By John Fineran
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame knew what to expect when it welcomed Michigan State Friday for the first of a two-game Big Ten hockey series at the Lefty Smith Rink in the Compton Family Ice Arena.
The Spartans showed why they are the unanimous No. 1 team in the nation with their 4-1 victory over the Fighting Irish.
“They shoot a lot of pucks, they’re on top of you,” Notre Dame’s first-year coach Brock Sheahan said. “If you don’t advance pucks, you’re going to spend time in your own end. They are a really good hockey team. At times I thought we played well; at times we were overwhelmed.”
The loss was the fifth straight in the Big Ten for the Irish, who are now winless in their last six games. Notre Dame (3-7-1 overall, 0-5-0 Big Ten for one point) also has now lost seven straight games to the Spartans since a 4-1 home victory on Feb. 2 of the 2023-24 season.
Once again, the Irish had their moments but couldn’t sustain them against the Spartans.
“They are the No. 1 team in the country for a reason,” said Irish junior defenseman Paul Fischer, who scored his team’s only goal. “You know what you’re going to get from them – they play hard on every shift.”
Notre Dame got another remarkable performance in net by junior goaltender Nicholas Kempf, who had 20 saves in the first period, 16 more in the third and finished with 43 for the game. But it wasn’t enough.
“We’ve got to know our game works when we do it,” Kempf said. “We’ve got to play a full 60 (minutes).”
The victory by coach Adam Nightingale’s top-ranked Spartans was their eighth straight since an opening-game 4-3 loss at home to New Hampshire on Oct. 9. The Spartans improved to 3-0 in the Big Ten, good for eight points, three behind conference-leader Michigan and a single point behind Wisconsin, both of which have played two conference games more than MSU.
The Spartans got a pair of goals from freshman right wing Porter Martone, the sixth pick in the 2025 NHL Draft by Philadelphia, to take a 2-0 lead. His linemates – senior center Charlie Stramel and senior left wing Daniel Russell – each had a pair of assists. Another freshman, left wing Ryker Lee, set up Martone’s second goal and later added the empty-net goal with 54 seconds remaining to assure the victory for junior All-America goaltender Trey Augustine, who made 24 saves before being relieved by senior third-string goaltender Dolan Gilbert, a former South Bend Saint Joseph standout.
Before a sellout crowd of 5,243 watching on Military Appreciation Night, the Irish won the ceremonial faceoff with a puck delivered by the Notre Dame Army ROTC students who repelled from the rafters during the singing of the national anthem
From there on, Michigan State dominated, winning almost twice as many faceoffs as Notre Dame, the nation’s third-best faceoff team entering the game. The Spartans would have a 15-8 edge in faceoffs in the first period, which helped them to a 21-10 shot advantage in the first period, and they ended up 39-30 at the dot for the game and with a 47-25 shot advantage.
If not for the play of Kempf, Notre Dame could have been facing a serious deficit instead of just trailing 1-0 after the first period on Martone’s goal off a nice feed from Stramel at 11:53. It was Michigan State’s eighth shot of the period. The goal came after Kempf’s counterpart Augustine made seven straight saves after Notre Dame had closed a 7-2 shot deficit to take a 9-7 advantage.
From the goal until the end of the period, a span of 8:07, the Spartans outshot Notre Dame 14-1, the one Irish shot coming at 17:56 from Henry Nelson’s shot from the point. The previous Irish shot was at 11:12, also from a defenseman, Jimmy Jurcev, from the point. Notre Dame could not generate anything on rebounds from Augustine, a credit to MSU’s defense led by Matt Basgall, Colin Ralph, Maxim Štrbák and Co.
Neither team had a shot on goal in the first 4:29 of the second period when Notre Dame’s Carter Slaggert went off for tripping. The Spartans then made it 2-0 when Martone, the sixth pick overall in the 2025 NHL Draft by Philadelphia, took a cross-ice pass from Lee and beat Kempf at 6:05. The Irish goaltender might have been distracted by Irish defenseman Axel Kumlin and MSU’s Stramel jockeying for position to his right.
Michigan State had a 7-1 edge in shots through the first 12:45 of the period, but the Irish started to come on and got some help when MSU’s Shane Vansaghi was whistled for slashing goalie Kempf after a save at 15:46.
Notre Dame got three good looks at beating Augustine. After the MSU goalie stopped Cole Knuble 14 seconds into the penalty, Danny Nelson broke behind the Spartan defense to set up a 2-on-0 Irish break. The Irish center passed the puck over to Evan Werner, but Augustine made a sliding save to keep the puck out of the net.
The Irish finally tied it later on the power play when Pano Fimis and Sutter Muzzatti got the puck over to Fischer, who found a crease in the defense and skated into the faceoff circle to Augustine’s right. Fischer’s wrister, which beat the Spartan goaltender on his glove-side at 16:36 to make it 2-1, was his third of the season.
Early in the third period, Notre Dame’s Brennan Ali made a nice cross-ice pass to Fischer and the Irish defenseman skated into the faceoff circle again. This time, however, his shot to beat Augustine hit off the pipe at 2:17.
The Spartans again regained command and pressured the Irish and Kempf after the first media timeout at 7:53. Stramel and Russell once again got assists as Štrbák fired through a bunch of players distracting Kempf to make it 3-1 at 8:08.
Michigan State maintained the pressure after the faceoff, and Jurcev was whistled for cross checking at 8:42. Notre Dame couldn’t get control of the puck in their zone as the Spartans got off 10 shots, but Kempf making seven saves and the Irish blocked the other three to keep it a two-goal deficit.
At the second media timeout, the Spartans had a 15-4 edge in shots in the period and were up 44-21 in the game. Augustine then clinched it with a pair of saves on Muzzatti and Slaggert at 14:19.
Michigan State continued the pressure on Notre Dame until Sheahan finally pulled Kempf at 18:42. Lee then intercepted a pass just inside his own zone and fired it down the ice into the vacated net for the clincher at 19:06.
Victory seemingly assured, Nightingale sent in Gilbert to relieve Augustine. The 24-year-old Gilbert was making his debut for the Spartans after transferring from Concordia (Wis.) two seasons ago. His parents met at Lake Superior State where his father Dave played for former Irish coach Jeff Jackson’s 1992 national champion Lakers. The elder Gilbert eventually followed Jackson to Notre Dame and is currently the school’s assistant athletic director for facilities. He was smiling from ear-to-ear in the Zamboni room following the game as the Spartans, led by Augustine, mobbed his smiling son.
MICHIGAN STATE 4, NOTRE DAME 1
At Lefty Smith Rink in Compton Family Ice Arena, South Bend, Ind.
Michigan State 1 1 2—4
Notre Dame 0 1 0—1
First Period—Scoring: 1. Michigan State, Porter Martone 5 (Charlie Stramel Daniel Russell) EV 11:53. Penalties: Michigan State 2-4, Notre Dame 1-2.
Second Period—Scoring: 2. Michigan State, Porter Martone 6 (Ryker Lee, Matt Basgall) PP 6:05; 3. Notre Dame, Paul Fischer 3 (Pano Fimis, Sutter Muzzatti) PP 17:07. Penalties: Michigan State 1-2 (3-6), Notre Dame 2-4 (3-6).
Third Period—Scoring: 4. Michigan State, Maxim Štrbák 1 (Charlie Stramel, Daniel Russell) EV 8:08; 5. Michigan State, Ryker Lee 2 (unassisted) EN 19:06. Penalties: Michigan State 0-0 (3-6), Notre Dame 1-2 (4-8).
Shots on goal: Michigan State 47 (21-8-18), Notre Dame 25 (10-7-8).
Goalie saves: Michigan State (24), Trey Augustine 24 (10-6-8) and Dolan Gilbert 0 (dnp-dnp-0); Notre Dame, Nicholas Kempf 43 (20-7-16).
Power-play opportunities: Michigan State 1 of 3, Notre Dame 1 of 2.
Faceoffs won: Michigan State 39 (15-14-10), Notre Dame 30 (8-12-10).
Blocked shots: Michigan State 5(4-0-1), Notre Dame 14 (4-7-3).
Referees: Jacob Rekucki and David Marcotte. Linesmen: Pat Richardson and Justin Cornell. Attendance: 5,243 (4,852c). Records: Michigan State 8-1-0, 3-0-0 Big Ten for 8 points; Notre Dame 3-7-1, 0-5-0 Big Ten for 1 point.