4 Winners From Michigan State Hockey Exhibition Vs Boston College

On Friday, No. 3 Michigan State hockey opened their season with an exhibition match against the No. 12 Boston College Eagles. The Spartans enter the year looking to make a four-peat of Big Ten regular season championships, along with finally getting over the hump of making it to the Frozen Four.

Boston College was no tune up game, as the Eagles entered with their own Frozen Four aspirations for the season. It was an excellent measuring stick matchup for each program, with the regular season starting next Friday.

The Spartans came in on fire, blasting past the Eagles 5-2, with Mason West’s late empty netter grounding Boston College.

With Spartan Shadows reporter Patrick Lafferty at Munn Ice Arena to cover the action, here are four Spartans that stood out during the contest.

RW Anthony Romani

Romani returns for his sophomore season fresh off a 14 goal, 14 assist campaign that was slightly overlooked due to phenomenal campaigns by fellow freshmen Porter Martone and Ryker Lee. With Martone off to the big leagues in Philadelphia, a player that likely sees an uptick in ice time is Romani.

On Friday, the Vancouver Canuck prospect put that extra time to use, with a pair of goals on his four shots. He started all scoring, putting back a Tommy Bleyl shot into the net to give the Spartans a goal they never relinquished.

Romani later added his second of the night, and was second among all skaters at a plus-3 on the night. He was named second star of the night, and for good reason.

C Eric Nilson

Speaking of second-year players making an early statement on the year, Eric Nilson put the entire country on watch with a four point game, tacking two assists with his two goals. Nilson doubled the Spartan lead with a snipe in the first period, and then responded after Boston College cut the lead to one with a powerplay goal.

Nilson, after a three goal campaign in 2025, put up two in the exhibition match to begin the year. The Anaheim Ducks prospect turned a lot of heads on Friday night.

When asked about two goals today, Nilson was to the point,

“Of course it’s fun (scoring twice),” the sophomore said. “Last year I didn’t have as many points as I could have, or wanted to have.”

He put up seven shots on the night, much more than most of his 2025-2026 campaign.

“Last year, I don’t think I took many shots at all,” he said. “I just changed my mind. If you want to score, you got to shoot as much as you want, so that’s why I shot seven (shots).”

G Joshua Ravensbergen

With Trey Augustine taking his talents to the Detroit Red Wings organization, all eyes looked to incoming freshman goaltender Joshua Ravensbergen. The San Jose prospect delivered in his first game, with 16 saves and one goal allowed in 29:43 of action.

Ravensbergen offers a different frame than Augustine, as he stands at 6-foot-4, and is looking to physically develop more with the Spartans after three straight sub-3.00 Goals Against Average seasons in the WHL.

Through his first game, the goaltender looks to be delivering.

D Sean Barnhill

Barnhill enters his second season looking to make a strong impact after fellow defenseman Colin Ralph, Matt Basgall, and Maxim Strbak all signed entry-level contracts this offseason. Now, he is one of the more experienced defenders, and took a step up on Friday.

Barnhill was physical, using his size advantage to create an impact on the game. The New York Rangers prospect recorded six blocked shots in a game where the most by any other player, regardless of team, had two blocks.

However, his physicality came with a drawback, as the defender spent three stints in the penalty box for 14 minutes. The penalty box continues to be a personal vice to the Spartans entering year five of the Nightingale era. All in all, that is a very minor complaint when a team can win by three goals against a top-15 team in the country to start the season.