The rankings heading into the weekend, and the records after the weekend...
Overall | Conference | |
#1 Minnesota | 17-2-3 | 7-0-1 |
#9 Wisconsin | 13-6-1 | 4-2-0 |
#13 Michigan | 10-6-2 | 2-2-0 |
Michigan State | 8-10-3 | 2-2-2 |
Ohio State (rec. 40 votes) | 11-8-1 | 1-4-1 |
Penn State | 4-14-1 | 0-6-0 |
Minnesota Sweeps the Buckeyes (1-0, 4-2)
During Friday night's outdoor game at TCF Bank Stadium, Minnesota's Adam Wilcox stopped all 21 shots that went his way, and he proved himself to be a beast on the ice. The lone score of the game came by way of Minnesota freshman Taylor Cammarata on a trickler as OSU goalie Matt Tomkins appeared to lose track of the puck, which was then poked in for the goal. Give the kid credit, though, for most of the game he played lights out hockey.
Playing outside was clearly having an impact on each team's shots; the BTN crew calling the game kept calling for taking shots at the net because "you never know what will happen", and that's exactly the scenario that played out on this goal. Here's a short video of highlights from Friday's game:
Saturday's meeting at Mariucci started out differently as Ohio State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. The Buckeyes' first goal came off of a redirect by forward Nick Odo. Drew Brevig got the next score on the board via a power play shot from the B1G logo. That would be as good as it would get for the Buckeyes, as Minnesota poured it on with four unanswered goals to reaffirm that they are the number one team in the country. Three of the four goals came off the stick of Sam Warning, who tallied his first career hat trick. Minnesota junior forward Seth Ambroz scored the final goal at 7:13 in the third period just to make sure the victory was sealed. Additional coverage by SBN College Hockey can be found here. And, more video!
Minnesota next faces St. Cloud State (12-4-4) in the North Star College Cup on January 24 and 25, while the Buckeyes head to Madison the same weekend.
More from our team sites
More from our team sites
Sparty Sweeps the Lions (3-0, 3-2)
Friday's was actually a pretty entertaining game in East Lansing. Although the scoring was lead by Dean Chelios, Lee Reimer, and Greg Wolfe, the night also belongs to goaltender Jake Hildebrand, who had 48 saves on the night (Penn State was shooting from everywhere). The Chelios goal got things started at the 14:38 mark as he got the puck past Penn State's Matt Skoff, who was face down on the ice. Wolfe's goal came on what appeared to be a mishandling of the puck by PSU's Eric Scheid. After a scoreless second frame, Reimer found the net at 15:08 into the third.
Saturday's 3-2 victory capped the sweep for the Spartans. I was unable to watch this game, so I'll just link to the stories by Michigan State and Penn State. The Spartans will face Michigan on Thursday and Friday; Thursday's game is at Joe Louis Arena, and Friday's is at Munn in East Lansing. Penn State has a one-off against the fourth-ranked Boston College Eagles (16-4-3) on January 25th; they get back into B1G play the following weekend against Ohio State.
Other News & Notes
- Ohio State would like to host a game at the Horseshoe.
- BC Interruption looks at hockey bracketology.
- Penn State landed an important commit.