EAST LANSING—Michigan State hockey faced off against Notre Dame last night in South Bend, Indiana, at a sold-out Compton Family Ice Arena. The Spartans controlled the game and won 3-1 on the road.
The Spartans overcame adversity early, as after a flurry of penalties following a fight behind their net, Michigan State was forced to kill a 3-on-4 and 4-on-5 penalty back-to-back, which was only possible due to a great series of saves by junior goaltender Trey Augustine.
The Fighting Irish were only able to limit the Spartans’ attack for so long, as Michigan State’s top line struck shortly after their penalty kill. The Spartans’ top line was able to execute a great passing play to put Michigan State on top 1-0.
Spartans forward Danny Russell dished the puck to forward Charlie Stramel, who quickly found freshman Porter Martone in a 1-on-1 situation with the Fighting Irish’s goaltender Nicholas Kempf. Kempf had to honor Martone’s forehand shot, leading to Martone quickly faking a shot and going backhand to score on the overcommitment by Kempf.
Martone didn’t have to wait long for his second goal of the game. MSU freshman Ryker Lee found Martone cross-ice during a power play, where Martone was able to be patient with his shot. Notre Dame senior defenseman Axel Kumlin accidentally screened Kempf’s view on Martone, and this allowed Martone to creep up from the left face-off circle to place a wrister perfectly in the top-left corner, putting the Spartans on top 2-0.
The Irish weren’t ready for another great famine, as they would eat on a power play late in the second period. Junior Paul Fischer capitalized on the man advantage, beating Augustine on a quick shot to make it a 2-1 contest going into the third period.
The Spartans played dominantly for the first half of the third period, and it finally paid off as junior defenseman Maxim Štrbák lit the lamp for his first goal of the season. Russell, Martone, and Stramel drew four Irish defenders, leaving Štrbák wide open in the slot to fire a wrist shot past Kempf to give the Spartans a 3-1 lead.
Lee had a great night skating for Michigan State and got rewarded with an empty netter as the Fighting Irish got desperate down two goals late into the contest. Lee recorded his second goal of the season and recorded his first two-point night as a Spartan.
With less than a minute remaining, head coach Adam Nightingale gave senior goaltender Dolan Gilbert the nod. Gilbert is a South Bend native who joined the team as an emergency goalie in the 2023-24 season, before dressing as the third goalie for MSU in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons.
The puck drops at 6:00 p.m. for game two of this series on Saturday at Compton Family Ice Arena.
