Michigan State hockey narrowly misses NCAA tournament field
Michigan State hockey's first season under coach Adam Nightingale provided some stunning results and saw an injection of new life and hope in the program's fanbase. But the Spartans came up just short of its goal of making the NCAA tournament.
MSU (18-18-2) finished 16h in the final Pairwise rankings — two spots from nabbing the field's final at-large berth. The tournament field will be officially announced on Sunday night.
The Spartans finished in fifth place in the Big Ten, just four points out of second place. MSU was in a position to play its way into the NCAA field after winning a first-round conference tournament series on the road at Notre Dame. The Spartans would have likely been in the field if they had been able to win in the Big Ten semifinals at No. 1 Minnesota. However after MSU took an early 1-0 lead, the Gophers rolled up the games final five goals to all but knock the Spartans out of contention.
MSU still had a tiny chance to sneak into the 16-team NCAA field if a bunch of results fell in the Spartans' favor in other conference tournaments. But after all the dust settled, MSU finished 16th in the Pairwise, with the cut line at 14, leaving the Spartans narrowly on the outside looking in.
Ultimately, the Atlantic Hockey conference tournament winner Canisius and the ECAC conference tournament winner Colgate both earned automatic bids while they were outside of the top 16 in the Pairwise, squeezing MSU and Alaska out and taking their spots.
MSU's fifth-place Big Ten finish was tied for its highest since the conference's inception in 2013. This MSU team was also the first to hit the 100-goal milestone in a season since 2011-12.
MSU's first-year staff of Nightingale and assistants Jared DeMichiel and Mike Towns were able to tap into some unfound potential in a few returning players and transfers. Senior forward Jagger Joshua led the team in goals with 13 after a previous career high of four. Transfer goaltender Dylan St. Cyr started all but one game for the Spartans and put up career-best numbers in net.
Their performances earned them Honorable Mention All-Big Ten selections.
The highest jump, however, came from senior forward Nico Muller, who finished the season with nine goals and 25 assists for a team-high 34 points. It was a 28-point increase from his junior season. Muller announced this past week that he will use his extra year of eligibility and return to the Spartans for a fifth season.
“I have always been proud to be a Spartan and I’m really excited to for the opportunity to come back next season and help our team take another step,” Müller said. “I’m really looking forward to next season with Coach Nightingale, the staff and my teammates.”
Muller had 14 points in his last 11 games and scored two goals and had an assist in MSU's series-deciding win at Notre Dame.
MSU will likely be active in the transfer portal again this offseason as Nightingale and company look to build on the momentum that this season generated.
Contact Nathaniel Bott at nbott@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter @Nathaniel_Bott
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State hockey narrowly misses NCAA tournament field
