Notre Dame takes the buzz out of Munn Arena in 3-1 win over Michigan State

EAST LANSING – The rebuilding of Michigan State’s hockey program won’t be a series of perfect storylines. Friday night’s 3-1 loss to fourth-ranked Notre Dame at Munn Ice Arena was a reminder of that.

With a near sellout crowd of 6,392 fans at Munn Ice Arena — a curious, cautious and hopeful bunch, checking out this revival of MSU hockey — Notre Dame zapped the buzz out of the Arena with its stifling defense and methodical ways. The Irish are Big Ten hockey’s version of Wisconsin basketball. The beauty is mostly in the victory, not the style of play.

“I know it probably wasn’t the most exciting for the fans,” MSU senior defenseman Carson Gatt said. “But for people who enjoy systems and structure in hockey, it was a little bit of a chess match.”

For everyone else, Notre Dame’s frustrating defense was, well, frustrating, as intended. 

“They’ve sort of got that sit-back style,” said MSU sophomore forward Taro Hirose, who scored the Spartans’ lone goal, a backhand rebound just before the end of the first period for a 1-0 lead. “They let you run into them and create turnovers. Especially for our (top) line, we like to have the puck and we don’t really like to dump it in. But that’s something we’ve got to change up. Their defenseman are really good. They’re big and strong and they put pressure on you in the corners.”

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Hirose’s goal came as part of an unusual line, with Sam Saliba and Brenna Sanford. Usually, Hirose is on the top line with Patrick Khodorenko and Mitchell Lewandowksi. 

“There are certain times when I can sneak a guy out, and someone was coming off and Taro was rested and I just told him to jump out there for the right winger,” MSU coach Danton Cole explained. “It’s a gut (feeling), but it’s a pretty educated gut.

“They’re good defensively and they match up well. Their defenseman, they’re older, they're smart, they skate well, they’re big and it’s hard to get to the net on them. And on entries, their forwards do a really nice job.”

Notre Dame (13-3-1, 7-0 Big Ten), which has won 10 straight games, scored twice in the middle of the second period and added another late in the third. MSU wasn’t overmatched, however. The possession was fairly even throughout.

The loss to the Irish drops MSU to 7-7-1 overall and 1-5-1-1 in the Big Ten. The Spartans will likely get another big crowd for Saturday night’s rematch at Munn.

“I think our guys, even in warm-ups, you could hear them talking about the energy in the building and coming out in the first period and seeing it mostly full is a pretty good feeling for these guys,” Cole said. “That’s how we want this to be. I hope they enjoyed the game. But that helps tremendously. That energy, that enthusiasm and what we want to get it back to is, we want this to be the norm. I thought the guys played really hard and it was an entertaining game. And (Saturday) we have to figure out how to get it in the net a little more.”

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.