{"id":1001,"date":"2017-02-05T13:22:06","date_gmt":"2017-02-05T19:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/big-ten-blog\/?p=1001"},"modified":"2017-02-05T13:22:06","modified_gmt":"2017-02-05T19:22:06","slug":"two-sweeps-and-a-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2017\/02\/05\/two-sweeps-and-a-split\/","title":{"rendered":"Two sweeps and a split"},"content":{"rendered":"
Happy Super Bowl Sunday, everyone. Go Falcons!<\/p>\n
Three conference series went down this weekend with Penn State traveling to Minnesota, Michigan State hosting Wisconsin and Ohio State and Michigan tussling twice at Yost Ice Arena. Here’s how things ended up:<\/p>\n
Here are my three thoughts from the weekend:<\/p>\n
1. Minnesota put Penn State in its place<\/strong><\/p>\n The one conference series this weekend that featured two top-10 teams didn’t exactly end up looking like two top-10 teams were on the ice. Minnesota handled Penn State at home, winning 5-1 on Friday and 5-2 on Saturday.<\/p>\n Penn State’s game on Saturday was an improvement compared to Friday, but all that ended up getting the Nittany Lions was a closer loss. The Nittany Lions controlled play for first five minutes of the first and second period and were able to take a 1-0 lead in the first and a 2-1 lead early in the second.<\/p>\n Minnesota’s goal that came between the two for Penn State, a shorthanded breakaway by Leon Bristedt, was huge and head coach Guy Gadowsky admitted after the game that giving up the shorty was “a bit of a killer.” Minnesota tied up the game again about eight minutes into the second, took the lead roughly a minute later and padded the lead seven minutes after that.<\/p>\n Bristedt had a hat trick in the game, with a shorthanded, power-play and even-strength goal. They were his ninth, 10th and 11th goals of the season. The Swede was a 20-goal scorer last year, so if he continues to heat up along with line mate Taylor Cammarata who also had a great game on Saturday, a dangerous Minnesota team could become even more lethal.<\/p>\n The Nittany Lions rough road continues next weekend when they travel to Wisconsin.<\/p>\n