EAST LANSING, Mich. – The D3 hockey team was back at it again this weekend, this time against one of the top teams in the MCHC, the Michigan State Spartans. MSU came into the weekend following a split last weekend against Farmingdale State, the #1 team in the Atlantic Region. The Spartans have shown a very deep offensive attack this season, with seven players with over 35 points. The Panthers were coming a tough loss against Grand Valley State, a game where they only trailed 2-1 to the Lakers in the third period, before falling 6-2.
 
Friday, February 8
Final Score: Davenport 2 – Michigan State 11
Records: #19 DU (2-15-1), #5 MSU (18-8-1)
Location: Griff's Icehouse (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
 
CHARGING SPARTY
After a relatively slow start to the contest, Michigan State began to control the play halfway through the first period, and they would do so in bunches. Austin Rothe kicked off the scoring with his 12^th goal of the season to put the Spartans out in front. Just over a minute later, MSU leading-scorer Joseph Zelenka would get one passed DU's Jacob Mofield to put his team up by two. A couple minutes later, Dakota Ristow and Colin Nestor would score their 15^th and fifth goals of the season, respectively, just 17 seconds apart. 30 seconds after the Nestor tally, Lorenzo Dagostini would get in the action, scoring the third MSU goal in 47 seconds, and the Spartans would take a 5-0 lead into the second period.
 
The Panthers would come out with a couple of quick strikes early in the second period. Hunter Tolsdorf and Parker Schmitt helped set up Charlie Bonser for his team-leading 10^th goal of the season to put Davenport on the board. Moments later, captain Tyler Heyboer would pot his sixth goal of the year to put DU within three.
 
However, the Spartan would answer back, as with just under five minutes to play in the period, Collin Lynch scored to restore the four-goal lead for Michigan State.
 
Up four heading into the third, MSU refused to take their foot off the gas. First, Dean LaMantia scored his 18^th goal of the season just a handful of minutes into the period. That was followed shortly thereafter by Zelenka's second of the game to put the Spartans up by an 8-2 margin. Michigan State would tally three more goals before the final buzzer, including Lynch's second of the game, and Zelenka completing the hat trick with under a minute to play in regulation. The Spartans would take the first game of the weekend by a final score of 11-2.
 
Saturday, February 9
Final Score: Davenport 2– Michigan State 10
Records: #19 DU (2-16-1), #5 MSU (19-8-1)
Location: Munn Ice Arena (East Lansing, Mich.)
 
The Spartans continued their momentum from Friday into Saturday's matchup. First Carter O'Neil slipped home his 14^th of the season to put Michigan State out in front. Just under 30 seconds later, LaMantia scored to make it a 2-0 game a little over five minutes into the game. Zelenka and Griffin Yakey added a pair of markers later on in the period, before LaMantia added his second of the period to give the Spartans a 5-0 lead after the first 20 minutes.
 
Davenport would get on the board as Tolsdorf scored his seventh goal of the season, with assists coming from Bonser and Elijah Klco, less than five minutes into the second period. O'Neil would answer back for MSU just minutes later with his second of the game. Brendan Schievink put DU back within four with his sixth goal of the year. With just under 10 seconds to play in the period, Nestor scored his second goal of the weekend to extend the Michigan State lead to five once again.
 
The third period saw the Spartans complete the sweep following two more goals from Zelenka, giving him his second hat trick of the weekend, and Ristow wrapping up the scoring with his 16^th of the season. Michigan State would win their 11^th straight game against the Panthers with a 10-2 victory.
 
WHO'S NEXT?
The Panthers wrap up their regular season with a pair of contests against the Cougars from Sault College. The Cougars are ranked #2 in the North Region, and have a 21-2-1 record. When these two teams met last year, they played in a pair of barn burners. The Soo won the first game 10-7, while DU won the second game by a score of 9-6. The Cougars split a weekend with Davenport's D2 team back in September. Both games will be played at Patterson Ice Center. Friday's game will be at 3:30 p.m., and the Saturday contest is scheduled for an 8:30 p.m. puck drop.
 
Story by: Tyler Kuehl
 
Picture credit: Alexis Hoffman