The Buckeyes swept Penn State, so the Nittany Lions are still waiting for their first conference win. Ohio State put up five goals in both games, and Ryan Dzingel scored three points in both games. He had two goals in Friday’s win and added another on Saturday.

Christian Frey started both games for Ohio State and has now started three games in a row, and won all of them. He’s 5-1-0 this season, and may have won Ohio State’s starting job.

The Buckeyes are fourth in the Big Ten standings, while Michigan moved into second place after beating Wisconsin in regulation and in a shootout. Shootouts don’t count in the PairWise but they do count in Big Ten standings.

Wisconsin is right behind Michigan with 16 points, and Ohio State is fourth with 13. I still think the Buckeyes, backed by a good offense a better goaltending situation than in November, might be in a better spot than either the Wolverines or the Badgers.

Jake Hildebrand was probably the goalkeeper of the week in Big Ten play, limiting Minnesota to three goals and making 63 saves over both games. His 26 saves on Friday helped the Spartans and Gophers tie, while he made 37 saves — and allowed one goal — in the loss on Saturday.

(After the jump: The problem with shootouts, Minnesota might be beatable and Wisconsin’s road woes) (more…)

Another weekend, and all I have to say is we better buckle up for a fun last four weeks of the season. At the top of the standings, the top five are separated by just four points with Union sitting on top and Quinnipiac in second. Cornell entered the picture over the weekend, as the only team to pick up four points with a weekend road sweep of Yale and Brown. The Big Red are now unbeaten in its last nine games and more importantly unbeaten in ten consecutive conference games, it began the season 1-3-1 in ECAC games. Colgate, was the disappointment of the weekend as it had entered the weekend winners of six in a row but lost both games on the road to Brown and Yale.

Consistency from here will win a team the conference title but the positions below it are ever important as well. With the standings as bunched up as they are from the top to fifth, it also means the fight for the final first round bye could be classic. There should also be a pretty good battle for the home ice spots, as positions six through ten are separated by just six points. All in all the last four weekends should prove to be some of the best hockey of the season, as it should be. There is tons on the line for most of the teams within the conference. Here are my thoughts for the week: (more…)

Durham NH – UNH needed wins heading into this weekend but Notre Dame did as well. The Irish sat on the bubble of the national tournament picture and UNH was on the outside looking in. But UNH was the team this weekend that pounced on opportunities and was able to respond well to its opponents charges. New Hampshire took the first game of the series last night on Friday night, defeating the Irish 4-2.

New Hampshire took an early lead midway through the first period at 10 minutes, 21 seconds when Tyler Kelleher fed a trailing Maxim Gaudreault on a 2 on 1. Mario Lucia answered seven minutes later for the Irish on a wicked snipe from the slot to send the game into the first intermission tied at one. The two teams traded goals in the early stages of the first period, as Tynan and Speelman scored. But UNH would get a late highlight reel goal by Matt Willows late in the period and cruise from there to a 5-2 win over Notre Dame. UNH lifts itself into fourth place in Hockey East with the win and to a record of 16-13-1, 8-6-0 Hockey East. UND falls to 15-11-1, 4-8-1 and is in a tie for eighth place in the conference. (more…)