No. 2 MSU earns emotional 3-1 win in first game since the death of Dan Sturges

EAST LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – After a long and emotional week for the MSU hockey program, the Spartans took the ice Friday night and earned a 3-1 win over Minnesota.

The Spartans scored once in each period, with Ryker Lee, Gavin O’Connell and Maxim Štrbák scoring the goals. Goaltender Trey Augustine stopped 25 of 26 shots.

This was the first game for the Spartans since Director of Hockey Operations Dan Sturges passed away unexpectedly on Monday at the age of 40.

On Thursday, head coach Adam Nightingale spoke through tears about Sturges’ friendship and his impact on so many in the program.

Nightingale said Sturges always talked about wanting to see ’60 minutes of KBH — knees bent hockey.’ Regardless of the scoreboard, Nightingale said he wanted to see his team honor Sturges through playing that style of hardworking, team-first hockey.

The Spartans answered the bell in that regard Friday night.

“Sturgy was one of the guys that I looked forward to most seeing at the rink,” said O’Connell. “I know for all of us we wanted to go out there and whether we won or lost, he was the most team-guy there was … was never shy to have a conversation with us. So, it was just go out there, work as hard as we can, honor him and play for the guy next to us and we know we’d make him proud. So, it’s been a really tough week but we’re glad that we got the win.”

MSU also held a moment of silence for Sturges before the game and will wear a patch with his initials on it for the rest of the season. Minnesota players also wore ‘DS’ stickers on their helmets Friday.

The weekend series concludes Saturday with puck drop at 6 p.m.

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