This weekend features the big Michigan-Ohio State rivalry, Michigan State vs. Minnesota and Penn State against Wisconsin. At first glance, none of the matchups seem too competitive. But the first and last are certainly intriguing, as Ohio State is playing well lately and the Badgers can score.

There might be some intersecting results from those two matchups, and sweeping Ohio State or Wisconsin won’t be easy – especially since it’s still tough to tell how Michigan and Penn State really stack up against other teams.

I doubt Michigan State-Minnesota will be much of a matchup, unless the Spartans have shored up their defense. The Gophers may not look like their 2014 counterparts, but they’re still at the top of the Big Ten.

At the moment, Michigan is first in the Big Ten. Minnesota is second, Penn State third, Wisconsin fourth, Ohio State fifth and Michigan State last. And since this topic came up on Twitter, I wanted to look at strength of schedule (per CHN’s KRACH) of each Big Ten team. Here’s how they rank:

Michigan: 31
Minnesota: 8
Wisconsin: 30
Michigan State: 26
Ohio State: 24
Penn State: 44

It’s just something to keep in mind.

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This week, the ECAC returns to full conference play, with Princeton and Quinnipiac having the weekend off. There are many intriguing matchups on the docket, but to me the game of the week is RPI and Cornell on Friday night. RPI has struggled of sorts of late, while Cornell has continued its strong play. Harvard and SLU will also meet on Friday night, with both teams carrying losing skids and in need of wins. A lot of teams can do themselves good in both the conference and national picture, but some teams need wins more than others. SLU and RPI would be most beneficial to the national picture if they could pick up sweeps, while teams like Harvard and Cornell could further their position in the league standings. All told, it should be a pretty good weekend of action throughout the league. (more…)

It’s hard to believe that the playoff push begins now, but with so many non-conference games over and done with, it’s the push run for Hockey East.

Here is a look at this weekend’s series:

Boston University vs. Boston College (home-and-home) — It’s the marquee matchup of the weekend, without question. We’re not sure if the Eagles will have Thatcher Demko back between the pipes as of this writing. The BC goaltender returned to practice this week after what was described as an “upper-body injury,” that according to some not-so-quiet whispers was a concussion.

BU was sparked last week by the returns of Ahti Oksanen and Matt Grzelcyk. Time is running out for the Terriers, however, if they want to be one of the top teams in the Hockey East standings come the end of the season. BU is only two points behind Notre Dame for third in the league, but the Irish have a game in hand. The Terriers sit four points bak of BC for second in Hockey East.

Mike’s Pick: Series split.

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Harvard struggled defensively last week, but its offense is still the most talented in the league. Despite a poor showing in the first period against Quinnipiac at Madison Square Garden, where they left trailing 4-0, the Crimson were able to come all the way back to force overtime. Quinnipiac got a goal from Derek Smith in a seeming fitting ending on the World’s Most Famous Stage. Struggles were abounded in non-league play, as SLU was swept by struggling Northeastern, while Colgate split with Maine in Orono.

This weekend marks the return of ECAC play for most league teams, while Quinnipiac and Princeton have the weekend off. Quinnipiac has a commanding lead in the standings, but it is not as large as it appears. Its lead over Cornell sits at nine points and it has a ten point lead on third place, RPI. But both the Big Red and Engineers have games in hand. Cornell has four games in hand, while RPI has three games on the Bobcats. Five points separate Harvard in fourth place and Union in tenth place. The battle for the last bye and home ice positioning looks to be as close as it usually is. but then again it is still early, with most teams yet to hit the halfway mark of the league slate. (more…)

The weekend of Big Ten action featured a sweeps, a series split and a win/loss and a tie. Michigan swept Michigan State, Ohio State defeated and tied Wisconsin while Penn State split with Minnesota.Michigan scored 15 goals over the weekend, defeating the Spartans by a combined score of 15-5. Penn State defeated Minnesota 3-2 in overtime on Friday night, while Minnesota won 7-1. The Buckeyes beat the Badgers 2-0 before settling for a 4-4 tie the next night.

The most interesting series of the weekend were Penn State-Minnesota and Ohio State-Wisconsin. I’m not surprised the Gophers and Nittany Lions split, although I am surprised that Minnesota limited Penn State to four goals in two games … and scored seven of its own in one game.

As far as the Badgers and Buckeyes are concerned, the Buckeyes have the edge – for now. The results say that Ohio State, which has played well against most teams all season, is definitely a better team than Wisconsin. But where can the Buckeyes finish?

We learned some things from conference play, but it’s hard to tell if these impressions will hold as the season progresses.

(After the jump: Michigan State’s fate, a defensive test and the surprise team)

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After a week filled with holiday tournaments, the Big Ten is back to conference play. This means all teams are in action, featuring some interesting matchups and in-state rivalries. Probably the best matchup will be Wisconsin and Ohio State, so we can finally see which team belongs in the Big Ten basement. Penn State against Minnesota could also be interesting.

The Michigan-Michigan State series, probably not so much. While the Wolverines and Spartans haven’t met yet this season, Michigan State really hasn’t been playing well and the defense has struggled, meaning it’s doubtful the Spartans can contain the Wolverines.

But before conference play resumes, here’s a breakdown of the Big Ten conference standings:

1. Minnesota (9 points)
2. Michigan (8 points)
3. Penn State (6 points)
4. Wisconsin (4 points)
5. Michigan State (3 points)
6. Ohio State (0 points)

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The ECAC keeps winning in non-conference play and in recent weeks it has picked up in regularity. Last weekend both Harvard and Dartmouth took home holiday tournament titles, while Union also went undefeated at the Ledyard Bank Classic and missed out to its conference rival on goal differential. Brown took down one of the best teams in the nation, defending national champion Providence, looking good in the process. RPI also split a non-conference series with Miami. Clarkson did the same against Bowling Green. All told, the league is now second in inter-conference record with a .620 winning percentage against the other leagues.

ECAC  teams have played strong schedules, partly because they have played each other but it is furthered by the fact it has played strong non-conference schedules. Dartmouth played a pair at Michigan, Brown played Providence twice, Quinnipiac hosted St. Cloud twice and so on and so forth. This helps the overall strength of schedule and because the league has won a good portion of these games, the ECAC is doing really well in the Pairwise. Quinnipiac and Harvard are one and two in the Pairwise, while four other teams join them in the top 15. All told, there are six teams in NCAA tournament positions (QU, Harvard, Cornell, Yale, SLU, RPI), five league teams in the top 10 of Pairwise and eight in the top 20. You can see how strong the schedules have been in the league, in CHN’s Krach ratings.

The most interesting addition in the top 20 is Dartmouth, who played a murderous schedule in the first winter and is 5-7-1, but because of its strength of schedule it is right in the thick of a tournament bid if it goes on a run in the second half. It could be a monumental year for the league in terms of the NCAA tournament and how many teams make it, if the trends continue. There will be no easy games in the second half of the conference slate. It seems as though there is a high probability of at least five teams, but six is a possibility. The worst case scenario seems to be four. (more…)

After a very brief winter break, college hockey resumed this week with a bunch of tournaments and some non-conference matchups. It also brought some surprises from the break, including an Ohio State championship at the Florida College Classic and some much-needed out-of-conference success.

The Buckeyes stunned everyone by taking down Boston College in the first round of the Florida College Classic. Ohio State followed with a win over Cornell, becoming the first Big Ten team to win a trophy this season.

But the Wolverines followed just one day later with a trophy of their own, winning the Great Lakes Invitational. At the tournament, Michigan defeated Northern Michigan 3-2 and then Michigan Tech 4-2 in the championship game. The Spartans, who also participated in the GLI, lost first to Michigan 3-2 in overtime and then 2-1 to Northern Michigan in overtime.

Penn State continued its in-state rivalry with Robert Morris at the Three Rivers Classic, but dropped the opening-round matchup to the Colonials 6-4, Penn State’s first loss since Oct. 30 against St. Lawrence. The Nittany Lions rebounded with a 5-1 over Clarkson.

The Gophers also failed to come away with a championship, losing in the championship round of their own Mariucci Classic. After defeating UConn 3-2 on Friday, the Gophers dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to Harvard. The Crimson accrued a 2-0 lead before the Gophers scored three straight, but Kyle Criscuolo tied it with 34 seconds left. He also scored the game-winning goal.

(After the jump: Nothing makes sense anymore, holiday tournaments are good, goaltending could lead Michigan to big things.)

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Union and Dartmouth both picked up wins, over Merrimack and Robert Morris respectively on Saturday night. Because the Ledyard Bank Classic has predetermined matchups, the format is setup with a point system (2 points for a regulation/ot win, 1 point for a shootout win) with goal differential being the tiebreaker if one or more teams are tied. Dartmouth and Union do not play on Sunday night in a de facto championship game, so we will be relying heavily on the system put in place.Union defeated Merrimack 3-2, while Dartmouth defeated Robert Morris, 5-1.

Union received goals from Matt Wilkins, Nick Cruice and Brett Supinski, which included two power-play tallies. Merrimack took the momentum in the third period but were never able to recover from being down two goals entering the third. Dartmouth took a scoreless game after a period and ran away with it late. It outshot the Colonials 37-18 and recieved goals from five different skaters. Hypothetically Dartmouth has the advantage going into Sunday night’s matchups, after winning by four. The Big Green face Merrimack, while the Dutchmen face Robert Morris. (more…)

After a short winter break, college hockey is back in action starting today. The second half of the season kicks off with several tournaments, featuring a couple Big Ten teams. The Three Rivers Classic, Florida College Classic and, of course, the Great Lakes Invitational all take place this week. The Gophers host their own annual tournament, the Mariucci Classic, this weekend.

While five Big Ten teams are playing this week or weekend, the Badgers have another “bye” week. They face Trinity Western on New Year’s Day in an exhibition match – Wisconsin’s only exhibition game of the season.

Michigan State and Michigan vs. Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan, Great Lakes Invitational: Dec. 29 and 30 at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

This has been a really difficult season for Michigan State. Even having one of the best goaltenders around isn’t enough to support a very struggling defense. A part of that could be because of Josh Jacobs’ unexpected offseason departure (he was one of their best defenseman). But whatever the reason, the team defense has looked very weak. The offense has stepped up a little bit though, with freshman Mason Appleton contributing 15 points. Michael Ferrantino,  J.T. Stenglein and Mackenzie MacEachern have 14. The Spartans have one win in their last 10 games.

Michigan fared well in out-of-conference play, but didn’t destroy Wisconsin the way it was expected to. The Wolverines have a 9-3-3 record so far, with a pretty powerful offense backed by Kyle Connor. But they are without Zach Werenski, who’s at the World Junior Championship. Connor leads the team with 22 points and is amongst the nation’s highest-scoring players. Michigan has used two goaltenders again this year, but Steve Racine received most of his starts in November and Zach Nagelvoort had most of his in December. While Michigan lacks a stellar defense, the team leads the nation with 4.47 goals per game.

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