Early history The Spartan ice hockey program traces its roots back to the first informal varsity team that began in 1922 playing an independent NCAA Division I schedule. On January 11, 1922, Michigan State played its first intercollegiate hockey game, a 5-1 loss to
Michigan. Home games during the first season were played on the frozen
Red Cedar River on MSU's campus. Michigan State finished 0–3 in the 1922 season and picked up its first win during the second season on February 11, 1923, 6–1 over the Lansing Independents. Amo Bessone won his first collegiate hockey game as head coach on November 29, 1951, when the Spartans defeated
Ontario Agricultural College 8–2. The tournament was MSU's first
NCAA tournament appearance. The Spartans defeated
Boston College 4–3 in the semifinals and advanced to the schools's first championship appearance. The Spartans lost the 1959 national championship game in overtime 3–4 to North Dakota. MSU finishes the season 17-6-1. MSU began the 1965–66 season 4-10, In 2000 CCHA coaches and athletic directors unanimous voted to renamed the CCHA championship trophy to the
Mason Cup in honor of Ron Mason, who was a key figure in establishing the conference in the early 1970s prior to his tenure at Michigan State. During the 2000–01 season Michigan State finished first in the regular season and advanced through the CCHA Tournament winning the first ever Mason Cup. On October 6, 2001, the Spartans hosted an outdoor game at
Spartan Stadium against rival Michigan known as
The Cold War. The school would set an attendance record for an outdoor hockey game as 74,554 fans attended. The game ended in a 3–3 tie. Mason led Michigan State to seven CCHA regular season titles and a conference-record 10 CCHA tournament titles. In addition, MSU under Mason made 19 NCAA tournament appearances during his 23 seasons with the Spartans.
Rick Comley era Rick Comley was announced as Ron Mason's successor as head ice hockey coach at Michigan State University in March 2002. Comley's Spartans returned to the NCAA Tournament in
2006 after missing the NCAA Tournament in 2005. In the 2006–07 season, Michigan State was preseason ranked No. 5, which was MSU's highest preseason ranking since October 2001. The team earned an
NCAA Tournament bid after finishing the regular season with a conference record of 15-10-3. Comley led MSU to defeat three higher-ranked teams en route to the national championship including No. 1-ranked
Notre Dame in the Midwest Regional final. In the Frozen Four the team defeated No. 4-ranked Boston College in the national championship game on April 7, 2007, by a score of 3–1 in a game that saw Michigan State score three unanswered goals in the third period. In December 2010 the Michigan State Spartans and Michigan Wolverines played a second outdoor game at
Michigan Stadium. The game, known as
The Big Chill at the Big House, took place on December 11, 2010. 104,173 fans filled Michigan Stadium and watched as Michigan beat Michigan State 5–0. The attendance broke the 75,000 of the Cold War and 78,000 of the
2010 IIHF World Championship and set a new attendance record for a hockey game. Later that same season on January 25, 2011, Rick Comley announced that he would retire at the conclusion of the 2010–11 season.
Tom Anastos and Big Ten Conference era In September 2010
Penn State University announced that the university was elevating its men's and women's
American Collegiate Hockey Association club programs to varsity status. Then-CCHA commissioner
Tom Anastos publicly stated that the CCHA would strongly consider adding
Penn State as the conference's 12th member. On March 21, 2011, the Big Ten Conference announced plans to sponsor men's ice hockey starting in 2013–14 season. Michigan State along with CCHA rivals, University of Michigan and Ohio State University will leave the CCHA to join University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin from the WCHA and Penn State to form a six-team Big Ten Hockey Conference. Less than a week after the Big Ten's announcement Michigan State announced that former CCHA Commissioner, Tom Anastos would become the 6th head coach in the history of the program. Anastos is a former Spartan hockey player who played for MSU from 1981 to 1985. He is also the former coach at
Michigan-Dearborn (
NAIA) from 1987 to 1990, and compiled a 68-37-7 record. He later served as an assistant coach under Ron Mason from 1990 to 1992. The Spartans finished the 2011–12 season ranked 5th in the CCHA standings and received a first round bye in the
CCHA Tournament. The Spartans faced fourth-seeded
Miami (OH) in the second round, in the best-of-three series Michigan State was swept 0-6 and 1–4 in two games. Despite being swept by Miami, the Spartans finished 15th in the Pairwise rankings and became the final at-large bid selected for the
2012 NCAA Tournament. The bid marked the team's first appearance in the NCAA post-season since 2008, the team was placed in the East Region held at
Webster Bank Arena in
Bridgeport, Connecticut. In the game, Union College took an early lead and held the Spartans to a single goal in a 3–1 win over Michigan State in the East Regional semifinal. The game was the first meeting between the two programs and also the first win in the NCAA Division I national tournament for the Dutchmen. At the end of the 2016–17 season, it was announced that Tom Anastos would step down as head coach of the Spartans. MSU then announced that they had hired Danton Cole as the program's 7th head coach.
Danton Cole era On April 11, 2017,
Danton Cole was named head coach at Michigan State University. In Cole first season, 2017–18, the Spartans finished last in the Big Ten and were swept in a three-game series in the
conference tournament by Ohio State. The next season, MSU once again finished last in the Big Ten and were swept by Notre Dame in the
conference tournament. In 2019–20, the Spartans started the season strong and swept Michigan for the first time in Cole's tenure. However, the performances fell off and they finished sixth in the conference before being swept by Michigan in the
Big Ten Tournament. On April 12, 2022, he was fired by Michigan State. During five seasons as head coach, he led the Spartans to a 58–101–12 record.
Adam Nightingale era On May 3, 2022,
Adam Nightingale was named head coach at Michigan State University. During the
2022–23 season, in his first season with the Spartans, he led the team to an 18–18–2 record and the semifinals of the
2023 Big Ten tournament. On March 4, 2023, in the second game of the quarterfinals, Michigan State won their first
Big Ten tournament game. This was their first win in 15 all-time games in the tournament for the Spartans. Michigan State won the series, and advanced to the semifinals for the first time in program history. During the
2023–24 season, he led the Spartans to a 25–10–3 record, and the program's first
Big Ten Conference regular season championship and Big Ten Tournament championship in program history. On March 7, 2024, he signed a five-year contract extension with Michigan State. ==Season-by-season results==