MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS: The Spartans came out of their winter break by taking second place in the annual Great Lakes Invitational, topping Ferris State by a 4-1 contest before dropping to Michigan Tech in a  shootout for the championship.

Team USA will take the short trip to East Lansing for the 19th matchup in program history. The U18s are 8-10-0 in the career series, but have won the last two matchups, most recently a 4-3 win last season on October 1.

The Spartans are led by five skaters who have already eclipsed the 20-point plateau in 20 or fewer games played this season. Sophomore forward Joey Larson leads the team with 11 goals and 21 points, while Karsen Dorwart (8-12--20), Red Savage (7-13--20), Isaac Howard (5-15--20) and Artyom Levshunov (5-15--20) have all recorded 20 points on the campaign.

In addition to Savage and Howard who are NTDP alums, Spartans goaltender and fellow program alum Trey Augustine has been tremendous in his true freshman season in East Lansing. In 17 starts, the South Lyon, Mich., native has produced an 11-3-2 record, 2.97 GAA and .910 SV%. Augustine is currently backstopping Team USA at the 2024 World Junior Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden, with teammate Isaac Howard.

MSU is led by NTDP alum Adam Nightingale on the bench. Nightingale, in his second season with the Spartans, coached Team USA to a silver medal at the 2022 IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championship in Germany.

TRI-CITY STORM: The Under-17 Team will take the lengthy 15-hour bus trip to Kearney, Nebraska, to square off with the Tri-City Storm for a pair of games this weekend.

Tri-City enters the weekend in fifth place in the USHL's Western Conference, owning a 13-11-1-2, good for 27 points.

The Storm are led by forward Trevor Connelly, whose 29 points (9g-20a) place him inside the top-10 amongst all USHL skaters. Second-year forward Ryan Smith's 12 goals leads the team while August Falloon, a University of Minnesota commit, has also added 11 scores.

In net, Cameron Korpi, who appeared in seven games with the NTDP during the 2020-21 season, is the Storm's only qualified goaltender. He has appeared in 20 games, garnering a 12-6-2 record, 2.88 GAA and .896 SV%.

The weekend games are the only two between the Storm and NTDP this season, as the Under-18 Team does not see Tri-City on its schedule.

MICHIGAN WOLVERINES: The University of Michigan pays its first visit to USA Hockey Arena since December 2, 2017. The Wolverines hold an 18-4 all-time record against the NTDP, although the Wolverines won the first dozen matchups of the series, giving Team USA wins in four of the last 10 contests.

Michigan has been off for more than a month, its last games played back on Dec. 1-2, where they split a series with Notre Dame.

The Wovlerines have a very balanced scoring attack, as eight different skaters have double-digit points on the season, including five NTDP alums. Defenseman Seamus Casey leads the team in scoring with 23 points (4g-19a) and Jacob Truscott is the other defender in the group of eight, as the Wolverines captain and former NTDP blueliner has posted a pair of goals and eight helpers.

TJ Hughes' 22 points (9g-13a) leads their group of forwards, while Dylan Duke (8g-12a), Gavin Brindley (10g-8a), Frank Nazar (8g-10a), Rutger McGroarty (6g-12a) and Garret Schifsky (8g-8a) follow closely behind.

Jake Barczewski leads Michigan in net; he has a 7-6-3 record in 16 games, with a 2.73 GAA and .913 SV%.