Hockey Preview: New Hampshire vs. No. 2 Michigan State

The Michigan State hockey team, who moved up to the No. 2 ranking in the country, will begin their regular season tonight, with a Thursday-Friday series hosting the New Hampshire Wildcats of Hockey East. This is also the beginning of the regular season for the Wildcats who played a scrimmage against their Hockey East rivals Maine last week, skating to a 2-2 tie with UNH winning in a shootout. The Wildcats were picked 10th (out of 11) in the Hockey East Coaches Preseason Poll and the Spartans should be heavy favorites to sweep the series this weekend. However, hockey is a close game at this level, and the Wildcats will line up with talented players themselves so the Spartans will need to show some more finish than they displayed in their exhibition against Windsor to jump out to a lead and see the games out this weekend.