Unfortunate circumstance leads to major opportunity for Trey Augustine

Michigan State goaltender Trey Augustine is getting a major opportunity following an injury to starter Alex Lyon.

Last week, I wrote about Michigan State goalie Trey Augustine being selected as the second goalie for Team USA during this month’s men’s World Championships in Czechia. He was chosen to serve as a backup for Red Wings starter Alex Lyon. The Red Wings duo were the only two goalies initially named to the roster, which has since added Pittsburgh goalie Alex Nedeljkovic to the team as well.

Lyon played well for the Red Wings for most of the season and was tapped by USA Hockey to serve as the starter.

Unfortunately for the Americans (and potentially Red Wings fans), Lyon was injured in the second period of Saturday’s game against Germany. Lyon left the game did not return. It was later announced that he has a pretty serious cut on his hand. Further rumors have speculated that he is slated to fly back to the United States. This would ultimately mark the end of his tournament if true.

Team USA has not released a statement confirming this as of yet.

Regardless of if Lyon is done for the tournament, it sounds like the starting goaltender’s job has opened up. He did not have a particularly great game in Team USA’s opening-round game against Sweden on Friday. The US lost 5-2 and Lyon allowed three goals.

After his injury on Saturday, the Spartans’ Trey Augustine entered the game in relief. He stopped 11-of-12 shots and Team USA rebounded to defeat Germany 6-1. The lone goal was a puck that had deflected a few times and landed under Augustine. He could not find it before it was pushed into the goal. Other than that, he looked extremely solid. He stopped a breakaway chance for his first shot against. After the game, captain Brady Tkachuk gave Augustine the “team hardhat” post game and applauded his performance. That is basically their version of the game ball.

Moving forward, Team USA has a question to answer in form of its goaltending. To me, it says a lot that Team USA coach John Hynes went with Augustine in relief of Lyon on Saturday. Part of it may be that Alex Nedeljkovic had only been named to the roster Wednesday, but Augustine was chosen to back up Lyon for a reason. It seems clear to me that he will at the very least get the first shot at the starting job.

Beating out a current NHL goaltender who ended the season on a tear would really say something about Augustine’s game. The Red Wings were very confident in what his potential could be when they drafted him in the second round last year, but I think everyone was unsure of when he would take that step. This past season for MSU, Augustine looked extremely confident in net and seemed to certainly be comfortable starting at the World Junior Championships for Team USA in December.

With Augustine’s track record in international competition, it might just be time to let him loose for the senior team. Stabilizing the goaltending for Team USA would go a long way in their goal to win gold this year, but that is a big ask. This isn’t juniors anymore. He is going up against rosters made up of top-tier national players and NHL talent all over.

Should he impress, it would be huge.

Whether that happens, remains to be seen. We will get our first chance to see the new look lineup for Team USA on Monday. It takes on Slovakia on Monday morning at 10:20 a.m. ET. I assume Trey will be starting this game, though no formal announcement has been made at the time of writing this. If the coaching staff would want to work Ned into the mix, it would probably benefit him to get a few practices in first. Team USA is off after Monday’s game until Thursday afternoon when they take on France.

A quick turnaround after that happens when they play Poland Friday afternoon.

I expect Trey Augustine would play Monday and then take one of the back-to-back games on Thursday and Friday next week. Should he put together two strong games, the job should be his for the remainder. MSU hockey and Adam Nightingale have to be ecstatic with the opportunity for Augustine to learn and showcase his talent. This tournament could really catapult him to take another major step forward in his development. That is something Spartan (and Red Wings) fans should be very excited about.