By every possible measure, the past seven days have been extraordinary for Big Ten hockey. Minnesota swept Michigan at Yost Ice Arena. Michigan State – the team picked by coaches’ preseason to finish last – split a pair of road games against Penn State, and the Spartans sit in second place, one point behind the … Read more
The college hockey season is a six-month-long debate, but Penn State has already crafted an impressive opening statement. Averaging 5.17 goals per game through their first three series – six games, all wins – with all but three goals coming at even strength, the Nittany Lions are playing hockey that looks a lot more Penn … Read more
Is this B1G Hockey’s big season? Finally? While Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin have 23 national championships among them, not one of those titles was captured as a member of the Big Ten. Since its inaugural season in 2013-14, B1G Hockey has sent teams to the Frozen Four seven times, and two B1G teams … Read more
The Big Ten on Wednesday announced its preseason coaches poll as well as two preseason all-Big Ten teams. Coaches also picked the preseason teams. 2022-23 Big Ten Preseason Coaches Poll 1. Minnesota 2. Notre Dame 3. Michigan 4. Wisconsin 5. Ohio State 6. Penn State 7. Michigan State 2022-23 Preseason All-Big Ten Hockey Teams FIRST … Read more
Penn State has announced the hiring of George Lewis as the men’s hockey team’s director of hockey operations. “George has the earned the respect of our staff and alumni through great work in the past as a volunteer assistant coach with our program,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said in a statement. “Since then, he … Read more
Patrick Kraft, the current director of athletics at Boston College, has been named Penn State’s next vice president for intercollegiate athletics/director of athletics by president-elect Neeli Bendapudi. Kraft, who will succeed Sandy Barbour after she announced she will retire this summer after serving in the role since 2014, will assume the role on July 1. … Read more
The Big Ten announced Tuesday the hockey all-Big Ten teams and individual award winners as selected by the conference’s coaches and a media panel. Minnesota’s Ben Meyers was named the Big Ten player of the year, while teammate Brock Faber was tabbed the defensive player of the year, which is awarded to a defenseman or … Read more
Michigan has lost nine times this season and this weekend it’ll get another crack at the team responsible for 44 percent of those losses. The Wolverines will host Notre Dame on Saturday in the first Big Ten Tournament semifinal. The Irish won consecutive overtime games at Yost Ice Arena in November and wrapped up the … Read more
The Big Ten playoffs start this weekend, and here are reasons for and against each team winning the championship and getting the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Michigan Why the Wolverines will win the tournament: Michigan failed to take its name off the list of teams to never win a Big Ten regular season … Read more
With first-place Michigan sitting idle this weekend, the Big Ten schedule is setup for some movement heading into the final month of the regular season. Though games in hand for Minnesota and Notre Dame don’t make it a perfect storm, the docket for this weekend could see some shuffling in the standings with three teams … Read more
USA Hockey announced today the men’s Olympic team assistant coaches for the 2022 games in Beijing that will work under head coach David Quinn. The assistants currently with NCAA hockey teams include Minnesota State head coach Mike Hastings, St. Cloud State head coach Brett Larson and Penn State video coach Alex Dawes. In addition, Scott … Read more
The Big Ten announced Monday that Penn State junior defenseman Kenny Johnson has been suspended for one game as a result of an incident that occurred in a game against Army West Point on Jan. 1. The action was taken by the conference after a review of an incident that occurred with no time remaining … Read more
Penn State has announced the addition of a single game against Army West Point this Saturday, Jan. 1, at Tate Rink in West Point, N.Y. The game comes as a result of the Nittany Lions’ New Year’s series with Maine being canceled earlier this week due to positive COVID-19 results within the Black Bears program. … Read more
Several men’s college hockey series this weekend have been canceled due to health and safety protocols. Penn State announced its series vs. Maine scheduled for Friday, December 31 and Saturday, January 1 has been canceled due to positive COVID-19 results within the Black Bears program. The series will not be rescheduled. “The health and safety … Read more
A 6-4 victory over North Dakota in Nashville put a bow on the early portion of the Penn State’s nonconference schedule and gave the Nittany Lions a 6-1-0 record. The start of the Big Ten schedule hasn’t been as kind to the team from Hockey Valley. A trip to Minneapolis gives Penn State another chance … Read more
There are numerous ways one can describe a hockey team. Jeff Jackson, though, would appreciate it if people stopped using one term to describe Notre Dame. “I really hate when people say we’re a defensive team,” Jackson said Monday night. “We’re a puck-possession team, in my opinion. We really focus on our ability to possess … Read more
Michigan State defeated Michigan in a – let’s just keep things simple and say entertaining – football game last weekend. Spartans’ head coach Danton Cole was asked if his team could possibly feed off that energy and keep things rolling when the two schools meet in a home-and-home series on the ice this weekend. “Well, … Read more
When the coaches poll came out in September, the Big Ten opener between the teams predicted to finish sixth and seventh probably didn’t cause many to bust out the Sharpie. That being said, both Ohio State and Michigan State have, at least to a point, navigated their early-season nonconference schedule successfully and will be looking … Read more
Minnesota hasn’t played an in-state rival for conference points since March of 2013, but in the middle of back-to-back series against St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth, it feels like we’ve been transported back a couple years. The Gophers and Bulldogs will face off in a home-and-home bout this weekend with Friday’s game being played … Read more
As the sudden cancelation of the 2019-20 season and the general, let’s say, quirkiness of last year gets put in the rearview, everyone is hoping for a more normal Big Ten season this year. Saying more normal instead of 100 percent normal is already necessary as during the process of writing this piece a nonconference … Read more