have scored at least once. Five Spartans have three or more goals and Jagger Joshua leads the team with five. Michigan State is averaging 3.10 goals per game.
Ohio State is averaging 3.60 goals per game. Seven Buckeyes have scored three or more, five have four or more goals, and Kamil Sadlocha leads Ohio State with five.
Each team enters this series from very different angles. The Spartans have a three-game unbeaten streak, including a tie against Notre Dame Oct. 29. Prior to their bye weekend, the Buckeyes had a three-game win streak snapped by Minnesota Oct. 29.
“It’s never good coming off a loss,” said Rohlik. “You don’t dwell on it too long. You just really talk about today and then tomorrow and how do we continue to get better. That’s been our focus.”
Rohlik said that the break was good for Ohio State but that “it’s a mindset to get yourself back to where you need to be.” He added, “Obviously, it’s a very good Michigan State team. They’re on a roll. They had a great weekend.”
The Buckeyes have taken the last three matches from the Spartans and are 23-10-3 against Michigan State since the start of B1G Hockey play. The Spartans own this all-time series, though, 92-54-13.
Ohio State is 14-5-1 in the last 20 times these teams have met, dating back to February 2018. In that span, six games were decided by a single goal, six were decided by two goals and the difference was three or more in seven contests. There was one tie, a 7-7 affair in East Lansing Jan. 4, 2019, and three overtime games – that tie and a win for each team. Michigan State’s last win against Ohio State was a 2-1 game in Columbus, Oct. 29, 2021.
In preparing his team for the series against Ohio State, Nightingale is looking more at the Spartans than the Buckeyes. That, he said, is key to developing the kind of team culture and lasting success he strives to build with Michigan State.
“Every time you put a jersey on,” he said, “you’re trying to perfect how we play,” adding that if the Spartans don’t play their own game, they’re “wasting an opportunity to grow as a team.”
