{"id":104927,"date":"2020-03-05T10:00:45","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T16:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=104927"},"modified":"2020-08-24T10:40:33","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T15:40:33","slug":"this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-playoffs-set-to-kick-off-as-all-teams-hope-good-things-are-going-to-happen-during-postseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2020\/03\/05\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-playoffs-set-to-kick-off-as-all-teams-hope-good-things-are-going-to-happen-during-postseason\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Playoffs set to kick off as all teams hope ‘good things are going to happen’ during postseason"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<\/a>
In the first round of the Big Ten playoffs this weekend, Michigan State plays Michigan while Minnesota will play Notre Dame (photo: Jim Rosvold\/University of Minnesota).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Everyone should have someone like Michigan coach Mel Pearson in their corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings aren\u2019t always going to go your way, but as long as you stick together, believe in each other and do the right thing and work your rear end off, good things are going to happen for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is what Pearson told his team after the Wolverines beat Minnesota 2-1 Saturday to secure home ice in the first round of the Big Ten playoffs.<\/p>\n

Honestly, who can argue with any of that \u2013 for anything life throws at us?<\/p>\n

Pearson\u2019s philosophy goes a long way toward explaining how a team that began its conference season with a six-game winless streak played its way to hosting a first-round playoff series.<\/p>\n

Michigan\u2019s story is just one of seven fascinating narratives that carried us through the Big Ten regular season.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines welcome their archrival, Michigan State, this weekend, and the Spartans have a story to tell, too \u2013 one of their own near-miss with home ice and flirtation with first place, a story backed by a goaltender having the season of his career.<\/p>\n

Minnesota spent a good part of the season in the bottom half of the standings, but the Golden Gophers also played their way to a home weekend, hosting Notre Dame in the first round. Like Michigan, Minnesota had a phenomenal second half and a chance to capture the conference title \u2013 but the Wolverines had other ideas and took five of six points on the road from the Gophers in the final weekend of regular-season play.<\/p>\n

Minnesota\u2019s opponent, Notre Dame, also had a rough first half but rallied enough in the last few weeks to finish a point away from first-round home ice.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the series between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Wisconsin, a series in which the Badgers may be the favorites.<\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s the biggest story of all: Penn State held onto first place to capture the regular-season championship, earning a first-round bye for the playoffs.<\/p>\n

This weekend, there are three first-round, best-of-three series.<\/p>\n

The semifinals will be single games March 13-14, with Penn State hosting the lowest seed to emerge from this weekend and the highest surviving seed hosting the other winner from the first round.<\/p>\n

The championship will be played on the home ice of the highest seed to advance from the semifinal round, March 20 or March 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the worst weekend in college hockey,\u201d said Minnesota coach Bob Motzko. \u201cIt\u2019s the survival weekend to move forward. You have to anticipate everything can happen. Nothing\u2019s going to be easy for any team \u2013 in our league or even around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe everyone needs a Bob Motzko in their corner, too. There is a lot to be said for that friend who always tells it like it is.<\/p>\n

No. 7 Wisconsin at No. 2 Ohio State<\/b><\/p>\n

The last-place Badgers are not playing like a last-place team. They return to Columbus this weekend to face the highest seed in the first round after ending the regular season in Columbus, having taken five of six points from the Buckeyes in Value City Arena just last weekend.<\/p>\n

Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik said that his players are \u201cnot na\u00efve\u201d about this first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know we just got beaten twice by this team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trailing first-place Penn State by four points at the start of last weekend with only two home losses all season, Ohio State gave up leads in both games and came away nearly empty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we\u2019re playing a very talented team,\u201d said Rohlik. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be dialed in, we\u2019ve got to be detailed, we\u2019ve got to be better in every facet.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a rocky first half and a five-game losing streak near the start of the second, the Badgers improved in the second half but didn\u2019t have anything tangible for their efforts until mid-February. Wisconsin is 4-1-1 in its last seven games, all three of those weekends against ranked teams that included a sweep of Arizona State.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow confidence is at a season high,\u201d said Badgers coach Tony Granato. \u201cWhen you dig yourself a hole and you position yourself like we did, being the bottom seed, the encouraging part is we didn\u2019t bail out, we didn\u2019t say that it\u2019s not happening for us this year. We actually buckled down and became a much better team coming through all that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last few weeks, you could see it building. Now that we\u2019re starting playoffs, I don\u2019t think that any of the hiccups we had during the season mean anything. What means something now is that we\u2019re playing our best. Our team feels good about itself. All of our players seem to be playing their best hockey of the year at the same time, and it gives us the excitement of knowing that we can go into any building, we can beat any team.\u201d<\/p>\n

What to watch<\/b>: Wisconsin\u2019s potentially explosive offense. The Badgers have scored three or more goals in their last six games, averaging over four per game in that span.<\/p>\n

No. 6 Michigan State at No. 3 Michigan<\/b><\/p>\n

It is difficult to explain the intensity of this rivalry to people outside the state of Michigan.<\/p>\n

In a press conference this week, Mel Pearson mentioned almost casually that there\u2019s more hate than love in this love-hate relationship. That isn\u2019t a paraphrase.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this state, you\u2019re one of the other,\u201d said Pearson. \u201cYou\u2019re either Michigan or you\u2019re Michigan State. There\u2019s no in between.\u201d<\/p>\n

The programs disagree about how many times they\u2019ve met. According to Michigan, the Wolverines lead this all-time series 163-136-24. The Spartans say that Michigan leads 167-137-24. This year, the teams have split four games, with Michigan State winning a home-and-home series in November and Michigan in East Lansing on Valentine\u2019s Day and again three nights later at Little Caesars Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig Ten playoff matches are tough enough as they are, but it\u2019ll be exciting playing our rival an hour down the road,\u201d said Michigan State coach Danton Cole. \u201cI think the guys are excited and looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just a few short weeks ago, the Spartans were vying for the regular-season title, but Michigan State struggled in the last month of play, going 3-6-1 in the last 10 Big Ten games with a four straight losses against Michigan and Ohio State putting home ice out of reach. The Spartans rebounded last weekend with a win and a tie on the road against Notre Dame last weekend.<\/p>\n

The recent play, said Cole, has prepared his team for this first-round series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be an awful lot the last two weekends, with Ohio State at home and Notre Dame on the road,\u201d said Cole. \u201cThose were playoff games, but it\u2019s going to bump up even a little bit more because now, the play you make, that might be the difference between continuing to play or getting ready for the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michigan enters the weekend on a high note as well, having taken five points from Minnesota on the road this weekend. After a tough first half, the Wolverines have established themselves as one tough team since the start of the calendar year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt one point we were 0-6-1 in the Big Ten. We weren\u2019t sure if we were ever going to win a Big Ten game,\u201d said Pearson. \u201cFor our guys to hang in there in the first half and finish where we did in the standings and to get home ice, going to Minnesota and having to do that, I\u2019m really proud and happy for our players.\u201d<\/p>\n

What changed in the second half of the season for the Wolverines? Michigan\u2019s now playing with close to a full roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe finally got healthy,\u201d said Pearson. \u201cAnd we just let them play.\u201d<\/p>\n

What to watch<\/b>: The goaltending battle between Michigan State senior John Lethemon (1.99 GAA, .943 SV%) and Michigan sophomore Strauss Mann (2.04 GAA, .936 SV%).<\/p>\n

No. 5 Notre Dame at No. 4 Minnesota<\/b><\/p>\n

Both the Fighting Irish and Golden Gophers came into their own in the second half of the season \u2013 Minnesota a little sooner than Notre Dame, and both for very different reasons.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame was a team that struggled with confidence in the first half of the season. The Irish knew they needed to find offense as the season began, but they didn\u2019t anticipate a six-game losing streak in which they averaged 1.5 goals per game to take them to the second-to-last game of the first half.<\/p>\n

Coach Jeff Jackson was frank about his team\u2019s fragile confidence \u2013 compounded by some uncharacteristic inconsistency by senior goaltender Cale Morris \u2013 but that first half seems like a long time ago to a team that came within a point of hosting a first-round playoff series.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve actually recovered from our first-half slump and I think we\u2019ve played pretty good hockey in the second half,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cWe still have some inconsistencies in our game where we\u2019re a little bit up and down from game to game. In that way, it\u2019s been a roller coaster ride. The positive thing is that we have played well on the road here in the second half.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re coming off a couple of good games in Penn State and our two-game series against Michigan, and that gives me confidence going into Minnesota in that at least we have a fairly good idea of what we have to do to be successful on the road. So that\u2019ll be the biggest challenge, making sure the guys are focused to play the same that we have the last two road series that we played in the Big Ten.\u201d<\/p>\n

In those last two road series, the Irish were 1-1-2 with extra shootout points in each tie. They tied and lost to Minnesota at home in mid-February.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just played them about three weeks ago so we know their skill level and their speed,\u201d said Jackson. \u201cThey\u2019re a very good transition team.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the Gophers certainly are a very good transition team. A lot has been made of Minnesota\u2019s youth, but Motzko said that it\u2019s something that he and his coaching staff have never really talked about \u2013 but he does concede that it took a while for this team to get going this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly in the season, we got thumped a couple Friday nights pretty good,\u201d said Motzko, \u201cbut our group would bounce back Saturday, and the next Monday, and the next week, every time it happened. There was always this little pull within our group to keep moving forward. We never talked about our age. We just talked about moving forward to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the second half of the season, the Gophers were 7-4-3 in Big Ten play \u2013 and the Gophers have just nine wins in conference play for the whole season. \u201cThe Christmas break was the key for us,\u201d said Motzko. \u201cWe needed to step away for a few weeks, come back, and then that\u2019s when the tide turned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two of the four games between Notre Dame and Minnesota were ties, with the Gophers taking an extra point each time. Another was a one-goal Minnesota win.<\/p>\n

Motzko has a prediction about how this series will go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this a while, and I can tell you I\u2019ve been to a whole bunch of three-game series,” he said. “And I guarantee you, the way it\u2019s playing out with our team, we\u2019re going to see overtime, too, the way that Notre Dame and our team\u2019s lined up. I think it\u2019s inevitable that this thing could be three games.\u201d<\/p>\n

What to watch<\/b>: Consistency. The team that has it in two of three games will live to play again.<\/p>\n

And a word from the regular-season champs<\/h4>\n

As the regular-season champion, Penn State has a first-round playoff bye. The week off marks the Nittany Lions\u2019 second consecutive week off, as Penn State had a bye the last weekend of the season, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is new for us,\u201d said Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky. \u201cSome guys are raring to go and some guys have bumps and bruises and really welcome this break. The way we\u2019re approaching it is just [that] we\u2019re going to take a few days off and when we take days off, we\u2019re taking days off. When we come to the rink and work, we\u2019re going to work. That\u2019s our approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gadowsky said that what makes Penn State\u2019s first regular-season championship that much more meaningful is that the Big Ten as a whole played the best hockey he\u2019s seen since the league was formed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll teams are excellent,\u201d said Gadowsky. \u201cYou could make an argument for any team that would end up on top at the start of the year. For us to be able to come away from the challenges that we\u2019ve had and correct when we were going the wrong way and come out on top through the course of the season makes us feel really good, specifically because of the quality of the teams in the conference this year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The semifinals will be single games March 13-14, with Penn State hosting the lowest seed to emerge from this weekend and the highest surviving seed hosting the other winner from the first round. 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