Michigan
Michigan State hockey sweeps Michigan with 3-2 win in Detroit: Analysis and reaction
DETROIT – Lansing State Journal sports reporter Nathaniel Bott breaks down ninth-ranked Michigan State’s 3-2 victory over 11th-ranked Michigan in the annual “Duel in the D” on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.
What happened
Michigan State was looking to break a six-game losing streak against Michigan in the annual “Duel in the D” at Little Caesars Arena, having earned some momentum in a 5-1 win at Yost Ice Arena on Friday night.
Both sides skated out to a sold-out crowd of 18,410, with “Let’s Go Blue!” and “Go Green! Go White!” chants taking turns echoing throughout the arena. And in that raucous atmosphere, MSU was able to withstand a late Michigan rally to earn a 3-2 win and pivotal series sweep.
For the first time in eight meetings between MSU coach Adam Nightingale and Michigan’s Brandon Naurato, Nightingale’s side struck first. Fourth-line wing Tanner Kelly jumped on a loose puck in the slot, spun, and fired a shot past Wolverines goaltender Jake Barczewski to give the Spartans an early lead.
MSU only allowed Michigan’s vaunted power play to take the ice once. The Wolverines converted that chance in the second period as forward Gavin Brindley found Dylan Duke to level things, 1-1.
MSU’s fourth line, which started the game and matched up frequently with Michigan’s top line, came up big again in response. Forward Tommi Mannisto cycled the puck to the point and senior defenseman Nash Nienhuis. Nienhus’ shot was originally saved, but a rebound popped out to the side of the net where sophomore forward Tiernan Shoudy banged home his third goal of the season.
MSU would double its lead later in the second period after Kelly jumped into a rush with top-line forwards Karsen Dorwart and Isaac Howard. Kelly received a pass from Howard and skated in, faking a shot that drew Barczewski out of the net before delivering a pass to Dorwart, who fired into a practically open net to make it 3-1.
Brindley scored for Michigan on a backdoor play with 9:09 remaining in the third period, but MSU was able to lock down the final minutes and stave off a number of chances for the Wolverines in the final minute of action.
Trey Augustine stopped 36 shots for MSU, as did his counterpart, Barczewski. With Saturday’s win, MSU earned its first regular season series win over Michigan since 2017 and its first two-game series sweep of the Wolverines since 2019.
What it means
MSU is now 20-7-3 overall and 14-4-2 in the Big Ten, five points ahead of second-place Wisconsin, which has played two fewer games than the Spartans. MSU’s final series of the regular season, March 1 and 2, is in Madison. The Spartans are also up to No. 5 in the all-important Pairwise Rankings.
MSU’s season series with Michigan this season tells a great tale. It captured the buy-in that Nightingale wants and perhaps established a benchmark for wins going forward.
This win was No. 20 on the season for the Spartans, who had hadn’t hit that total since the 2008-2009 season — two years after their last national title.
Tanner Kelly’s come was the story of the night
There’s been growth this season to get here. Tanner Kelly’s story is part of that. Kelly came into the first meeting with Michigan this season looking for trouble. Any chance to give a little extra on a check, any opening that Michigan players gave him to react, he jumped at. It led to a 22 penalty minutes for Kelly over two games, including two five-minute majors.
The Spartans lost that first game 7-1. The next night at Yost, Kelly was absent from the lineup. In Nightingale’s eyes, his antics were too detrimental.
And when MSU found itself down 4-1 at Yost, everyone up and down the roster stuck to the gameplan and got rewarded, skating away with an impressive 7-5 come-from-behind win.
MSU and Michigan have always had fireworks on the ice. Big hits. Showboating celebrations. Scrums and fights after whistles galore. But Nightingale is changing the perception of the rivalry. As he puts it, “you don’t have to like them, but you have to respect them.”
Kelly would go on to miss the Minnesota series as well, with his freshman replacement Griffin Jurecki playing well on the fourth line and scoring a goal that sparked a third-period rally in an MSU come-from-behind win.
Kelly finally returned in last week’s Notre Dame series, with this matchup with Michigan circled.
When MSU fell behind Friday night, it was Kelly who made a great individual effort to score a goal 25 seconds later, and MSU never looked back from there. In Detroit on Saturday, Kelly scored the game’s opening goal and made a remarkable play to set up the eventual game-winning goal.
“I think it’s a really good lesson on accountability, and in the first game he took some penalties and we had a conversation and he missed some games,” Nightingale said. “Tanner is a critical piece to our team, but I made a promise to these guys that I was going to hold them accountable and to a standard. I believe in forgiveness but there are consequences to your actions. Tanner did nothing but work and he got back in and that line has been really good for us.”
That line of Shoudy, Mannisto and Kelly, have started the last three games for the Spartans and were the reason MSU won Saturday, contributing on all three goals while consistently matching up and making life difficult for Michigan’s top line.
“Winning tonight was special, but to see Tanner respond the right way when you get held accountable and then get rewarded is a pretty special moment for me as a coach,” Nightingale said.
What’s next
MSU has a bye week before hosting Ohio State on Feb. 23 and 24 in the final home series of the regular season.
Contact Nathaniel Bott at nbott@lsj.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @Nathaniel_Bott
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Harmful algal blooms have been reported on two notable lakes in West Michigan: Gun Lake and Muskegon Lake.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy says cyanobacteria was reported on Muskegon Lake July 3, but no tests have confirmed it.
The Barry-Eaton District Health Department says a harmful algal bloom was confirmed Thursday on Gun Lake. The lake remains open, but the BEDHD is encouraging visitors to use caution and avoid water that has “visible algae.”
Visitors are encouraged to avoid any contact with water that appears bright green, blue-green, brown or red or has “floating mats of scum.”
Pets should also avoid the water. If they come into contact with the algae, pets should be rinsed off as soon as possible with clean, fresh water.
Exposure to algae can cause a rash or irritation to the skin, eyes, nose and throat. It can also cause stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, fever and trouble breathing.
“If you become sick, contact your healthcare provider. Seek medical care right away if you have trouble breathing, severe vomiting, or other serious symptoms,” the BEDHD said in a statement. “If your pet was exposed, rinse them well with clean water and do not let them lick their fur until they have been washed. Contact your veterinarian right away if your pet has vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, trouble walking, excessive drooling, shaking, or seizures.”
Harmful algal blooms are powered by the sudden growth of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae. Cyanobacteria occur naturally in lakes, rivers and ponds but is often boosted by a sudden excess of nutrients, often caused by fertilizer runoff from farms or failed septic systems.
They can last for several days and sometimes even months. The water will look “scummy” or like “spilled paint or pea soup.” They are typically found in the summer and fall — usually peaking in August or September and dying off by the end of October.
You can report a suspected harmful algal bloom to EGLE at AlgaeBloom@Michigan.gov or 1.800.662.9278.
Sterling Stamping Plant is the largest in the world
Ed Daniels, vice president of North America injection and stamping operations, discusses the process of producing metal parts for Stellantis models.
Warren — Hulking metal presses line one wall of Stellantis NV’s cavernous stamping plant here, punching out the raw shapes of Jeep doors, Dodge hoods and Ram tailgates in rapid succession.
Nearby, swinging yellow robots continue the tightly choreographed work, gluing and pressing and welding smaller components to the sheet metal that eventually will start to resemble the shape of a truck or SUV.
Seven miles north, in Sterling Heights, Stellantis operates an even larger stamping plant — the biggest in the world, at 2.7 million square feet — that does much of the same work, churning out various shapes of steel and aluminum 24 hours a day.
Together, these lesser-known links in the manufacturing supply chain support all of Stellantis’ big North American assembly plants — from next-door Warren Truck Assembly Plant, where the Jeep Grand Wagoneer SUV is built, to facilities in Windsor and Mexico that make minivans and pickups.
Inside Stellantis’ Huge Detroit Stamping Plants
The Detroit News recently got a rare look inside the automaker’s Sterling and Warren stamping plants, which are key to the company’s turnaround plan.
The Metro Detroit stamping plants, the automaker’s only two such facilities in the United States, have at times struggled in recent years, facing major job cuts and worker morale issues amid slowing sales and shifting production plans. But under Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa, the facilities are expected to cram in more workload — and add staff — as Stellantis begins a new five-year strategic turnaround plan, which includes a heavy focus on its most profitable North American market.
The carmaker’s goal: grow sales by more than a third to 1.9 million annually by 2030 as it launches 23 vehicles, including 11 all-new models. The company also is directing billions of dollars of investment into its U.S. manufacturing footprint due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“Stamping has never really been viewed as the sexy side of automotive manufacturing, we’re relatively invisible,” said Ed Daniels Jr., vice president of North America injection and stamping operations. “Because when you look at the commercials and advertisements, it’s always a beautiful Ram rolling off the assembly line or climbing the side of a mountain.
“But we’re the inception of that vehicle,” he said. “This is where raw materials are turned into commodities and parts.”
The Detroit News recently got a rare look inside the two plants that combined employ about 3,000 people. The automaker wanted to show off a newly-installed blanking press at Warren Stamping and other machinery like a high-speed transfer press and a robot that spots flaws in the metal.
Hiring expected
The blanking press unspools long coils of metal and chops them up into pieces that can then be shaped into roofs, fenders and floor pans. Stellantis shipped the massive machine to Warren from its idled Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois last year.
After upgrades to the machine, executives said it’s able to produce as many as 120,000 metal blanks per week. It will save Stellantis money since the plant will no longer need to pay a supplier to break down the coils before the metal arrives there.
The blanker addition is a big deal for the plant and signals that the company wants to bring more work in-house and invest in the facility over the coming years, said Romaine McKinney III, president of United Auto Workers Local 869, which represents workers at the factory.
The plant has already brought back all of its laid-off UAW workers, and McKinney said he anticipates more hiring to get underway if sales grow and new Stellantis vehicles come to market.
In another corner of the Warren facility, one of the fastest press lines in the world — known internally as the Hellcat — pushes as many as 15 pieces of metal through per minute. Dies that weigh up to 50 tons apiece squish the material into the shapes of doors and hoods before robotic arms snatch them out and place them on conveyor belts. Midway through a shift, workers can reconfigure the machine to make a different component, a process that takes just five minutes.
Robots check for quality
Curtis Booth, who manages Warren Stamping, said manual processes inside the plant have become increasingly automated, and safer, over the last couple decades, even as the automaker’s two stamping factories still utilize some presses that were installed in the 1960s.
The latest high-tech addition is the Automated Body Inspection System, or ABIS. It’s a camera system mounted on a robot that automatically checks the quality of components and flags anything in need of repair.
Auto plants of all kinds are increasingly turning to these types of camera systems, infused with artificial intelligence, to catch flaws in sheet metal and other components before they are shipped. Booth said worker visual inspections are still used. But in some cases the human eye has too much subjectivity, and the ABIS removes the guesswork.
Greg Bauer, who manages Sterling Stamping, said his plant has added staff over the past year, and expects to continue hiring as more work is assigned to the facility. There is no space at the plant to add more presses, but officials have figured out how to increase efficiency — quickly toggling back and forth between making doors for a Chrysler Pacifica and Dodge Charger on on a single machine, for example.
“We want to bring high-volume parts into the plant, and we want to maximize the capacity of the equipment,” Daniels said.
lramseth@detroitnews.com
MENOMINEE, Mich. (WLUK) — 24-year-old Ethan Raymond Masters of Menominee was arrested on sexual assault charges June 30th, according to the Menominee County Sheriff’s Office.
According to a news release from the Sheriff’s Office, deputies learned of an incident involving a 24-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl which happened in Menominee June 22nd. Following a sexual assault investigation, police charged Masters.
Masters was arraigned July 2nd on 2 counts of Criminal Sexual Conduct First Degree. He remains in the Menominee County Jail on a $250,000 cash bond.
Menominee City Police and the Michigan State Police Crime Laboratory of Marquette assisted with the investigation.
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