It was an interesting week for college hockey, with a few top teams losing. Minnesota dropped its first game of the season, RPI swept Union and Providence handed Boston University its first loss of the season.

Penn State and Ohio State both faced AHA foes. The Nittany Lions swept Bentley 3-2 on both nights, while the Buckeyes tied Canisius 3-3 before winning 4-1. The victory was Ohio State’s first since the season opener. With the series sweep over Bentley, the Nittany Lions won their fourth game in a row.

The Wolverines ran into a powerhouse Michigan Tech team in Houghton, Mich., and dropped both games. The Huskies, who are starting to look like a contender, dropped a total 10 goals on the Wolverines in a 4-1 and 6-2 victory. The losses dropped Michigan to 2-5-0 on the season, and brings back questions of the team’s inconsistency.

Michigan State entered the weekend after dropped a pair of one-goal contests. In the first game against Ferris State, the Spartans fell 1-0. But on the second night, the Spartan offense contributed to a 4-1 victory. Travis Walsh, Mackenzie MacEachern, Villiam Haag and Matt Berry scored in the win.

The Gophers suffered dropped a 4-1 decision at St. Cloud State on Friday, Minnesota’s first loss of the season. The Gophers followed with a 4-3 win at home in overtime and have now won 15 straight games at Mariucci. Justin Kloos had a hat trick for Minnesota.

There are still a couple of weeks until Big Ten competition begins, but the Gophers have the best overall record at 5-1-0. At, 5-2-0, Penn State is right with them Each team has won at least two games save for the Badgers, who were idle last weekend.

It’s not early in the season anymore, but it’s been difficult to form opinions on several of these teams. Many have been inconsistent so far, which could create some interesting games when conference play starts.

 

(After the jump: Defensive problems, conference play questions and Michigan.)

Struggling defenses

In the offseason, Big Ten lost much of its scoring. Five of the top six scorers left, which impacted Ohio State and Wisconsin tremendously. Michigan State has struggled with scoring for a while, and even Michigan’s offense has slowed.

But for these teams — and especially Michigan — offense isn’t the issue. Defense is.

Last season, the Wolverines struggled with goalkeeping and team defense. After Steve Racine was injured, Zach Nagelvoort appeared to be the answer in net. But he wasn’t, and the Wolverines have been swapping goalkeepers out this season. Michigan coach Red Berenson said he wasn’t worried about his offense, just his defense. That defense has still been an issue for the Wolverines.

Also struggling offensively and defensively are the Buckeyes, who netted four goals for the first time since their season opener. The Buckeye net has been a question mark, and both Matt Tomkins and Christian Frey have spent time in goal this season.

Waiting for conference play

I have many questions on all Big Ten teams, since conference play is still a week away. Michigan has struggled out of conference — but can it power past some of the “weaker” Big Ten teams? Can Penn State keep its winning ways against conference foes? What will Minnesota’s Big Ten games even look like?

From out of conference play, I feel that Penn State is one of the most consistent Big Ten teams. They’ve played well in an out-of-conference schedule, but I’m waiting to see how that translates into Big Ten play.

Heading into the season, I thought a lot of the Big Ten matchups would be close, given the stellar goalkeeping the conference has. Based on out-of-conference competition, I’m not sure anymore.

The Wolverines are… I don’t know

Since last season, Michigan has always ended up in my Three Things I Think. One week I say the Wolverines are inconsistent, and the next I say they’re not. After watching Michigan play last weekend, I wrote that this season’s Wolverines were a contender.

But after Michigan’s trip to Houghton, Mich., I’m not sure I believe that anymore. Yes, Michigan Tech is looking to be a great team, and the Wolverines played the Huskies on the road. But based on Michigan’s talent this season, I’ve expected Michigan to do more than allow 10 goals on the road.

There’s a good chance that I still won’t know what to think of Michigan three weeks from now. So, I’ll declare right now that I don’t know what to expect from this team.

Monday, November 3rd, 2014 - 3:25 pm | Big Ten, Blogs, Notes, Thoughts, Ramblings