Around the Big Ten: Week 22 (Hockey)
Another exciting weekend of Big Ten hockey is on tap with three series coming up.
Among the teams who will not be playing are the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The team remains in first place in the conference after sweeping Michigan State.
The Golden Gophers are ranked No. 4 in the country and hold a four point lead in the conference over second place Wisconsin. The team will not play this week as they were supposed to take on Penn State who is still on its COVID-19 shutdown.
The Wisconsin Badgers will be playing this week, however, as they take on Ohio State.
The Badgers are ranked one spot behind Minnesota at No. 5 in the country as well as the Big Ten standings. They are coming off a series against Notre Dame where they won game one 4-2.
The Irish started the game scoring the first two goals before the Badgers scored two themselves in the second and third periods. This was capped off by two goals from Linus Weissbach.
Game two ended in a 5-5 tie. Wisconsin was up 3-1 at the end of the second period before a wild third saw six combined goals including one from Wisconsin’s Ty Pelton-Byce late to tie the game.
Meanwhile for Ohio State, the Buckeyes are coming off of a split against Michigan where they barely won game one 3-2 before getting smoked in the second game 6-0.
Game one saw the Buckeyes take a 2-1 lead in the first period and they would never look back as the Wolverines would score just one more goal in the remaining two periods. The Buckeyes are still in sixth place in the conference standings with 19 points.
This weekend, we’ll also see Notre Dame take on Michigan State.
The Irish, as mentioned before couldn’t escape with a win in their last series against Wisconsin. They had a golden opportunity in game two of the series.
Alex Steeves scored two goals in the third period but the comeback would fall short as with 19:33 played in the third period, Wisconsin would tie the score. The Irish are currently tied for third place in the conference with Michigan.
Meanwhile, Michigan State suffered a sweep at the hands of Minnesota.
In game one, the Golden Gophers took a 3-0 lead early in the second period which the Spartans would never recover from. Despite a shorthanded goal from Tommy Apap, the Golden Gophers soared to a 4-2 win. Game two wasn’t much better, as Minnesota scored the first five goals and it wasn’t until a Gianluca Esteves goal late in the third when the Spartans got on the board.
The final series sees Michigan take on Arizona State.
The Wolverines lost game one against Ohio State last weekend before routing the Buckeyes in game two in a 6-0 victory. Thomas Bordeleau scored two in the game as the Wolverines dominated the shot column 45-18.
Arizona State will come into the matchup after having the weekend off. Their last series was a split against Michigan State.
Logan Bourandas is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.
