For the first time in the Adam Nightingale era, the Spartans hockey team hits the road this weekend, opening B1G play with a series at Notre Dame. The Spartans (4-2) fresh off a sweep of Long Island University at home, are beginning to get some “just outside the top 20” buzz and have the opportunity this weekend to push their way further into the conversation.
The Fighting Irish stand at 3-2-1 on the season and sit at #12 in the early USCHO poll. The Irish last weekend split with the Western Michigan Broncos, swept Northern Michigan the weekend prior, and opened the season with a loss to Denver and a tie to Air Force. The Fighting Irish are extremely in their bag, on brand as they have been under Jeff Jackson. They limit shots against, want to play a 3-2 game slog, and are led by Ryder Rolston with 6 points on the season. This is a lineup with players across all 4 lines that can contribute, but no big gun that can beat you on their own.
As far as play styles this could now present a clash. As mentioned last week, the Spartans are 3rd in the country in shooting for %, per College Hockey News. Under Nightingale the Spartans look to get everything to the net, defensemen have become extremely active at jumping up as the late man on a rush (see David Gucciardi last weekend on Saturday night vs Long Island) and would love to play in a track meet. This is a team that thinks they have an advantage in their fitness under new strength and conditioning coach Will Morlock and they want to play into that advantage. This will face a severe test against Notre Dame who wants to drag you down into the mud.
Narrative/#Content of the weekend
I am sure the announcing team this weekend will hammer the storyline of Dylan St. Cyr starting in net for the Spartans. St. Cyr, a Michigan kid, one time Wolverine commit and NTDP goaltender began his college career at Notre Dame in 2017. St. Cyr came in with tons of heat/hype but ended up being relegated to the 2 role for his first 2 seasons, playing in just 11 games over that stretch. St. Cyr had some struggles adjusting to the college game and ran into a hot battery mate as Cale Morris was one of the best in the country in 2017-18, and then it was Morris’ net all the next season.
St. Cyr finally looked to have the net his junior season getting 22 starts and compiling a .921 save percentage in the 2020 Covid season where B1G teams played just each other. The stats were good for St Cyr, but his win-loss suffered from a weaker supporting cast to just an 11-9 record. The Irish had taken in transfer Matt Galajda, a Cornell brick wall who had to sit out the 2020 season as the Ivies did not play, and instead of splitting the net or getting into a battle his senior season, St. Cyr transferred to Quinnipiac.
The assumption of course was St. Cyr would utilize a strong season to springboard into his pro career, but once again at Quinnipiac St. Cyr found himself in a battle for games, even with an insane 1.16 goals against and .936 save percentage, St. Cyr was matched up with a Sophomore who came from out of nowhere to be the best goalie statistically in ECAC, Yaniv Perets.
So far St. Cyr has seemingly, finally, taken over a crease and made it his own. St. Cyr started the first 5 games of the season for the Spartans, and Pierce Charleson surrendered 4 goals in his lone start on Saturday of the Long Island series. St. Cyr was a late grab in the summer for Nightingale, who had to push out another portal goalie who had committed under coach Danton Cole before he was fired. I am sure St. Cyr has had this weekend circled since the summer and would love to show the Fighting Irish he was capable of what they thought was coming to South Bend, way back in Fall 2017.
How To Watch
Both games are available to those who have a Peacock subscription. As a Premier League soccer fan I have had the app for years so I will be watching both games this weekend. Friday’s game has a 7:30 PM puck drop, the Saturday game starts at 6:00 PM.
Spartans To Watch
Obviously as mentioned above, St. Cyr will be the announcer highlight of the weekend. If you’re watching your first Spartan hockey game this weekend and want to know who to keep an eye on though, I have some names to follow.
Freshman forward Daniel Russell leads the team in scoring (3G, 6A 9 pts) and has been a delight. He has a quick release when you give him some space and uses his size to make room for himself. David Gucciardi missed the first two games of the season due to Mono, but contributed a goal in each game last weekend. The Toronto, Ontario Sophomore is someone who I think will see his game absolutely take off under this staff. Gucciardi is a mold of the modern defensemen, light on his skates, quick to jump in the play and adept at finishing. He makes some mistakes in his own end that need to be cleaned up, but this staff is capable of turning him into a NHL player.
Looking Ahead
This is a big weekend for the Spartans, it would be awesome to get off to a winning start in league play, especially gaining some points out of a road weekend. There’s a chance to get some momentum early in league play, as next weekend the Spartans will host Wisconsin, a team I think the Spartans can vault up the standings if they play well.