The Spartans opened regular-season play this past weekend, getting swept at Lake Superior State by a combined 13-4.

Michigan State has a young lineup, with just eight upperclassmen playing during the first weekend. The early departure of leading scorer Mackenzie MacEachern (30 points) to the pros and the graduation of positionally sound goaltender Jake Hildebrand, who played very well against DU last season, were big losses.

MSU, which won just 10 games a season ago, is projected to finish last in the Big Ten by the conference’s coaches. Ohio State, which defeated DU on opening night, was picked second.

Offense

The cupboard isn’t entirely bare. Sophomore forward Mason Appleton scored 22 points and had a team-high 17 assists. Captain Joe Cox, a senior forward, had 23 points (11 goals), senior forward JT Stenglein added 22 points and junior center Thomas Ebbing had 19. Defenseman Zach Osburn made the Big Ten All-Freshman Team after scoring 19 points. In addition, the Spartans welcome 11 freshmen, including a couple who were big scorers in the United States Hockey League – Sam Saliba had 29 goals and Logan Lambdin had 28. Forward Taro Hirose had 71 points (56 assists) in the British Columbia Hockey League. And forward Patrick Khodorenko played for the U.S. National Team Development Program the past two seasons and participated in the 2016 CCM/USA Hockey All-America Top Prospects Game.

Defense

Last season the Spartans gave up nearly 30 shots per game but had Hildebrand back stopping them. This season they turn to junior Ed Minney, who rarely played last season and has allowed nine goals on 51 shots so far this season. MSU only returns three blue liners – Osburn, senior Rhett Holland and junior Carson Gatt.

Special teams

This was a disaster for the Spartans against Lake State as they allowed six power-play goals in 16 chances and scored only once in 18 man-advantage situations (5.6). Penalty killing wasn’t as big of a problem last season as the Spartans were effective 86.4 percent of the time.

Notable

This will be the Spartans’ first home game since the passing of legendary hockey coach Ron Mason on June 13. … MSU is the sixth-youngest team in NCAA Division I hockey this season.