Michigan State hockey releases full 2022-2023 non-conference schedule

The Michigan State Spartans men’s ice hockey team released the full 2022-2023 non-conference schedule on Wednesday. While Spartan hockey fans were aware the annual Great Lakes Invitational will be in Grand Rapids this year and Michigan is not participating, now fans can fill out the calendar for the full slate of non-conference action.

The Spartans will open the season with exhibition play against the United States National Team Development Program on Saturday, Oct. 1 in a public debut of the upgrades and expansion to Munn Ice Arena.

The regular season will commence with a series against Bowling Green on Friday Oct. 7 and Saturday Oct. 8. Other notable non-conference games include a return visit by UMass-Lowell on Oct. 13 and Oct. 14. Michigan State played the River Hawks last year in a two-game series that saw the Spartans go 0-1-1. The two teams played to a 2-2 draw in game one at Tsongas Arena, and then the Spartans fell in game two by a final score of 4-0. UML went 21-11-13 last season and advanced to the Hockey East semifinals, falling to eventual national champion Denver in Loveland, Colorado.

Michigan State will also play two home games at Munn against Long Island on Oct. 21 and Oct. 22.

Also completing a home-and-home series that began last season, the Spartans will visit Miami (OH) over Thanksgiving weekend following a season sweep over the RedHawks at Munn last season. MSU defeated Miami 3-1 and 2-1 in the series in a season that saw the RedHawks go 7-27-2 overall.

As mentioned above, Michigan State will also compete in the Great Lakes Invitational at Van Andel Arena. The Spartans will take on Ferris State in the semifinals on Dec. 27, with the winner of that matchup going on to play the winner of Michigan Tech and Western Michigan game for the tournament title on Dec. 28.

“We have a nice slate of home games, and teams on our schedule who will test us and prepare us for the challenges of the Big Ten season,” commented new head coach Adam Nightingale. ”We look forward to the excitement of playing in front of our great home crowds and the incredible student support we have at Michigan State and Munn Ice Arena. We look forward to seeing many familiar faces as well as helping to cultivate new fans and exciting game nights at our upgraded facility.”

You can find the full non-conference schedule below. Be sure to check back when the full Big Ten Conference schedule is released as well.