Michigan State hockey adds goaltender Dylan St. Cyr for the upcoming season

Michigan State’s hockey program has added a new goaltender. Dylan St. Cyr will join the Spartans in the 2022-2023 season for his final year of NCAA eligibility, MSU announced on Saturday.

St. Cyr, a Northville, Michigan native goaltender, first joined the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in 2017. It wasn’t until 2020 that St. Cyr started in a handful of games, though. That year, he started 22 games, had a .921 save percentage and earned three shutouts.

Last season, St. Cyr transferred to Quinnipiac University where he played in 13 games and held an astounding 1.16 goals allowed per game. The Bobcats finished the season at 32-7-3; St. Cyr’s win-loss record stood at 10-2-1. The team even finished in first place in the ECAC standings, and ranked at No. 8 in the USCHO poll.

Ultimately, Quinnipiac was taken down by No. 2 Michigan in the NCAA Tournament.

In that final game against Michigan, Quinnipiac’s starting goaltender was taken out after allowing four goals through two periods, putting the Bobcats down 4-0. St. Cyr replaced him and the Bobcats brought themselves back within one goal. Eventually, St. Cyr allowed one sole power-play goal with less than 40 seconds left after Michigan scored two consecutive empty net goals to go up 6-3. The Bobcats ultimately lost 7-4.

Michigan State also formally announced that it has added defenseman Michael Underwood. In April, Underwood had posted on Instagram that he was transferring to MSU, but that post was quickly removed or made private. However, now it appears that the transfer is official.

The additions are solid for Michigan State, which is losing goaltender Drew DeRidder next season, as he has transferred to North Dakota. MSU’s defensive group will also be a lot less experienced next season. Returning defenseman include freshman David Gucciardi, sophomore Nash Nienhuis, sophomore Powell Connor, sophomore Cal Dybicz and incoming freshman Matt Basgall from Lake Forest, Illinois.

Michigan State hired Adam Nightingale as its head hockey coach on May 3.

Note: an earlier version of this story reported that Cornell goaltender Nate McDonald would be transferring to Michigan State in the fall. McDonald withdrew his transfer to MSU following the Spartans’ head coaching change.