The Big Ten Hockey regular season wrapped up with some fantastic games this weekend. There were some home-ice spots up for grabs and nobody was going down without a fight. The tournament is set and the matchups are as follows.
1. Ohio State, BYE until semifinals
2. Notre Dame hosting 7. Michigan State
3. Minnesota hosting 6. Michigan
4. Penn State hosting 5. Wisconsin
The quarterfinal is a best two of three with all three games played at the host team’s arena. Wisconsin’s monumental sweep of Michigan moved them into fifth, so Michigan will be heading to Minnesota when it looked like they had a good chance to get home ice for themselves.
Michigan State split with Ohio State, but needed both wins and some help from Michigan to escape from the basement. Notre Dame and Penn State split.
Minnesota was the only team out of conference action but they had what I think was the most impressive performance of the weekend; a two-game sweep of twelfth-ranked Arizona State. They held onto their home ice which will come in handy against a very good, but inconsistent, Michigan team.
Penn State is the highest scoring team in college hockey and they’ll have a go with Wisconsin in what could be the most exciting matchup of the quarterfinals.
The conference tournament isn’t until next weekend so we’ve got some time to think about those matchups. For now, let’s take a look at the season we just had with a grade for each team.
Ohio State, A
The Buckeyes ran away with the conference. They were flat out the best team in the conference and they’re the only Big Ten team that is all but guaranteed a berth in the NCAA tournament.
Notre Dame, B
For as much talent as the Irish have, I was pretty underwhelmed by them this season. They still managed to take second in the conference and if they get in the tournament, they’ll be a tough opponent no matter who they play.
Minnesota, B-
I was close to a C+ for these guys given some of their non-conference losses, but their weekend sweep of the Sun Devils gave em a bump up. They’re a good hockey team that can play with anyone in the country when they’re on their game. The issue is, they don’t always play as well as they’re capable of.
Penn State, B-
Unlike Minnesota, Penn State played very well out of conference. Their only non-conference loss was to Arizona State in OT and I can forgive that. They swept Clarkson and Niagara and beat Princeton once and tied them once. They had a losing conference record but still were able to secure home-ice.
Wisconsin, C
The Badgers had an up and down year. They spent most of the season toward the bottom of the Big Ten standings after a strong start to the season. Their sweep of Boston College to start the season lost a lot of luster as BC fumbled around their schedule. The sweep over Michigan this weekend put them squarely in fifth place with a trip to Penn State, who I think is the better team than Minnesota.
Michigan, C
It feels like Michigan split nearly every series they played. Their only sweep came over Michigan State a little less than a month ago. Their most recent weekend saw them fall from contention for home-ice to a sixth-place finish. Josh Norris got injured a few weeks ago and the Wolverines have really missed him. Starting with their January 11th series against Ohio State, they split every series they played. They’ll have to be more consistent if they want to win the Big Ten tournament. They have the talent to do it.
Michigan State, C-
The Spartans started their season just fine. They split with a good Northern Michigan squad and swept top-ten Cornell on the road. They followed that up by losing six of their next seven games. Ouch. They never recovered from that early slump. But, they looked much better down the stretch than they have in previous years. They were only swept once (an early February series with Michigan) in regulation and hung in tough against some of the Big Ten’s best. There can be no moral victories moving forward. The Spartans need to win more of these close games.
