Michigan State Hockey: Spartans add two players from the transfer portal

While the transfer portal has featured prominently in the reshaping of Coach Mel Tucker’s football roster and Coach Tom Izzo’s basketball rosters, Coach Danton Cole of Michigan State University’s ice hockey program did not want the other revenue sports to have all of the fun.

On June 1, Coach Cole announced that the 2021-2022 hockey team would include two new faces fresh from the hockey transfer portal: forwards Chris Berger from Brown University and Griffin Loughran from Northern Michigan University.

Chris Berger hails from Amherst, New York and has two years of eligibility remaining. While at Brown, Berger recorded 28 points on 11 goals and 17 assists over 65 games with the Bears. Berger saw action in the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons and played in nine games in the 2019-20 season before his season was cut short due to injury. Brown and the rest of the Ivy League did not participate in ice hockey during the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to his time at Brown, Berger played in both the USHL and the Ontario Junior Hockey League.

Griffin Loughran is originally from West Seneca, New York and also has two years of eligibility remaining. While at Northern Michigan, he tallied a total of 72 points on 35 goals and 37 assists over 88 games. Loughran led the Wildcats with 39 points, power-play goals (seven), and game-winning goals (four) in the 2019-20 season. His 23 goals that year were tied for second-most in the nation and he was a member of the All-WCHA second team. Loughran also played for a year in the USHL prior to enrolling at NMU.

Regarding the two transfers, MSU head coach Danton Cole had the following to say: “We are excited to announce the addition of Griffin and Chris to Spartan Hockey. They will fit in well with the incoming student-athletes and greatly increase the depth to our returners. They add experience and intelligence to our lineup and will be a large part of Spartan Hockey moving forward.”

Five other recruits will join the Spartans this fall: forwards Jeremy Davidson, Tanner Kelley, Erik Middendorf and Jesse Tucker, along with defenseman David Gucciardi. The 2021-2022 Michigan State hockey schedule has yet to be released, but the action will most likely begin in early October.