Spartans survive UConn, advance to regional final

Survive and advance. That is the name of the game in the NCAA Tournament and the Spartans epitomized that statement on Thursday afternoon. In a dog fight of a game against UConn, the Spartans outlasted the Huskies, 2-1 to move onto the regional final.

After falling behind 1-0, Ryker Lee got the party started for the Spartans, with a power play goal that may go down as the goal of the tournament. The game winning goal from the Spartans came by way of Porter Martone, who scored on a gorgeous one-timer pass from Tiernan Shoudy in the second period. A scoreless third period ensued, and the Spartans punched their ticket to face the winner of Dartmouth and Wisconsin on Saturday.

It was a masterclass performance from Trey Augustine, who showed a lot of haters that he has postseason stones, saving 41-of-42 UConn shots in the game. The Huskies outshot the Spartans, 42-22. The Spartans did however make their money in the faceoff circle, winning in the dot 35-25.

The Spartans now await their next opponent, who they will play for a berth in the Frozen Four, which would be the Spartans first since 2007. Contact/Follow us @ The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on X @Rex_Linzy This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Spartans survive UConn, advance to regional final