“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” — Confucius

The Spartans fell hard last weekend—on the ice and in the rankings, metaphorically and literally. Michigan State entered the series riding a scorching nine-game winning streak that had carried them to the No. 1 spot in the nation, a place they held for more than a month.

Unfortunately for MSU, they caught the Wisconsin Badgers at the wrong time. Wisconsin left East Lansing with two wins over the top-ranked Spartans, a sweep that not only knocked Michigan State down to No. 3 in the nation but propelled the Badgers from No. 7 all the way to No. 2. That left the Wolverines of Michigan University sitting atop the national rankings.

The losses were a sobering reminder of how brutal and important every Big Ten matchup will be this season. Just weeks earlier, MSU battled then-No. 3 Penn State in a high-intensity series, and there will be plenty more heavyweight clashes in the months ahead.

For now, though, Michigan State gets a brief step outside of conference play with a two-game home series against Colgate—with Thanksgiving conveniently sandwiched in between.

The second matchup takes center stage today at 4 p.m. EST on this Black Friday. But first, how did the Spartans respond on Wednesday night?

Let’s dive into Game 1 of the two-game set.

"I liked our start," said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. "I thought we got to our game right off the bat, executed at a high level. I talked to the guys, and we asked them to be better at some areas, and I thought we were for sure."

The Spartans came out angry, energized, and ready to erase the sting of the Wisconsin sweep. A relentless barrage of shots early in the first period quickly turned into goals—three of them before the game was even ten minutes old.

Owen West opened the scoring just 3:57 in, assisted by Colin Ralph and Andrew Romani. Only 55 seconds later, freshman Ryker Lee buried MSU’s second goal off helpers from Shane Vansaghi and Maxim Štrbák. Two and a half minutes after that, Eric Nilsson made it 3–0, assisted once again by Vansaghi and Lee, putting the Spartans firmly in control before the period’s halfway point.

Colgate added a late first-period goal to make it 3–1, but that was as close as they’d get.

MSU stretched the lead to 4–1 in the second period on a finish from Tiernan Shoudy, assisted by Tommi Männistö and Owen West. The Spartans capped the scoring in the third when Charlie Stramel netted the fifth goal of the night off assists from Anthony Romani and Colin Ralph. Colagte added one more late goal, but the Spartans took home the victory 5-2.

While star goaltender Trey Augustine got the night off, freshman Melvin Strahl made the most of his second career start. Strahl stopped 29 shots to improve to 2-0-0 in net.

"I thought he did a good job," Nightingale said. "He's been really good in practice and competitive. Him, Trey (Augustine), and Dolan (Gilbert) have a good relationship. Our goal is to push each other, and I thought he made some critical saves for us. He went through some stretches where he didn’t see a ton, but then all of a sudden he had some good chances and was ready to make some saves."

Michigan State and Colgate meet again today—Friday, Nov. 28 at 4 p.m. EST in East Lansing—to close out the series.