Duel in the D on Tap as Michigan Set to Battle Rival No. 9 Michigan State

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The rivalry has been renewed as the No. 11-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team is set to take on No. 9 Michigan State to closes out the season series this weekend. The teams face off Friday (Feb. 9) at 7 p.m. in Yost Ice Arena, while Saturday's (Feb. 10) sold-out contest at Little Caesars Arena will begin at 8:30 p.m. Friday's game will be streamed live on B1G+, and Saturday's showdown will be broadcast live on Bg Ten Network.

Notes

• Michigan and Michigan State will continue the most-played rivalry in college hockey history, facing off for the 340th and 341st varsity meetings. U-M leads the all-time series 176-139-24, including 31-13-5 in the last decade.

• Michigan enters rivalry weekend with a 14-9-3 record after sweeping Ohio State in Columbus. U-M scored four goals in each contest, winning 4-2 on Friday (Feb. 2) before putting together a stronger performance to finish off the sweep with a 4-1 victory on Saturday (Feb. 3).

• Michigan has won six consecutive Iron D trophies in the annual Motor City showdown after MSU won the inaugural Duel in the D in overtime (2017). Last year, Luke Hughes scored the game winner with 0.6 seconds left in overtime to cap the trophy-game victory.

• Coming off a sweep of Ohio State, Jake Barczewski was rewarded by the Big Ten as its Third Star of the Week. In a pair of road wins, he allowed just three goals on 69 shots faced to move to 3-0-1 all-time against Buckeyes with a .957 save percentage and 1.48 goals-against average. The weekly honor was his third of the year after banking a pair of Second Star performances in October and November.

• After being named Co-Player of the Month by the Hockey Commissioner's Association for the month of October, sophomore Rutger McGroarty added a second honor by being named the lone recipient of January's Player of the Month award. In six games, McGroarty had three goals and 13 points, averaging 2.67 points per game to lead all players in college hockey.

• Blueliner Seamus Casey has 34 points in his first 26 games, tied with Denver's Zeev Buium as the highest-scoring NCAA defender.

• Six Wolverines have already recorded more than 30 points this season and are all producing above one point per game. In the last 25 years, no Michigan team has finished the season with more than four Wolverines at one point per game.

• Alternate captain Dylan Duke saw his career-long 13-game point streak come to an end at OSU. He leads the team with 16 goals as well as four game-winning goals, and his nine power-play goals lead the Big Ten in addition to being fifth-most nationwide.

• The Wolverines are scoring an average of 4.65 goals per game, ranking second nationally behind Denver. The Maize and Blue has 121 goals in 26 games; the program record for goals in a season is 260 (1976-77).

• Michigan is first in college hockey with 38 power-play goals and a 35.8 percent success rate. The Wolverines went 5-for-12 in the first two games against the Spartans, including a 4-for-9 night in East Lansing.