Around the Big Ten (Hockey): December 8

Story posted December 8, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Logan Bourandas

The Big Ten conference continues to be a dog fight as three teams remain ranked inside the top ten while Ohio State also finds itself in the rankings at No. 17.

Remaining at the top of the standings are the Michigan Wolverines who currently have 20 points on the season. The No. 3 Wolverines have won three of their last four games which includes last weekend's split against No. 10 Minnesota.

Minnesota opened up the series with an impressive 5-1 win over the Wolverines. Freshman forward Chaz Lucius made an early impact on the game with two goals in the first period alone as he boosted his goal total to five on the season.

The Wolverines quickly rebounded, however with a 6-2 win the next day.

Three goals were scored by Michigan in both the first and second period and fifth-year forward Michael Pastujov recorded a hat trick in the win. Pastujov now has picked up five goals in as many games this season.

Michigan will now hit the road this weekend as it faces off against Ohio State while Minnesota won’t take the ice until next month as it travels to Michigan State with the series starting on Jan. 7.

Minnesota sits just one point behind Michigan as it has 19 on the season.

Moving further down the standings, the Ohio State Buckeyes are currently in third place with 15 points as they are coming off a series split against Notre Dame.

The Buckeyes started off hot with a 4-2 win against the Fighting Irish with two of the four goals coming on the power play.

Going for the sweep however, the Buckeyes were unable to convert as they fell 5-1 against Notre Dame the next day.

In contrast to the day before it was the Fighting Irish who scored two power play goals including one from Ryder Rolston who lit the lamp for the second time in the series.

While the Buckeyes will face Michigan next week, the Fighting Irish will stay at home to take on Michigan State this weekend.

Those same Spartans traveled to Happy Valley to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in another series which ended in a split.

Penn State opened up the series with a much needed 4-2 win as two power play goals from Connor MacEachern and Tyler Gratton in the third period sealed the deal.

The Spartans rebounded the next day with a 4-3 win where the third period once again decided things.

With both teams tied at two, the Spartans were able to get back to back goals from Mitchell Lewandowski on the power play and Kristof Papp sealed the deal.


Logan Bourandas is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.