No. 3/3 Hockey Wraps Winter Break with Exhibition Win Over USNTDP

Sunday, January 4

East Lansing, Mich.

4 PM

Michigan State University

US National Team Development Program (Exh.)

Photo by: Michael Caples

No. 3/3 Hockey Wraps Winter Break with Exhibition Win Over USNTDP

1/4/2026 8:14:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

No. 3/3 Hockey Wraps Winter Break with Exhibition Win Over USNTDP

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State hockey returned to Ron Mason Rink at Munn Ice Arena for the first time in a month on Sunday, defeating the U.S. National Team Development Program U-18 team, 4-2, in exhibition action.

"I liked our start," said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. "For a couple of guys who are defensemen that were playing as forwards, I think they did a good job for us. First ten minutes I thought we got light on our sticks. I thought the rest of the game, our guys did a good job. Now it's about being ready for Big Ten play. We got a day off tomorrow. We've got to be ready to go. It's obviously a heck of a conference, and we're looking to try to play our best hockey here in the second half."

The Spartans owned a 35-17 advantage in shots on goal which included a 26-11 margin through the first two periods. Both sides went 1-for-2 on power play chances. MSU won the face-off battle, 31-28. In goal, freshman Melvin Strahl made 15 saves on 17 shots faced.

Michigan State got goals from four different players, including freshman Austin Baker, freshman Anthony Romani, freshman Cayden Lindstrom and senior Charlie Stramel. Baker and Stramel are both former USNTDP products.

Five different players tallied assists led by two each from seniors Matt Basgall and Daniel Russell. Also assisting for MSU was senior Tiernan Shoudy, sophomore Nathan Mackie and Romani, who finished with his fourth consecutive multi-point performance (exhibition stats will not count towards final season tally).

Freshman defensemen Matt Lahey made his first appearance in the Green & White after an injury over the summer sidelined him for the first half of his freshman campaign.

"He's done a heck of a job keeping himself healthy," Nightingale said. "No one wants to get hurt, and it was unfortunate that it happened in the offseason. I think he's done a heck of a job of having a great attitude, making sure he's still part of the team, and putting the work in. He's been skating on his own for a long time. I thought he had a good game. He's obviously got the track record of being a good player. We're going to need all of the guys on our roster to be the team we want to be. It's good to have him back. We're going to need him."

MSU resumes Big Ten play on the road next weekend, heading to Columbus, Ohio to take on Ohio State on January 9-10. Both games will stream on B1G+. Ohio State enters next weekend with a 6-11-1 record following an 0-1-1 series against Bowling Green in which they won the game one shootout.