Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Porter Martone is really good at this whole hockey thing. Tonight, he and the newly no. 1 ranked team Michigan State Spartans opened their weekend series with the Northern Michigan Wildcats, and Martone made his mark early and often. Coming off of a strong showing against Boston University, the Flyers’ 6th overall pick stayed hot, cashing in himself and picking up another helper.
Just about midway through the first period, Martone was able to keep the puck in the offensive zone after a Wildcats defender attempted to kick the puck out past the blue line. After corralling the puck and considering his options, Martone kept it and ripped it far side to open the scoring and set the tone.
Porter Martone makes it 1-0 Spartans in the first! Spartans get back to even strength and take the lead just seconds later. pic.twitter.com/4xQTGYRc5K
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) October 24, 2025
It’s worth pointing out how refreshing it was to see a Flyers prospect not default to a pass up high to the point. It’s something that we’ve seen Jett Luchanko, in particular, do when the shooting lane is available to him. Martone has an easy pass option that he looks off and he gets rewarded for choosing to shoot in this instance. That’s not to say passing is the bad option all or even most of the time, but Luchanko (among others, this is not a Jett-only critique) could definitely look to be a little more selfish and shoot more. Confidence in your own release can be something that separates the good players from the great ones, so it’s nice to see the Flyers’ top prospect make this play in this spot.
The Spartans would increase their lead to two in the dying seconds of the opening frame, with Martone picking up the primary assist by creating the rebound chance that Charlie Stramel puts home. Martone tracks the puck well here, never losing sight of it through the bounces, and forces a quick save that’s not able to be controlled.
Charlie Stramel makes it 2-0 right before the end of the period! pic.twitter.com/dbt7Hr7K9v
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) October 24, 2025
Plays like this highlight how Martone’s hockey sense translates at higher levels, through anticipation and positioning. Combined with his size and puck skills, it’s a special combination. Martone’s line with Stramel and Daniel Russell really built on their momentum from last weekend, creating a number of scoring chances in this one The three forwards all finished the game with five-plus shot attempts each, with Russell leading the way with seven; five on-goal. As a team, the Spartans out-shot the Wildcats 40-25.
Beyond the goal and assist, Martone was called for two hooking minors in this one, and continued to involve himself physically. For a player who wasn’t known for being overly physical in the OHL with the Brampton Steelheads, Martone has definitely been more engaged in that side of the game through the early stages of the season. It’s also worth mentioning how Martone has looked without the puck beyond the hits. While his offensive instincts and production pop, his defensive awareness and positioning has been impressive as well. There was one play in particular that stood out effort-wise, chasing down an odd-man rush, where he might not have had the foot speed to get back all the way, he did force the carrier to make a quick decision that didn’t lead to much. While we’ll be more focused on his play with the puck, his play without is something that Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet will be keeping a close eye on if he were to sign and go pro next season. So while Tocchett might be taking issue with Matvei Michkov’s defensive habits, it’s hard to imagine a similar scenario with Martone.
Martone is now up to two goals and five assists through the first five games of the season, an exciting start to his first season of college hockey. It goes without saying that Martone is an extremely important part of the Flyers’ rebuild, and they have to be happy with his start. Fellow Flyers’ prospect Shane Vansaghi was held off of the scoresheet in this one, but was still engaged along the boards and on the forecheck as we’ve come to expect.
Gavin O’Connell would add a power play goal to give the Spartans a 3-0 lead in the middle frame, which marked the end of the scoring in this one until Tommi Männistö added a late empty-netter. Michigan State would take this one by a final score of 4-0. Goaltender Trey Augustine picks up his second shutout of the season, stopping all 25 Wildcat shots.
After dropping their season opener, Michigan State has won four in a row, and with their win tonight, improve to 4-1-0 on the season. The now-top ranked team in the country will look to continue their winning ways when these two teams meet again tomorrow night to conclude their two-game series.
