Michigan State hockey acquired Red Wings draft pick Redmond Savage via the transfer portal this week.

The Detroit Red Wings’ 2021 fourth-round draft pick and “all-time names team” member Red Savage has reportedly transferred to Michigan State hockey to continue his college career.

In a sport that does it backwards where you get drafted and then play, the Scottsdale native has elected to come to the banks of the Red Cedar to continue his college hockey career.

Red Savage (DET) is heading to Michigan State out of the transfer portal from Miami

— Ryan Kennedy (@THNRyanKennedy) March 22, 2023

After a quarterfinal bounce ended Miami-Ohio’s Frozen Four hopes, the 2021 mid-round pick’s season fell just a little short of expectations, tallying seven goals and seven assists this 23-game season but found a silver lining in his impressive three-goal, three-assist outing at the 2023 U-20 tournament (seven games).

Savage is the son of longtime NHL player Brian Savage who notched over 350 combined points in a 650-plus game career. 

A forward like Savage could be exactly what Michigan State hockey needs after having its best season in years. This could as well be a huge moment for head coach Adam Nightingale. If he can show Red as a transfer success story like the ones of the football and basketball teams, it could propel him to center stage in the college hockey community. Other teams may have more first-round draft picks and talent, but one could argue no team has momentum like the Spartans.

Expect Red to come out firing for the Spartans this season. Fourth-round draft picks can sometimes be long shots to make it to the NHL, but Red quite literally has what it takes in his now green blood. He’ll be giving it all being on the back-nine of his college hockey career so he can prove worthy of his NHL contract.

Michigan State women’s gymnastics will compete in the Big Ten gymnastics championship meet this Saturday afternoon.

Michigan State women’s gymnastics will compete in the Big Ten gymnastics championship meet this Saturday, March 18 at XTREAM Arena in Coralville, Iowa.

Michigan State completed its regular season last Saturday in a meet against Northern Illinois. This was their best regular season in program history. They finished the season 14-2 overall, and 8-1 in Big Ten play and are currently ranked No. 9 in the country. The team posted program records this season in all four events. They also shattered their overall team score by over half a point.

Individually, freshman Nikki Smith, sophomore Gabi Stephen, and sophomore Skyla Schulte have the three highest all-around scores in MSU history, with Smith’s and Stephen’s scores coming this month. In addition, Nikki Smith posted the program’s third-ever 10.0 on vault this year, and Senior Jori Jackard recorded the first 10.0 in program history on uneven bars.

The meet will likely come down to No. 2 Michigan and No. 9 Michigan State. They have been far and away the best teams in the Big Ten all season. They tied atop the Big Ten standings this season. Michigan State pulled the upset and won against Michigan at Jenison early in the season, making MSU the No. 1 seed in the championship meet. However, Michigan will be the favorite and will be out for revenge. But Michigan State has the ability to pull the upset once again.

Michigan has been the more consistent team this year, with an average score of 197.798. MSU’s average is 197.175. The gap between their season-high is much smaller, however. Michigan’s season-high is 198.300, while MSU’s is 198.225. This meet could go either way. No other Big Ten team this year has recorded a score above 197.6. It would be a major upset if another team were to finish in the top two.

Michigan has been the premier gymnastics program in the Big Ten for years.

Though another Michigan State victory this weekend could be a signal of a changing of the guard. A win would give MSU the head-to-head victory, the Big Ten regular season title, and the Big Ten championship meet title. MSU’s success has come mostly off of the back of their underclassmen. This newfound success appears to be sustainable in the long term as well.

After another losing season for Michigan State baseball in 2022, Jake Boss and the Spartans have kicked off 2023 on a high note.

Coming off another losing season in 2022, Michigan State baseball really needed a strong start to its 2023 season and it got it.

The Spartans have struggled since 2017 to play winning baseball and because of that, they have lost some of the fanbase’s attention. I don’t think this has to do with the coaching staff or the roster but the growth of college baseball in Michigan.

Since 2017, the top two teams in Michigan have mainly been Michigan and Central Michigan. Some might argue that Central is now the top team in Michigan. Both of these programs have continued to get better by recruiting and their play and it has left Michigan State behind.

This is the reason why Michigan State starting 3-1 this season is important.

These wins include Grand Canyon University which is an up-and-coming program, Fresno State, and rival Michigan. Michigan State won these games in different ways and one of those ways was great hitting which is something that Michigan State can hopefully rely on this season.

In the past couple of years, hitting has not been the issue. Michigan State has been able to score runs and it looks like that is going to be exactly what Michigan State is going to do this year and that is because of Mitch Jebb who is one of the best infielders in the country and a player the Spartans can rely on to get on base.

Another hitter to watch out for is Trent Farquhar. He is currently hitting .462 from the lead off spot with two runs batted in. Michigan State has also gotten production out of their catcher spot in Bryan Broecker and ourfielders Jack Frank and Casey Myers. These are just a few of the starters that have already produced for Michigan State.

In the first four games, Michigan State has scored over seven runs three times. Like the article said earlier, hitting has not been the issue for Michigan State, bur rather it’s been pitching.

If you watched or paid attention to Michigan State baseball last year, you probably know that the pitching staff had an ERA over 7.0. That was one of the reasons why Michigan State had a record of 24-30.

This is not, in any way, me talking bad about any of these players. Playing college baseball is one of the hardest sports to play and pitching isn’t easy. Nothing about the sport is easy.

With that being said, Michigan State has to get better production out of their pitchers. The starters have to go more innings and the relief pitchers have to be better. As a whole, the pitching staff could get better. Everyone on Michigan State could get better and through the first four games, it seems like they have.

In two games, Michigan State has given up seven runs or more. In the other two, the Spartans have only allowed one or zero runs. This is a good improvement.

If Michigan State can get more consistency out of the starters and the relief pitchers shut down opponents, that could lead to Michigan State having their first winning record since 2017. This won’t be easy and it is a long season but if pitching improves, this could be the season where Michigan State turns it around on the diamond.