Michigan State Hockey Falls in the Polls
The Michigan State Spartans are no longer the No. 1 team in College Hockey after a disappointing weekend series against Penn State.
The Spartans fell to No. 3 in the USCHO.com Poll and the USA Hockey Poll. Boston College leaped to No. 1 and the Minnesota Golden Gophers rose to No. 2 ahead of Michigan State.
The Gophers also gained control of the Big Ten standings after sweeping the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes. The Spartans had a four-point lead entering the weekend, but after only taking home one point, Minnesota regained the lead by two points.
The Spartans remained as the No. 2 team in the PairWise Rankings, the power rankings system used to decide NCAA Tournament seeding. If Michigan State stays at No. 2 in PairWise, it will be the one seed of the Toledo region, the closest regional site to East Lansing.
Michigan State can still win the Big Ten regular-season title and earn a bye in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. First, the Spartans need two wins over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the conference's worst team, in South Bend this weekend.
The Spartans dominated the first series of the season, outscoring the Irish, 12-6, at Munn Ice Arena in November. Notre Dame has only won four conference games this season, meaning Michigan State needs to take advantage of a struggling team that doesn’t have much to play for in the final weekend.
Then, the Spartans need Penn State, which is 9-1-1 in its last 11 games, to continue its hot streak. Right now, the Nittany Lions remain on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament, holding the No. 15 spot in the PairWise Rankings.
Penn State will have another opportunity to collect quality wins to boost their resume as they host Minnesota in Happy Valley for a two-game series to close the regular season.
Even though the Nittany Lions spoiled the Spartans' Senior Night, they can still help out Michigan State. If Penn State can salvage two or more points in its series against Minnesota, Michigan State can still be co-champions or outright champions of the Big Ten.
The puck drop for the first game of Michigan State vs. Notre Dame is set for 7 p.m. on Friday.
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