The No. 2 Michigan State Spartans (24-6-4) became back-to-back Big Ten title winners this season and are now being recognized for their incredible achievement with four different Spartans being nominated for Big Ten Postseason awards.
The Spartans are preparing for their first postseason game of the season as they take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12-24-1) in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal Saturday night.
Below are the four Spartans in the running for major conference awards, as announced by the Big Ten on Wednesday:
Jr. F Isaac Howard: Player of the Year
Howard is an obvious choice for Big Ten Player of the Year. He finished the regular season as the conference scoring champion after earning 33 total points in 24 conference games. He has been nominated for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the best player in the country.
Howard finished the regular season with 46 points on an even split of 23 goals and 23 assists. He tied for most goals in the conference while tying for fifth in assists. There is no doubt that he has been the most impactful skater for any team in the conference this season.
So. G Trey Augustine: Goaltender of the Year
Augustine has put together another sensational season in the Big Ten, on top of being the winningest goaltender in USA history in the IIHF World Juniors and winning a Gold medal the past two seasons.
The second-year Spartans held the best record of any goalie in the conference at 17-6-4. He was No. 1 in the Big Ten in goals against average (GAA) at just 2.09 while allowing the lowest amount of goals in the most games played: 57 goals in 27 games.
Jr. D Matt Basgall: Defenseman of the Year
Basgall was the highest-scoring defenseman on the Spartans this season, tied for third on the roster with 25 total points. He notched the second-most assists (19), which is a career high, and he has been a stalwart piece on the back end for Michigan State in his third collegiate season.
He is currently on a three-game point streak, recording one goal and a pair of assists in the final three regular-season contests of the year. He was named Academic All-Big Ten a season ago and is seeking to win his first major conference award in 2025 after an unbelievable year.
Head Coach Adam Nightingale: Coach of the Year
What Nightingale has been able to accomplish with this program since taking the head coaching job in May of 2022 has been nothing short of incredible. He has already won two conference titles, a Big Ten Tournament title and has seen numerous players drafted in such a short amount of time at the helm.
Nightingale will be going for his second-straight Big Ten Coach of the Year award after winning it in 2024. Enough cannot be said about the job that the former Spartan alum has done and the ability to transform Michigan State hockey into a household name around the nation once again.