EAST LANSING, Mich. — Grand Rapids native Reed Lebster grew up going to Michigan State hockey games and on Sunday, he scored his first goal for the Green and White.
It's been a long time coming for Lebster. After graduating from Forest Hills Northern in 2017, he played three seasons for the Des Moines Buccaneers in the USHL. Then started his college career at UMass where he played four years for the Minutemen. He scored 22 points his senior year.
Sunday when the Spartans hosted Lake Superior State to start the 2023-2024 campaign, his family was at Munn Ice Arena to see him score his first MSU goal.
"Every year, that first goal is kinda the money off of your back so that was nice to get that this weekend. But having family in he stands, for them to be here and watch that was also very cool for me," said Lebster.
MSU got goals from four different players on the afternoon, with three netting their first of the season and two the first of their Spartan careers. Nicolas Müller had a pair of assists (the only player with multiple points on the day), while freshman Artyom Levshunov and grad student Reed Lebster each scored their first in Green and White and Red Savage had his second goal of the weekend.
MSU had 1-0 and 3-1 leads, but the Lakers kept the Spartans off the scoreboard with the excellent play of Langenegger. Connor Milburn scored the first of the day for LSSU on a turnover deep in the MSU zone, and John Herrington batted a rebound out of midair to cut the game back down to 3-2 in the third period. MSU iced the game with a Karsen Dorwart empty-net tally in the final minute.
MSU was 0-2 on the power play, while the Lakers were 0-3. MSU extinguished a 5-on-3 opportunity for LSSU early in the game, and then another penalty in the third when whistled for too many men.
Michigan State heads to Colorado Springs for a pair of games at the Air Force Academy on Thursday and Friday.
