Weekend notes: MSU proves mettle as Team USA selection camp nears
USA Hockey’s selection camp for the World Junior Championship is less than one month away, which means I’m spending plenty of time at the rink in preparation for our NHL Network coverage.
Some notes and observations from my travels on the weekend before Thanksgiving:
— Michigan State is on pace to earn an NCAA tournament berth for the first time since 2012, and the Spartans’ weekend sweep of top-ranked Wisconsin is the latest evidence of their sustainable return to national prominence.
MSU never trailed over 120 minutes against the resurgent Badgers. In one of Munn Ice Arena’s most anticipated weekends in years, the Spartans more than met the moment and moved atop the Big Ten standings with 16 points (5–0–1).
Wisconsin outshot MSU on Saturday, but the Spartans prevailed because they had Trey Augustine in goal. Augustine made 28 saves, including three in rapid succession on a 3-on-1 rush midway through the second period.
Augustine, who won’t turn 19 until February, is the youngest goaltender in Division I. After finishing October with a humbling trip to Boston College — 10 goals allowed in two games — he has won all five of his November starts with a 2.20 GAA.
Augustine was the primary goaltender for Team USA’s bronze medal-winning effort at the ’23 WJC. He won four games in the tournament, the most ever by a 17-year-old American netminder in the World Juniors. Less than four months later, Augustine was in net as Team USA won gold — in overtime — at Under-18 Worlds.
In East Lansing, the Red Wings second rounder has become a case study of the rapid growth that happens when high-end talent combines with great coaching in a winning environment. After Saturday’s win, Augustine was quick to credit MSU associate head coach Jared DeMichiel, the former goaltender who backstopped RIT to the 2010 Frozen Four. “We get almost 30 minutes every single day in practice, working with each other, and then usually once or twice a week we’ll do video for 45 minutes to an hour,” Augustine said.
Observed MSU head coach Adam Nightingale: “Jared does a great job of connecting with our players. He treats them as a person first. When we went through the recruiting process with Trey, that was really important to him. There was a connection there. You look at Jared’s track record with goalies, it’s really good. Go back to UMass, and some of the guys who were even undrafted ended up playing games in the NHL. There’s a mutual respect there.”
— I thoroughly enjoyed watching MSU’s top defensive pairing of senior captain Nash Nienhuis and freshman Artyom Levshunov, a projected top-five pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Nienhuis scored the eventual game-winner, while Levshunov’s playmaking and hockey sense were on display all night. Nienhuis is almost six years older than the Belarusian-born Levshunov.
“If you look at the NHL, any young defenseman that breaks in, they always have a veteran with them; Nash is certainly a veteran,” Nightingale said. “We’re coaching and watching video with Artie, but Nash is right there with him. Part of when we were looking at the process of adding a player like Artie, obviously he’s very talented, but you want to make sure you have guys around him who understand his age, understand how they can help him, push him and challenge him. Nash has done a great job with that.”
Augustine grinned when I asked how much he communicates with Levshunov while navigating net-front defense. “Artie doesn’t need much talking to out there,” he said. “He’s pretty self-sufficient. I just let him do his thing.”
— MSU winger Isaac Howard recorded the primary assist on Nienhuis’ game-winning goal on Saturday night. Howard has 16 points through 14 games with the Spartans, one behind his full-season total as a freshman at Minnesota-Duluth.
Howard often played on a line with Frank Nazar during their time at the USA Hockey National Team Development Program; the two could reunite at the World Juniors next month.
“We’re thankful he’s here,” Nightingale said of Howard. “I enjoyed coaching him for two years with the national team. I’d take him on my team any day of the week. He’s really, even throughout this year, gotten better and better and better. He’s a scorer . . .
“What he’s done this last four games is come up with more pucks, second and third efforts. When he does that, his skill takes over. It’s good to see him get rewarded.”
— Best wishes to Michigan forward Rutger McGroarty, who was injured Friday on a scary collision into the boards at Yost Ice Arena. The Winnipeg Jets first rounder left the ice on a stretcher. McGroarty sent a message via social media on Saturday, along with a photo of him in a hospital bed, thanking all who had reached out with well wishes.
McGroarty, who recorded 18 points in his first 13 games for the Wolverines this season, has been expected to have a top leadership role on Team USA at World Juniors. Now his availability for the tournament is uncertain.
— Forward James Hagens, this season’s top player at the NTDP, continues to make a strong case for a World Junior roster spot.
Hagens added to his legend Friday night, by scoring with a 2.8 seconds left to give Team USA a thrilling 5–4 victory over the Fargo Force.
“Awesome player and a great kid,” said Nick Fohr, head coach of the Under-18 National Team. “The moment’s never too big for him. As a young kid — late birthday, not even draft-eligible this year — to be that cool under pressure, just goes to show the future of what he’s got a chance to be . . .
“He’s really taken a step here in the last month or so. He’s really trying, every day, to get better. It’s something I tell groups when I get a chance to sit down with them. They always ask, ‘What makes the greatest players the greatest players? Why is Auston Matthews so great? Why is Jack Hughes so great?’ The reason, in my opinion, is those guys want to be the best player in the world. Not one of the best players. James fits into that category for me. He’s just a driven kid with a lot of passion who loves playing hockey.”
The assists on Hagens’ game-winner belonged to his wingers, Brodie Ziemer and Teddy Stiga. Against a Fargo team that hadn’t lost in regulation all year, the trio finished the night at plus-3.
“They’ve been so consistent for us, the last month or so,” Fohr said. “You know what you’re going to get every time they go over the wall. They really work well together as a trio and complement each other really well. They have purpose out there. They’ve gained complete trust from us as a coaching staff.”
Jon Paul Morosi is an MLB Network broadcaster and lead features reporter for NHL Network’s coverage of the World Junior Championships.
