Elite goalie prospect Trey Augustine will hear named called in draft, then prepare to lead MSU hockey

Trey Augustine is coming to Michigan State with plenty of pressure on his back as soon as he skates onto the Munn Arena ice.

The incoming goalie recruit — who starred for the U.S. National Team Development Program, led the U.S. to a U18 World Juniors gold medal in April and is projected as a top-75 pick in this week's NHL draft — is fully expected to be the man in net for MSU next season. That was made clear when junior Pierce Charleson, his expected top competition for starting spot, entered the transfer portal in April.

The Spartans, who are coming off their most promising season — and offseason — in more than a decade, will be counting on the freshman.

"If you prepare for the situation, there’s no reason to be nervous about it," Augustine said. "I’ve been playing hockey my whole life, and if things go bad, that's just the way the game goes. I’m always keeping myself level and in control.”

Augustine, who played for MSU coach Adam Nightingale with the Plymouth-based NTDP before Nightingale took over the Spartans, is coming off a season in which he won 30 games, suffered just one loss in regulation, and posted a .926 save percentage — No. 1 for a single season in NTDP history by a goaltender who appeared in more than 10 games. His 2.13 goals against average and the 30 wins were both fourth all time for the program.

Augustine, a native of South Lyon, describes himself as an athletic and competitive goaltender, the two traits he believes set his foundation. Dan Muse, who replaced Nightingale as the NTDP U18 head coach, credits a lot of his team's success to its solid presence in net.

“He’s such a calming presence and there’s such confidence a team can have and play with when you have a goaltender like (Augustine)," Muse said. "He provided that this year, but really for two seasons. He tracks the puck so well and makes uncommon things look easy sometimes. He’s never out of it and always gives us a chance. There’s just ice water in his veins the way that he plays.”

Scouting Augustine

NTDP goalie coach David Lassonde first saw Augustine play as an U15 goalie for Honeybaked, the youth developmental program based in Farmington Hills. Lassonde recalls instantly recognizing his uncommon maturity, and it wasn't long after that Augustine was extended an invite to the NTDP.

Once he arrived, his teammates recognized that maturity as well.

“Players here affectionately refer to him as 'Pop', so you can figure out what their impression of him is,” Lassonde said. “There are times where there is urgency to what he needs to do, but he never lets it spill over to desperation. He’s a quiet, confident kid who knows what he needs to do to be successful, and he does it over and over and over again.”

Augustine has been mocked as a potential second- or third-round pick by numerous draft sites including TSN, Elite Prospects, and FloHockey. NHL Central Scouting lists Augustine as the third-ranked North American goalie.

“He has an elite goalie IQ, and I don’t know if I’ve seen many goaltenders that understand the game, see the game, and read the game as well as he does,” Lassonde said. “I saw those characteristics in him when I first saw him as a 15-year-old and they’ve only gotten better. When the game gets fast, it doesn’t affect him."

Despite being a touch below average in size at 6-foot-2, 179 pounds, Muse believes Augustine's intangibles will lead him to success at any level.

“People that haven’t had an opportunity to work with him might not be able to see the daily process and the daily push to get better every day,” Muse said. “You can see the skill and how advanced he is in the game for his age, but when you combine that with the character and preparation and drive, that's what makes him so special.

"I definitely wouldn’t be betting against Trey Augustine, that's for sure. He’s got so many things going his way.”

The taste of gold

Augustine was already a well-known goalie prospect when he and the rest of the U.S. team went to the U18 World Championships in April. But it was at that tournament in Switzerland when Augustine's profile reached another level.

After cruising through group play, outlasting a tough Czechia team in the quarterfinals and blowing past Slovakia in the semis, the U.S. found it itself in a situation it hadn't all tournament in the gold-medal game against Sweden.

Trailing.

The U.S. clawed back and tied it late in the third period, with Augustine making several critical saves.

That cleared the way for the U.S. to score just minutes into the sudden-death overtime to capture gold, 3-2.

“In the gold medal game he was fantastic," Muse said. "At the end of the game, we had just tied it up and we were on the penalty kill, he had a couple of monster saves to let us get to overtime and give us a chance. Throughout that tournament, he made some huge saves in big moments early in games and that’s so important because things can turn so quickly in hockey.

"Those big saves early that some people forget about can be game changers.”

Augustine finished the tournament with a 6-0 record, a 1.61 goals against average and a .934 save percentage.

“It’s really exciting to come home with a gold medal. It means a lot to me personally to represent my country on a national stage,” Augustine said. “Being able to win, it was awesome. It’s a memory I’ll never forget.”

With gold in his back pocket, Augustine will head to East Lansing this fall. His journey to MSU from the outside might appear strange, given that he had previously committed to play for the University of Michigan. But the "Nighty effect" — as Augustine calls it, referencing the MSU coach's nickname — was enough to sway him to the Spartans and reunite him with the leader who called him up to the U-18 team as just a 16-year-old when they were both still in Plymouth.

“When Coach Nightingale got hired, I knew MSU would be a possibility," Augustine said. "But when they brought (strength and conditioning coach) Will Morlock on the staff, it added up even more for me. It opened up a whole bunch of possibilities and I saw how it could benefit me in my hockey career. The team this past year competed, for sure, and I’m looking forward to building on that.”

Augustine will get an early opportunity in the fall to play against some of his elite former teammates when MSU travels to Boston College for a series in late October. There, he'll be on the opposite side of the entire NTDP first line from last season in forwards Will Smith, Gabe Perrault and Ryan Leonard ― all of whom also played on the U18 gold medal team and are all slated to be first-round draft picks.

“That BC weekend is going to be big for us, they’ll have a really good team and it’ll be a fun test,’ Augustine said. “And going around the Big Ten and seeing a bunch of guys I know and played with, it’s a unique and special situation so I’m looking forward to that as well.”

Contact Nathaniel Bott at nbott@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter @Nathaniel_Bott

Other MSU draft prospects

Incoming defenseman Maxim Strbak is expected to picked in the draft around the same time as Augustine in the second or third round, but he also has the chance to sneak into the first and be MSU's first player taken in Round 1 since 2008.

Strbak played in the USHL with the Sioux Falls Stampede this past season, putting up five goals and 13 assists in 46 games. The Slovakian-native also represented his country at the U-20 World Juniors, where he had three assists in five games.

Incoming forward Mikey Deangelo also will look to have his name called during the two-day draft, likely in the sixth or seventh round. Deangelo skated with the Green Bay Gamblers in the USHL, where he had 11 goals and 24 assists in 52 games last season.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Trey Augustine, soon to be selected in NHL draft, prepares to lead MSU