The players don’t remember when it started. For them, it has always been there.

Head coach Mike Forbes isn’t sure either, despite being with the Grand Valley State University men’s club hockey team since 2007, but one thing is sure: when the Lakers play Michigan State University, it’s not just another hockey game.

GVSU (15-6-1) has played MSU 13 times since the 2008-2009 season. Neither team has been able to gain much separation from the other, as they stand deadlocked at 6-6-1 over that span.

The similarities don’t end there.

As two of the premier ACHA Division II teams in the state, GVSU and MSU consistently have an ideal stage to showcase their rivalry. In 2010-2011, the Lakers took on the Spartans in the Division II National Championship. GVSU cruised to victory with an impressive offensive output, winning the championship handily 6-1.

In 2012-2013, it was the Spartans’ turn to ruin GVSU’s title hopes, toppling the Lakers 6-3 in the second national championship meeting between the teams in three years.

While many players get wrapped up in the cloud of enmity shrouding the series, Forbes sees it as just another opportunity to gain ground in the standings and gauge his team’s play.

“The MSU series is a pretty strong barometer for where we are as a team,” he said. “In the past few years we’ve played a little tentatively in their building. We’re playing to lose sometimes. We just have to get ourselves into a particular mindset.”

GVSU will host the Spartans on Friday night before traveling to East Lansing for an encore on Saturday in the first two games of the series since last year’s championship bout.

“Losing a championship game is something that you can never stop thinking about — it’s always in the back of your head,” senior goalie Scott Teifenthal said. “Being that close to reaching your ultimate goal for a hockey season and not getting the job done is a hard reality to deal with.

“To say that the finals loss last year was a big motivator to come back better and stronger this year would be an understatement.”

GVSU has done just that. Thanks to the line-shuffling courtesy of Forbes and some swift adaptation by the Laker forwards, the team heads into its rivalry weekend with 11 wins in their last 13 games.

The rejuvenated offense is averaging 5.2 goals per game over that stretch, owed largely to significant production from all four forward lines.

MSU (7-15) may be having an uncharacteristically disappointing year in the standings, but the Lakers won’t plan on taking it lightly.

They also won’t plan on taking as many penalties as they did in the title game.

The penalty box proved to be a coffin for GVSU in the 6-3 championship defeat. The Laker penalty kill struggled to slow down MSU’s impressive powerplay, which scored four goals in the game.

“Staying out of the box and walking away from costly situations will be key,” senior co-captain Nick Heinrich said. “In every game that we have won, there have been less than 12 penalties in the game.

“We’ve said on multiple occasions this season that the only team that has beat us is ourselves. We haven’t been dominated in a game so far.”

With any good rivalry comes an increased aura of intensity, which often leads to rising emotions and ill-tempered penalties. GVSU will have to avoid both this weekend.

The rivals will clash at the Georgetown Ice Arena on Friday at 9 p.m. before the Saturday game in East Lansing, Mich.