Big Ten Hockey Tournament Preview

Audio/Story posted March 1, 2018 in CommRadio, Sports by Sports Staff

Ben Jenkins, Eric Olson and Joe Murphy preview the Big Ten Tournament beginning this weekend: 

 

 

The Big Ten regular season came to an end last weekend, and it came with some surprises, such as a Penn State sweep of Minnesota and a subsequent trading of places with them in the standings. However, we now enter the most exciting part of the season with the Big Ten Tournament.

No. 1 overall seed Notre Dame has a will have a bye this weekend. However, the remaining six teams will play quarterfinal matchups, which actually look different from years’ past.

This year, the higher-seeded team will host its opponent, which is different from years past like last year when it was hosted at a neutral site like Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. Without further undue let’s break down the first round:

 

The Quarterfinal matchups take place this weekend and they will be a best-of-three series.

First, No. 2 seed Ohio State will host No. 7 Michigan State. Looking at the overall season series, the Buckeyes were 3-1 against the Spartans. However, the Spartans are also having a down year. However, Michigan State has kicked it up a notch in the latter stages of the season, taking a game from teams like Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin.

Ohio State, though, has been on fire majority of the season, and they pretty much have had the second seed locked since early on.

Prediction: Ohio State wins series 2-1

 

The No. 3 seed Michigan Wolverines will host the No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers in another interesting matchup. Looking at the overall season series, it was a 2-2 split. Wisconsin is having a down year and is going into this series with a four-game losing streak. That, however, may make Wisconsin a little bit hungrier for a battle. Therefore, there is a chance the upset will occur.

Prediction: Wisconsin wins series 2-1

 

The No. 4 Penn State Nittany Lions will host the No. 5 Minnesota Golden Gophers in what is for sure to be a huge series. Last weekend, Penn State hosted these same Gophers in a weekend series at Pegula that saw the Nittany Lions sweep the series and switch spots with the Gophers.

With last weekend’s victory sweep, Penn State has a ton of confidence going in. As a matter of fact, they entered the Big Ten tournament last year as the No. 4 seed. Penn State won the season series against the Gophers 3-1.

Prediction: Penn State wins series 2-0

 

 

Tom Johnston is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email taj5211@psu.edu.

About the Contributors

Eric Ohlson's photo

Eric Ohlson

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

Eric Ohlson is a member of ComRadio’s sports and production staffs. He is majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Kinesiology and is a member of the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism. Eric has done play-by-play for Penn State lacrosse, volleyball, softball, soccer and hockey, and has served as a producer for volleyball and hockey. A big hockey fan, Eric is the current host of ComRadio’s NHL talk show, “The Sin Bin.” One day, Eric hopes to being doing radio or TV play-by-play for lacrosse, soccer and hockey. Outside of ComRadio, Eric is the VP of the Hands For Heroes Club and spent two years in Army ROTC. He can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Joe Esquivel-Murphy's photo

Joe Esquivel-Murphy

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

Joe Esquivel-Murphy is a senior from Bay Head, NJ, majoring in broadcast journalism and Spanish. He has done play-by-play and beat writes for almost all the sports from CommRadio.  His two talk shows, Murph’s Lounge and Road to Russia, covered various different topics as the later previewed the qualification process to the World Cup with the former discussing relevant sports events. Joe also had an internship for Shore Sports Network (an affiliate of Town Square Media) before his junior year. To contact Joe, email him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Ben Jenkins's photo

Ben Jenkins

Junior / Broadcast Journalism

Ben Jenkins is a member of the ComRadio sports staff covering football, basketball, soccer, lacrosse and hockey during his time on campus. He is a co-host of The Ben and Ben Show, and has also been a part of BTN Student U for wrestling. One day, Ben would like to call play-by-play for college football or cover auto racing. Ben can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Tom Johnston's photo

Tom Johnston

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

Tom Johnston is currently a fifth-year senior from Pittsburgh, PA. Currently, Tom host Talk Time with Tom on PSU’s Comm Radio. Furthermore, Tom also does play-by-play, and contributes articles for the web-based radio station. Additionally, Tom is a member of the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism and a member of PSN-TV’s Penn State Sports Night. Tom has the aspiration of becoming a play-by-play broadcaster in college or professional sports or a sports anchor back in Pittsburgh.