Lansing Sun

Four Michigan State hockey players have been named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) All-District team, recognizing their achievements both academically and athletically. The honorees are senior Nash Nienhuis from Sarnia, Ontario, and sophomores Matt Basgall from Lake Forest, Illinois; Daniel Russell from Traverse City, Michigan; and Tiernan Shoudy from Marysville, Michigan.

The criteria for nomination include at least sophomore standing and a year in residence at the athlete's current school, maintaining a 3.5 cumulative GPA, and being either a starter or significant reserve.

Nienhuis has received this honor for the second consecutive season. A May graduate with a 3.65 GPA in advertising, Nienhuis captained the 2023-24 squad to Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles. He posted career-best scoring numbers across all offensive categories (9-15-24) and earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Tournament Team. Nienhuis also received several post-season awards: the MSU athletic department's Chester Brewer Leadership Award, his team's Dr. John Downs Outstanding Defensive Player award, the Bill Burgess Outstanding Senior Award, and the Blue Line Club President's Award for having the highest grade-point average among seniors. Earlier this summer, Nienhuis signed a professional contract in Austria to play for EC Red Bull Salzburg in the 2024-25 season.

Basgall served as an alternate captain with a 3.976 GPA majoring in kinesiology and dietetics. He also earned Academic All-Big Ten and AHCA/Krampade All-American Scholar honors in his first year of eligibility. Basgall has not missed a game over his first two collegiate seasons, playing all 38 games this past year while posting a career-best 15 assists. As the team's least penalized player with just one minor penalty in those games, he led the team with 61 blocked shots, ranking eighth in the Big Ten.

Russell maintains a 3.644 GPA as a civil engineering major. He has skated on MSU's top line for both of his collegiate seasons and scored a career-best 13 goals as a sophomore—third on the team—finishing with 12 assists and 25 points (+5). Off the ice, Russell was selected for the Big Ten All-Tournament Team and earned his first Academic All-Big Ten recognition along with being an AHCA All-American scholar as a freshman.

Shoudy boasts a perfect 4.0 GPA over four semesters at Michigan State as a finance major within MSU's business school. Like Basgall, Shoudy earned both Academic All-Big Ten and AHCA/Krampade All-American Scholar honors while surpassing his freshman-year totals in assists (12) and points (16), finishing +3 with 25 blocked shots. Centering MSU's energetic fourth line, Shoudy held the team's best faceoff win percentage (253-218, .537).