Around the Big Ten (Hockey): November 11
Around The Big Ten: Hockey
Big Ten Play has officially gotten underway for all seven participating schools and the action thus far has been electric.
Heavyweights No. 2 Michigan and No. 6 Minnesota have shown that they can bleed while teams that were slept on in the preseason coaches poll are outperforming expectations.
Beginning in Columbus, the Ohio State Buckeyes are now ranked and 3-1 in Big Ten play thanks to their recent sweep over Penn State. Ohio State trailed 1-0 early in both contests but battled back with remarkable third-period performance.
In game one, the Buckeyes rattled off five unanswered goals including three in the third period to secure a 5-2 victory. In game two Ohio State scored all four goals unanswered and in the third period.
Goaltender Jakub Dobes was named Big Ten second star of the week after stopping 62 of 65 Nittany Lion shots throughout the series. This is the second time this season that Dobes has been given a weekly honor.
Up next the No. 18 Buckeyes face their biggest test yet when they will travel to Minneapolis to take on No. 6 Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers were able to walk out of Madison with a split after a 4-1 win in game two of the series.
The Badgers were able to give Minnesota some trouble especially Brock Caulfield, brother to last year's Hobey Baker Award recipient Cole Caulfield.
Brock Caulfield potted two goals in Wisconsin’s comeback overtime win over Minnesota including the game-tying and game-winning goals.
Wisconsin will try and get their Big Ten record over the .500 mark when they go on the road to battle the Notre Dame fighting Irish.
Notre Dame recently played an out-of-conference series against Holy Cross and handled business.
The Fighting Irish game one by a score of 5-2 and game two 4-1. The team played especially well on the penalty kill going 6/6 against the Crusaders’ power play.
However, Notre Dame went 0/8 throughout the series when they had the man advantage and will try to improve on that aspect of special teams when they host the Badgers in their next series.
Michigan took care of in-state rival Michigan State in a home and home series that saw the Wolverines outscoring the Spartans 10-4.
Wolverine Star and number two overall draft choice in the most recent NHL draft Matty Beniers earned himself Big Ten First Star of the week with four goals throughout the series.
Despite losing game two by a lone goal, the Spartans never led in the two contests and were mostly dominated by an extremely talented Michigan squad.
Michigan State will take on Ferris State in another home and home series while Michigan heads to Happy Valley to battle the Nittany Lions.
After being on top of the world and defeating North Dakota, the Nittany Lions were ranked and feeling good. The joy did not last long as Penn State was swept by rival Ohio State on the road.
It does not get any easier for the Nittany Lions as they host the No. 2 team in the country in the Wolverines.
Maclain Young is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email macyoung21@gmail.com.
