After some dark days at Munn Ice Arena, happy days, or at least interesting days, are here again in year one of the Adam Nightingale era. The Spartans enter this weekend’s two game series against Notre Dame at 13-13-2, sitting just outside of the NCAA Tournament picture at #18 in the pairwise rankings, setting up a crucial series against the Irish. Notre Dame is fourth in the Big Ten standings, just two points ahead of MSU. A sweep would do wonders for MSU’s tournament chances leading into next week’s series against Michigan.
Five of the Big Ten’s seven teams are clumped in between Minnesota and Wisconsin in the standings.