Sophomore Luca Di Pasquo from Livonia, Michigan, has been recognized as the Big Ten First Star of the Week following his outstanding performance at the Great Lakes Invitational held on December 29-30.
Di Pasquo, in his third and fourth starts of the season, achieved his second consecutive shutout with a 16-save game against Northern Michigan (2-0). He followed this with 29 saves in a 3-1 victory over No. 4 Western Michigan during the championship match. His efforts earned him the title of Tournament MVP after allowing just one goal over 140 minutes.
For the second year running, Di Pasquo has played a key role in MSU’s strong showing at the holiday tournament. Last year, he stopped 48 out of 52 shots faced in a win and a tie, although the Spartans lost the GLI title to Michigan Tech in a shootout. With Spartan starter Trey Augustine competing for a third consecutive medal at World Juniors with Team USA, Di Pasquo has demonstrated his capability to fill the position effectively.
This season, Di Pasquo has started four games for MSU and secured two shutouts. He maintains an impressive 0.50 goals-against average (GAA) and a .975 save percentage. Notably, he has not conceded any goals during five-on-five play; both goals allowed were on power plays against Canisius and Western Michigan. In total, he has stopped 77 of the 79 shots faced across these four games.
The top-ranked Spartans face a busy schedule this week as they host Wisconsin at Munn Ice Arena on Thursday at 6:30 pm on BTN before traveling to Chicago for Saturday’s Frozen Confines game against the Badgers at Wrigley Field.
