{"id":145334,"date":"2024-02-22T14:00:54","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T20:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=145334"},"modified":"2024-02-21T21:21:45","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T03:21:45","slug":"this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-with-michigan-state-wisconsin-vying-for-regular-season-title-rest-of-conference-standings-still-in-flux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/22\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-with-michigan-state-wisconsin-vying-for-regular-season-title-rest-of-conference-standings-still-in-flux\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: With Michigan State, Wisconsin vying for regular-season title, rest of teams still have much to play for"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Ohio State players were all smiles after sweeping Wisconsin last weekend (photo: Ohio State Athletics).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are two weeks left before the Big Ten playoffs and there are only two teams contending for the regular-season title: Michigan State and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

Last weekend, the Spartans were idle.<\/p>\n

Last weekend, the Badgers did themselves no favors.<\/p>\n

Second-place Wisconsin entered the weekend four points behind Michigan State with two games in hand. They exited the weekend even with the Spartans in remaining games and no richer in points, as Wisconsin dropped two on the road to last-place Ohio State.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, I just thought that our details weren\u2019t where they needed to be, being offensively a bit more aggressive at trying to possess a puck, attack when we had options,\u201d said Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings. \u201cI thought Ohio State got us out of rhythm. I thought they were good at being physical and keeping us to the outside and our want to get to the inside wasn\u2019t what it needed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Badgers now need to win their four remaining games to finish in first place. That would include a road sweep against Penn State this weekend and two wins at home against Michigan State the following weekend.<\/p>\n

The Spartans need to win three of their remaining four to earn that first-round bye, starting at home this weekend against an Ohio State team that will be confident following the series against Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale said that his counterpart at Ohio State, Steve Rohlik, \u201cdoes a really good job\u201d and that the Buckeyes are \u201ca well-coached team and organized, and they have some offensive players that are very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nightingale said that their defensemen are difficult to play against and that their goalies are playing well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the margin of error in our conference is so small,” said Nightingale. “They obviously had a really big weekend, so we\u2019re expecting a really quality weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Buckeyes, Friday\u2019s 3-2 overtime win against Wisconsin snapped a seven-game losing streak that began with a 5-2 loss to Notre Dame Jan. 13. In that span, Ohio State had allowed 4.5 goals per game on average while scoring 2.28. The Buckeyes held the Badgers to three goals on the weekend.<\/p>\n

The sweep was the first for Ohio State in B1G play this season and the Buckeyes\u2019 third conference win so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d said alternate captain Cam Thiesing, who had the first goal in Saturday\u2019s 3-1 win. \u201cWe\u2019ve been itching for something like this all year long, and we came together as a team. I can\u2019t even describe it, the stuff that we went through this week, and it shows on the ice. We came together, we had faith even last night, same as tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Friday\u2019s game, the Buckeyes came from behind twice, including a response to a late third-period goal that put the Badgers ahead by one. At 16:26, Ben Dexheimer\u2019s unassisted goal made it a 2-1 game, but Stephen Halliday evened it for Ohio State with 1:39 remaining in regulation. At 4:38 in OT, David Burnside\u2019s goal won the game.<\/p>\n

Saturday, the Buckeyes led 2-0 after one on Thiesing\u2019s goal and Burnside\u2019s second of the weekend. \u201cYou know, it\u2019s different when you\u2019re playing with the lead,\u201d said Rohlik, \u201cand to get the lead for us tonight was huge and we did enough to control them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan Terness earned Friday\u2019s win with 28 saves on 30 shots and Kristoffer Eberly stopped 27-of-29 for the Buckeyes Saturday. \u201cBoth goalies have been playing well,\u201d said Rohlik.<\/p>\n

The Buckeyes gained a little ground on sixth-place Penn State after the Nittany Lions split at home against Michigan, but Ohio State is still eight points back with four games left. Following their series against Michigan State this weekend, the Buckeyes finish at home against the Nittany Lions.<\/p>\n

Both Ohio State and Penn State will travel for the first round of the Big Ten playoffs. The Buckeyes can finish no higher than sixth place and overtaking Penn State is a longshot. The Nittany Lions can finish as high as fifth, but to do so they\u2019d have to overcome an eight-point deficit behind Michigan.<\/p>\n

Because of their position, Rohlik said that these last regular-season games are intense, calling the series against Wisconsin \u201cplayoff time\u201d for the Buckeyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we had one of the top teams in the country coming in this weekend,\u201d said Rohlik, \u201cand another good opportunity for us to continue to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Spartans and Buckeyes met in Columbus the first weekend of November, Michigan State picked up two wins and a literal dozen goals to Ohio State\u2019s four. The 6-0 Nov. 3 win was Trey Augustine\u2019s first collegiate career shutout.<\/p>\n

Nightingale said that the results of that series in no way predict what may transpire in Munn Arena this weekend. \u201cI thought the scores were not reflective of the games,\u201d said Nightingale. \u201cI thought they were a lot closer than the scores, and they\u2019re obviously playing very good hockey right now, so we\u2019re looking forward to having them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heading into Penn State, Hastings said that the Badgers have \u201cenough on our plate\u201d and will be focusing on themselves as much as possible following the losses in Columbus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got our work cut out for us, but that\u2019s what we all signed up for when we started this season,\u201d said Hastings. \u201cJust because you hit a little ripple in the water, you\u2019ve got to understand that\u2019s part of this process. We can learn from that, and we\u2019ve got to embrace that and move on.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody\u2019s feeling sorry for the Badgers because they didn\u2019t get it done on Friday or Saturday and Ohio State earned it. Now we\u2019ve got to be okay going and earning our week and the opportunity to compete on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are two weeks left before the Big Ten playoffs and there are only two teams contending for the regular-season title: Michigan State and Wisconsin. Last weekend, the Spartans were idle. Last weekend, the Badgers did themselves no favors. Second-place Wisconsin entered the weekend four points behind Michigan State with two games in hand. They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":145335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[802],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Week in Big Ten Hockey: With Michigan State, Wisconsin vying for regular-season title, rest of teams still have much to play for - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are two weeks left before the Big Ten playoffs and there are only two teams contending for the regular-season title: Michigan State and Wisconsin.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145334\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: With Michigan State, Wisconsin vying for regular-season title, rest of teams still have much to play for - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are two weeks left before the Big Ten playoffs and there are only two teams contending for the regular-season title: Michigan State and Wisconsin.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145334\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-22T20:00:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-22T03:21:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ohio_state_celly_vs_wisco.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1040\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paula C. 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