Not the greatest of weekends for the Big Ten, with the teams going 3-6-1 against non-conference opponents.
Here are three things I saw.
1. Badgers get bombarded in Beantown
Things were looking good for No. 2 Wisconsin following an opening-weekend home sweep of Northern Michigan, but a road trip to Boston brought the Badgers back to earth. Wisconsin lost 9-2 to Boston College on Friday and was defeated 7-3 by Boston University of Saturday.
“[We faced] a team that was fired up to play for their coach,” Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said after Friday’s game. “Our hope was to survive the first period and we didn’t. We fell into the trap of trying to make things happen and ended up making things worse.”
Landon Peterson gave up six goals in a little more than 21 minutes of work on Friday night before being yanked in favor of Adam Miller, who gave up three more. Peterson got the start again on Saturday night and gave up all seven goals to Boston University.
The disturbing stat from Saturday’s game was the Wisconsin only gave up 26 shots and the Terriers scored three power play goals.
2. Motte shines early for Michigan
Freshman Tyler Motte was huge for Michigan in its overtime win and tie in a series against New Hampshire.
Motte scored Michigan’s only goal in Friday’s 1-1 tie with the Wildcats and lit the lamp a little more than one minute into overtime on Saturday to give the Wolverines a 3-2 win. The freshman from St. Clair, Mich., credited the team’s veterans for making his transition to college hockey easier after the game on Saturday.
“Our leadership on the team really helps us out,” Motte said. “A lot of guys up front, juniors and seniors, really have stepped up and helped us settle in early, and we’ve been moving together as a team.”
3. Warning stays hot
With all of Minnesota’s departures from last year’s team, it was clear that the Gophers would need an upperclassman to step up from a supporting role and be a major part of the team’s offense. Sam Warning has done just that through four games.
Minnesota swept Bemidji State by winning 6-3 on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday. Warning tallied one goal and two assists on Friday and found the back of the net twice on Saturday for Minnesota. In the Gophers’ first four games this season he has five goals and four helpers. In 29 games last season, he had eight goals and 15 assists.
The junior from Chesterfield, Mo., was one of the Big Ten’s three stars last week and looked primed to start off the season by taking the award again this week.
Notes
Paula’s column will be posted on Thursday morning and, as always, you can follow both of us on Twitter.
