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EAST LANSING, MI - FEBRUARY 27: Michigan State Spartans goaltender Trey Augustine (1) defends the net during a men's college hockey game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan State Spartans on February 27, 2026 at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing MI. (Photo by Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Spartans and Buckeyes will have a puck drop of 7:30pm on Saturday March 14 with coverage on BTN. The Buckeyes have been an odd team this season with lots of ups and downs. They played MSU in Munn two weeks ago and dominated game one and MSU snuck out with a shoot out victory in game two. The two split games in January on Buckeye ice. After showing up strong in East Lansing the Buckeyes headed home to close their season against the last place Irish and managed to lose both games in over time. Then they head to Madison on Wednesday and dominate the badgers in a 7-1 route. The question every Spartan is asking, which version do we get on Saturday?
Looking back a couple of weeks ago, the first game was sloppy by MSU. Multitudes of penalties and 3 goals in a 2:30 span of game time in the first period set the tone early for a long game. MSU looked good last weekend against the Gophers when they went full throttle to clinch the conference. They clearly let up on the gas in game two when they lost in a shoot out while giving Augustine the night off. MSU needs to get that early goal as they are near unbeatable when scoring first. They need to continue to play clean like they did against Minnesota. That was one of their lowest two game penalty totals of the season. MSU needs to play hungry and on a mission. This is the first game to set the tone for how the entire post season will go. A tournament crown will definitely improve their NPI ranking and likely determine if they are headed to New York or Colorado for round 1 of the NCAA Frozen Four.
The Spartans were being stood up on the blue line when they faced OSU last. They were dumping pucks in the zone but unable to do much with it because of OSU’s defense along the blue line. This will be a key to the game to keep an eye on. Can MSU skate and pass their way through the wall and create odd man opportunities. If they are able to do this, I like their chances. If not, this could be more interesting than any of us want it to be. The Spartans will have to focus some defense the likes of Jake Karabela, Davis Burnside, Max Montes and Félix Caron, They are the Buckeyes’ leaders in points, shots, goals and assists. Spartan defenders seemed to struggle handling the puck against OSU last time and had some costly in zone turnovers. Those can’t happen when any combination of OSU’s big four are on ice. You can check out my previous preview here for some more details on the Buckeyes.
I’d really like to see MSU take care of business and really would like to face that other team in the finals and see a major statement made and a huge momentum push into the NCAA tournament. TOC Nation, who will be at Munn Saturday? What do you think the Spartans chances are of making it to a third straight title game? Let me know in the comments and GO GREEN!
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