MSU Hockey on Bye as Big Ten Tournament Begins
Michigan State hockey earned a bye for the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament after winning a co-share of the regular-season title.
This is the second consecutive season the Spartans haven’t needed to play in the quarterfinals. Last season, Adam Nightingale’s squad swept the regular season and the conference tournament for the first time in program history.
The quarterfinals are a best-of-three series hosted at the higher seed’s home arena. The Spartans will have the weekend to rest before facing the highest remaining seed in the semifinals at Munn Ice Arena.
The most lopsided matchup is Minnesota hosting Notre Dame in the 2-seed against the 7-seed matchup. The Gophers are the No. 3 ranked team in the country, while the Fighting Irish have struggled all season.
Expect Minnesota to take care of business easily on its home ice. The Gophers are 9-2-1 at home during conference play. While Notre Dame is 2-10 on the road during Big Ten play this season.
The Ohio State Buckeyes, with 42 points, took home the bronze during conference play and will host the Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers had a disappointing season, coming in sixth place.
Wisconsin is far outside the bubble for the NCAA Tournament when it comes to PairWise rankings. To qualify, it would need a miraculous run in the Big Ten Tournament.
Ohio State dominated the regular season battle against Wisconsin, taking 11 of the possible 12 points in the standings. The Buckeyes' defense was the key in their past contests, holding the Badgers to one goal in every game.
The most competitive matchup of the quarterfinals is by far Michigan against Penn State.
The Nittany Lions had a disappointing start to the season but turned around their play late in the season. Beating Michigan State and Minnesota in back-to-back weekends caused chaos at the top of the conference standings and also vaulted Penn State back into the NCAA Tournament conversation.
This series is practically an automatic qualifier for the tournament. The winner will solidify its spot in the top 16.
Expect this series to be a high-scoring affair. The Wolverines beat the Nittany Lions, 10-6, earlier in the season and nine goals is the lowest amount scored in any of their four meetings in the regular season.
If there are no upsets, there will be a rematch of the 2024 championship game between Michigan and Michigan State in the semifinals, in a single-elimination game on March 15.
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