Around the Big Ten Hockey: Week 10
Host Andre Magaro, alongside Logan Bourandas, Kyle Cannillo and Jordan Mansberger, deliver you this week's biggest headlines in the Big Ten hockey conference.
The Big Ten conference as a whole took a pretty big hit last week in terms of reputation around the rest of the country. At the start of the season, many teams in the conference looked to have a hot start. However, after a rough couple of weeks, both Wisconsin and Notre Dame have taken a big hit. Only two teams in the Big Ten still appear to be going strong, and they even switched places with each other in the rankings.
Now the highest-ranked team in the Big Ten, the Ohio State Buckeyes land at No. 6 after swapping places with Penn State. The Buckeyes escaped a tight series against a Minnesota squad ranked fifth in the Big Ten. Both games in the series went to overtime with Ohio State winning the first game 3-2, while the second game resulted in a tie. Ohio State will go into a long break, not returning until Dec. 27 for non-conference play against Colgate.
Moving into second place in the Big Ten are the Penn State Nittany Lions. Although the Nittany Lions rank a spot below Ohio State at No. 7, they are two points ahead of the Buckeyes in the Big Ten standings. Penn State is coming off a rather disappointing series against Michigan which ended in a split. Penn State lost the first game 4-1 and won the second game 3-1. Penn State has now split in its last three series, including two against Big Ten opponents. The Nittany Lions will take on a struggling Notre Dame squad this weekend.
Still in third but now out of the top 10 are the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. After starting out the season by not losing a game in their first eight games, the Fighting Irish have now lost their last five games. Notre Dame hasn’t won in the month of December. Its last series ended in a sweep to No. 5 Boston College. The Fighting Irish were dominated in the series, only scoring one goal and allowing 10 throughout the two-game set. Notre Dame will host an important series to try and get back on track this weekend against Penn State.
Now cracking the top 20 for the first time this season are the Michigan State Spartans. Although they’re only 8-7-1 on the season, the Spartans are currently tied for second in the Big Ten with Ohio State, allowing them to move to No. 18 in the rankings. Michigan State is coming off a sweep of the now-unranked Wisconsin Badgers. The Spartans won the first game 3-0 and won again in the second game in overtime 5-4. The Spartans will take a break from Big Ten play as they take on No. 16 Arizona State this weekend.
Elsewhere around the Big Ten, the Wisconsin Badgers, which got swept by Michigan State last week, will be off for a whole month and won’t play again until Jan. 10, when they take on Ohio State. Minnesota will also have a long break, not playing until Dec. 28, when they will host Bemidji State. Finally, the Michigan Wolverines, which are coming off an impressive split against Penn State, will not play until Dec. 30 against Ferris State.
Logan Bourandas is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.