Around the Big Ten Hockey: Week 13
Ben Jenkins, Jason Marcus and Ben Ferree preview this week's Big Ten hockey action:
The final weeks of the Big Ten hockey season are coming upon us and as we are near approaching the Big Ten conference tournament the seeds are starting to land as Notre Dame looks to have No. 1 locked up.
No. 2 overall ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish have been stellar thus far and look to continue to push for the No.1 seed in the Big Ten tournament which they will likely land. Last weekend, the Irish had quite the matchup with a weekend series with the No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes. Furthermore, the Irish and Buckeyes split last weekends series with the Irish taking game one 2-1 and Ohio State taking the latter game 5-1.
This weekend, the Irish will have a home and home with No. 15 Michigan Wolverines. The first game will be played at Notre Dame and the latter in Ann Arbor. Currently, Notre has an overall record of 22-6-2 and 16-3-1 in the Big Ten and currently stand in first in the Big Ten. Both teams had a series similar to this upcoming one where the Irish took both games.
No. 6 Ohio State sits second in the conference standings. Last weekend, they faced Notre Dame and split the series, the Buckeyes managed to hand the Irish only their third loss in conference play thus far.
This weekend, the Buckeyes will travel to No. 9 Minnesota Golden Gophers for a showdown that should be a great one. Ohio State currently has an overall of 19-7-4 and 12-7-1 in Big Ten play.
No. 15 Michigan stands near the middle of the conference standings currently. Last weekend, the Wolverines had a home and home series with their rivals the Michigan State Spartans. The first game ended in a tie, but Michigan won in a shootout and the latter game Michigan won 3-2.
This weekend, the Wolverines will have another home and home but with the Irish. Michigan has an overall record of 14-13-3 and 9-10-3 in Big Ten play.
No. 9 Minnesota Golden Gophers stand in the middle of the entire Big Ten conference standings. Last weekend, they traveled to No. 20 Wisconsin for a weekend series and took both games from the Badgers 4-2 and 7-1.
This weekend, the Gophers return home for a weekend series with No. 6 Ohio State. The Gophers have an overall record of 18-13-1 and 9-10-1 in conference play.
Coming off of a bye week, No. 17 Penn State should feel refreshed and ready to go. The Nittany lions currently have a seven-game losing streak that they would like to throw behind them. This weekend, they will face Michigan State in East Lansing. The Nittany Lions are 13-12-5 overall, and 6-9-5 in Big Ten play. Michigan State is coming off two loses and is 10-17-2 overall and 4-13-2 in Big Ten.
No. 20 Wisconsin has a bye week this weekend. Their record is 14-15-3 and 8-11-2-1 in Big Ten. When they return they will face Ohio State on the road.
Tom Johnston is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email taj5211@psu.edu.