MSU Hockey Learns Opponent in Big Ten Tournament Semifinal

The Big Ten regular season champs now know who they are playing next.

Wednesday marked the first round of this year's Big Ten Tournament for hockey, but top-seeded Michigan State got to sit back and relax as the other six teams in the conference all played, with three teams getting the right to join the Spartans in the semifinal round on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, BTN).

Michigan State's head coach Adam Nightingale looks on during the third period in the game against Ohio State on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, at Munn Arena in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

In years past, the first round was normally a best-of-three series that took up an entire weekend, while the semifinals and the final were just one game. The conference opted to shorten the tourney this year and made the whole thing single-elimination this season.

MSU knew that it would be getting the team with the worst seed remaining in the semifinal, another benefit of getting the No. 1 seed. That ended up being fifth-seeded Ohio State after the Buckeyes crushed No. 4 seed Wisconsin in Madison, 7-1. Second-seeded Michigan beat last-place Notre Dame, 6-1, and No. 3 seed Penn State took down No. 6 seed Minnesota, 6-2.

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Going off head-to-head results, this is actually a rather difficult draw for the Spartans. Michigan State ended up going just 1-2-1 against Ohio State during the regular season.

The Buckeyes were the last team MSU faced at Munn Ice Arena, too. Game 1 on Feb. 27 was dominated by the visiting team, as OSU took that one, 5-1. The second game was much closer, going down as a 3-3 tie (the Spartans got the additional Big Ten point in a dramatic, 13-round shootout). There won't be any shootouts in the Big Ten Tournament; both teams would play 5-on-5 in overtime until somebody scores.

Jan. 6, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Forward Max Montes (16) of Ohio State competes during a game Friday night against Bowling Green at Value City Arena. | Barbara J. Perenic/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

Overall, Ohio State will enter this semifinal with a 13-20-2 overall record this season. With its victory over the Badgers included, its record against Big Ten teams is now 9-15-1. The record isn't pretty, but it goes out the window a bit when you're talking about a squad that now knows it is just two victories away from an auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament.

One can also worry about the level of desperation. The only way OSU reaches the 16-team national bracket is if it wins the Big Ten Tournament, as it is currently No. 22 on the NPI. Michigan State is comfortably in, no matter what it does.

Feb 2, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; On his way to scoring a goal, Ohio State Buckeyes forward Max Montes (16) escapes on a breakaway past Michigan Wolverines defenseman Ethan Edwards (73) during the NCAA men s hockey game at Value City Arena. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

On the other hand, that hasn't stopped MSU from winning the last two conference tournaments. Nobody has won the Big Ten tourney three years in a row since the conference started sponsoring hockey in 2013-14.

Oct 7, 2022; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Steve Rohlik watches from the bench during the NCAA men's hockey game against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Schottenstein Center. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK