NCAA 1st Round Preview: No. 1 MSU vs No. 4 UConn

Entering Thursday’s first-round matchup in the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament, Michigan State – winner of three straight Big Ten championships – carries a 31-31-1 all-time record in the national tournament. This season has been a long climb filled with milestones, but the looming judgment of the NCAA tournament has hovered over the program all year.

In four seasons, head coach Adam Nightingale has revived Michigan State hockey, guiding the Spartans to their third straight NCAA tournament appearance for the first time since 2006 through 2008.

During that stretch, they have won three Big Ten regular-season titles, two Big Ten Tournament championships, two Great Lakes Invitational titles, and three Duel in the D trophies.

The Spartans have also earned a No. 1 seed in their NCAA regional in each of the last three seasons and added a third Hobey Baker Award winner to the program’s history. But for all that progress, Michigan State is just 1-2 in NCAA tournament play under Nightingale, and the program still has not reached its 12th Frozen Four or captured a fourth national championship.

That is why, despite everything this group has accomplished over the past three years, there has still been an undercurrent of frustration about not breaking through when the stakes are highest. For the senior class that arrived alongside its head coach, this is the final opportunity to push the program to a level it once knew well, but has not reached in decades.

At most, this group has four games left together. To earn all four, it first has to answer the bell Thursday afternoon in Worcester, Massachusetts.