Around the Big Ten hockey: Week 7
Over a month of the college hockey season has passed, and the Big Ten is still making its mark
in the USCHO rankings. After this weekend, four of the seven teams are ranked in the polls,
three of which are in the top 10. Let’s take a look at what happened around the Big Ten this past
weekend, and move forward to upcoming matchups.
The No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-4-1, 2-2) went to the road to face the struggling
Michigan State Spartans (4-4). The Fighting Irish defense and goaltending was the difference in
this series against the Spartans.
Goaltender Cale Morris led the way with 27 saves and only allowed one goal passed him.
Freshman forward Cam Burke scored his first goal of the season in the second period, which
ultimately ended up being the game winner for the Fighting Irish. Michigan State made a small
comeback in the third period when Patrick Khodorenko scored, but Notre Dame got the win 3-1.
In game two, Khodorenko got the scoring going in the second period to take a 1-0 lead for the
Spartans. However, Notre Dame scored two unanswered goals later in the period that ultimately
turned out to be the difference.
Cal Burke got the game winner on the power play for his seventh goal of the season, and the Fighting
Irish got the 2-1 win and the sweep.
Notre Dame moved to 7-4-1 (4-2) on the season, stayed at No. 8 in the polls and play a nonconference matchup against Northern Michigan next Tuesday. As for Michigan State, they move to 4-6 (0-2) and play at Minnesota this weekend.
The No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes (6-3-1, 1-1) continued to stay red hot against the Wisconsin Badgers
(5-5, 1-1) this past weekend. The Buckeyes defense continued to play at an elite level and
dominated in game one.
Tanner Laczynski and Mason Jobst both recorded goals on the power play en route to a 4-0
shutout win. Wisconsin had opportunities in this game, but went 0-6 on the power play. Sean
Romeo notched his third consecutive shutout this season with a perfect 32 for 32 on saves.
In Saturday’s game, the Buckeyes kept their foot on the gas by getting up 3-0 after two periods.
Laczynski had two assists in the game while Jobst added one goal. Wisconsin finally got a
goal on the power play by Sean Dhooghe in the third period, but it wasn’t enough as the
Buckeyes won the game 3-1 and got the sweep.
Ohio State moves to 8-3-1 (3-1) on the season and is on a defensive streak of giving up only
four goals in the last seven games. The Buckeyes moved up a notch to No. 5 in the USCHO
rankings, and host Penn State this weekend for a huge series as the best offense in College
Hockey comes to Columbus to challenge the Buckeye defense. Wisconsin moves to 5-7 (1-3) and
hit the road to play Michigan this weekend.
The No. 19 Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-4-1) had a nonconference series matchup vs. St.
Lawrence (1-8) at home this past weekend. St. Lawrence got up 3-1 late in the second period
after David Jankowski’s powerplay goal, but could not hold on to the lead. Minnesota
stormed right back with two unanswered goals by Tyler Nanne and Jack Sadek to force overtime.
In the overtime, Michael Ederer got the game winner for St. Lawrence at 3:19 and stole the first
game 4-3.
After Friday’s bad loss, the Golden Gophers bounced back with a 3-0 shutout win. Nathan Burke
stole the show for Minnesota in this one with his first two goals of the season. Minnesota outshot
St. Lawrence 31-12 and pretty much dominated from start to finish.
After the split, the Golden Gophers move to 3-5-1 (1-1) on the season, and drop out of the
USCHO polls. Minnesota plays Michigan State this weekend at home, which will be a matchup between two teams that
desperately need to get their seasons back together.
The most entertaining series in the Big Ten had to be No. 5 Penn State (7-1) vs. No. 16 Michigan
(5-4). After the Nittany Lions extended the lead to 4-2 following a Liam Folkes goal in the
second period of the first game Friday night, the Wolverines battled back in the final period.
Michigan scored four unanswered goals in the third period behind the great passing of Will
Lockwood, who had three assists, and Jake Slaker, who had two goals. Michigan went on to win
6-4, and handed the Nittany Lions their second loss of the season.
Saturday’s game picked up right where it left off. Nittany Lions star forward Evan Barratt had a hat
trick by the second period, and again Penn State had a 4-2 lead after two periods. They extended
the lead to 5-3 on a highlight reel goal by Nate Sucese, and pushed the lead to 6-4 later in the
period on a goal by Brandon Biro. Michigan battled back again to tie the game 6-6 and force
overtime with two goals in the final four minutes. Garrett Van Wyhe and Josh Norris got the
goals for Michigan, as the Wolverines scored four goals in the third period for the second straight
night. However, only six seconds into overtime, Sam Sternschein got the game winning goal for
Penn State for the 7-6 win. Penn State was exposed defensively in the third period last weekend
and if that doesn’t change, it could be a problem moving forward.
After the split Michigan moves to 6-5 (2-2) on the season and they stayed at No. 16 in the USCHO polls. As mentioned earlier, Michigan will host Wisconsin this weekend. As for the Nittany Lions, they move to 9-2, 1-1 on the season while dropping one spot to No. 6 in the polls. They will go on the road for their first legitimate road series of the season against Ohio State in the marquee matchup in College Hockey this weekend between the fifth and sixth ranked teams in the nation.
Matthew McClure is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email
mcm5964@psu.edu.
