MADISON, Wis. \u2014 Charlie Stramel took the puck in the neutral zone, picked up speed, split two defenders with a slick move and finished the play with a highlight-reel goal.<\/p>\n
The play from the Michigan State senior and Minnesota Wild prospect on Thursday was the game-winner in a 4-3 victory over then-No. 2 Wisconsin \u2014 the school where Stramel spent his first two seasons before transferring.<\/p>\n
After the goal, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound center jumped into the boards behind the net, slamming the glass with both hands. On the other side of the glass was a student section that had booed him when he was introduced as part of the starting lineup, as they had a year earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was kind of expecting it,\u201d Stramel said afterward, smiling. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to come here and be the villain.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Stramel, 21, sounds like a kid with swagger, he is. The 2023 first-round pick (No. 21) is night and day different from the player he was a couple of years ago, when he was languishing in a limited role with the Badgers. His 13 goals and 29 points in 22 games this season are more than he had in 77 games over two seasons with Wisconsin (eight goals, 20 points). Stramel is a driver for one of the top teams in the country, playing on a line with 2025 No. 6 pick Porter Martone.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore times than not, he\u2019s been our best player,\u201d coach Adam Nightingale said. \u201cHe does it on both sides of the puck. He\u2019s grown, big-time. I give him credit. He really drives us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Stramel made this @MSU_Hockey<\/a> goal look easy \ud83c\udfac\ud83d\udd25 pic.twitter.com\/hiu9noJHCv<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Big Ten Hockey (@B1GHockey) January 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Why is this important? Stramel expects to sign with the Wild after his Spartans season is over, either reporting to the NHL club or AHL Iowa. And, after the Quinn Hughes blockbuster, he is also among the top trade chips Minnesota has ahead of the March 6 trade deadline.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s going to be a good pro,\u201d said former NHLer Ben Clymer, a college hockey analyst for Big Ten Network. \u201cHe\u2019s going to be a mainstay in the NHL for a long time. You think of the size and the smarts. He skates well. He\u2019s responsible. He has the ability to where he could, depending on how his offense is going, can spot in on the (second or third line). He has the 200-foot nature to his game. He feels more complete this year.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s quite the turnaround. Two years ago, Stramel had lost his identity<\/a>, and confidence, at Wisconsin. He wasn\u2019t moving his feet. There was a coaching change between his freshman and sophomore year, with Tony Granato \u2014 who recruited Stramel \u2014 replaced by Mike Hastings. Stramel said he tried to do too much, picked up bad habits and was buried in the lineup.<\/p>\n The decision to transfer to Michigan State was a no-brainer for him, allowing him to reunite with Nightingale, his former U.S. National Team Development Program coach. Nightingale told Stramel to have a \u201cchip on your shoulder.\u201d And get his swagger back. \u201cI should leave the rink saying you\u2019re the best guy on the ice,\u201d he told him.<\/p>\n And more often than not this season, Stramel has.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t like a snap of the finger. It took work. When Stramel was at the U.S. NTDP, Nightingale noted that he was in great shape \u2014 able to play a power forward\u2019s game. Stramel needed to get back to that. Thanks to time with director of athletic performance Will Morlock at Michigan State, Stramel said he\u2019s now in the best shape of his life.<\/p>\n \u201cI could get back to the player I was (at the program),\u201d he said. \u201cI need to use my size and play to my strengths. I feel like I\u2019ve been able to do that every single night.<\/p>\n \u201cConfidence is everything.\u201d<\/p>\n \ud83d\udea8Fellowship of the Rink Ep43\ud83d\udea8 \ud83d\udcfd\ufe0fCharlie Stramel on being drafted by #mnwild<\/a> <\/p>\n \ud83c\udfafStramel’s self-eval \u2014 Fellowship of the Rink (@FOTRshow) December 11, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n A prime role is helping, too. Last season, Stramel scored nine goals and 27 points playing on a top line with Hobey Baker Award-winner Isaac Howard (26 goals, 52 points). This season, he\u2019s with Martone, who\u2019s at 14 goals and 27 points as a freshman.<\/p>\n One could argue that Stramel has been boosted by playing with those two top prospects. But as Nightingale put it, \u201cIt\u2019s more of the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou look at how Ike won the Hobey last year, and you look at how Porter has transitioned to college \u2014 probably as good a freshman as there is in college hockey, right? Nightingale said. \u201cThe common denominator was Charlie and Daniel Russell.\u201d<\/p>\n Martone said he\u2019s leaned a lot on Stramel. Whatever adversity he\u2019s gone through as a freshman, his senior linemate has been through it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way he conducts himself around the rink, that\u2019s someone who I want to be,\u201d Martone said. \u201cThe way he takes care of his body, the way he plays, that powerful game. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve looked at doing this year, and it\u2019s been really good for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Martone also appreciates that even when Stramel doesn\u2019t get points, he\u2019s still valuable. He\u2019s making plays on the forecheck or backcheck. He\u2019s winning battles.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got tremendous skill, he\u2019s got a great hockey mind and he can finish,\u201d Martone said. \u201cBut if he\u2019s not scoring, he\u2019s always doing other things, so he\u2019ll always be valuable in different ways. That\u2019s something you need to have on a winning team.\u201d<\/p>\n Rob Woodward, a former Michigan State player who is now the team\u2019s radio color analyst, said some of Stramel\u2019s best games came during the Great Lakes Invitational tournament over the holidays, when Martone was playing for Team USA at World Juniors. Woodward has been struck by the attitude in Stramel\u2019s game, the assertiveness. Whether he\u2019s on the forecheck or in the faceoff circle, he doesn\u2019t wait for the game to happen to him,<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about his presence,\u201d said Brad Bombardir, the Wild\u2019s director of player development. \u201cHe really has a presence and impact on the games. Yes, he\u2019s creating some offense and is able to do that. He\u2019s been physically dominant.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the Alpha of that team. You wouldn\u2019t be able to say that going back two years.\u201d<\/p>\n Stramel said the Wild development staff has had a significant presence in his life as he\u2019s made these strides, both at his games and chats over the phone. Bombardir has been a part of that, of course, as has Aaron Bogosian<\/a>, the team\u2019s human performance specialist. There\u2019s a level of maturity and perspective they\u2019ve seen in Stramel, who lost his father in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n Stramel\u2019s parents, David and Gretchen, used to take him to Wild games as a kid, as he grew up in Rosemount just south of the Twin Cities. His favorite player was Zach Parise. When Stramel attended a home Wild game several weeks ago, it hit him differently, being so close to his dream.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re super fun to watch,\u201d Stramel said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m looking forward to hopefully getting the opportunity to throw that jersey on.\u201d<\/p>\n Nightingale feels Stramel is ready for the next step. Of course, they all hope a Frozen Four run comes before that. But you can tell from how the Spartans trust Stramel in all situations, from the power play to late-game defensive-zone draws, that Nightingale sees an NHLer in him.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom who we\u2019ve played, we\u2019re here in January, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen a more pro-ready player,\u201d Nightingale said. \u201cI\u2019ve had multiple people say that to me, too. It\u2019s because he\u2019s doing it. Not that he\u2019s perfect. He\u2019s still got stuff to work on. But, I mean, I definitely think he\u2019s ready. He can help a good team win.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a long way from where he was at with Wisconsin. In retrospect, the Badgers clearly just weren\u2019t the right fit, though Nightingale said Stramel has never said a bad thing about any place he\u2019s been.<\/p>\n \u201cHe did an unreal job of looking in the mirror \u2014 \u2018I\u2019ve got to be better,’\u201d Nightingale said. \u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018This is on me, I\u2019ve got to get there.’\u201d<\/p>\n Stramel\u2019s performance against the Badgers had to be cathartic. The boos? He had heard them before, so they didn\u2019t faze him. And there were no hard feelings on the other side. Ben Dexheimer, the Badgers\u2019 senior captain, was Stramel\u2019s roommate for his two years in Madison. He said it was \u201cpretty emotional\u201d when Stramel told the team he was transferring, but \u201cit truly was the best thing for him.\u201d<\/p>\n The fact that Stramel has taken off since?<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the least surprising thing ever,\u201d Dexheimer said. \u201cHe had all the tools. It was just about when he found the time to use them, and he\u2019s doing it right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Dexheimer, who\u2019s from Edina, Minn., feels Stramel has the frame and the brain to play in the NHL.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope I can be there for his first one,\u201d Dexheimer said. \u201cBecause he\u2019s going to do amazing there. And the fans will love him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f @JoeSmithNHL<\/a>
YouTube: https:\/\/t.co\/nYaXmli1rk<\/a>
Podcast: https:\/\/t.co\/GczBQSYjnA<\/a><\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfafPlaying Gophers at Mariucci this weekend
\ud83c\udfafNightingale’s impact
\ud83c\udfafWisconsin & transfer portal pic.twitter.com\/5G3lday9lL<\/a><\/p>\n