Hope everyone had a great weekend. Hey, at least the six Big Ten games provided more entertainment value than the Super Bowl.
Here are three things I saw.
1. Penn State is still searching for it first conference win
I said in my picks on Friday that I wasn’t going to pick Penn State to win until it picks up its first conference win. I may not be picking them to win this season.
Ohio State swept the Nittany Lions 5-1, 5-2 this weekend.
Penn State was able to get shots this weekend against Ohio State, the next step for the Nittany Lions will be to make sure that some of those shots start finding the back of the net.
“Early in the season we certainly were playing too cute,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said after the game on Saturday. “We’ve tried to generate offense by that, so it’s not totally by accident.”
Penn State will have 12 more games against conference foes to try and pick up its first win. The Nittany Lions will play Michigan four times and the remaining four teams in the conference twice.
2. Five-point weekend propels Michigan into second
Thanks to a 3-1 win on Friday night and a shootout victory after a 2-2 tie on Saturday night, Michigan is now the No. 2 team in the standings. Michigan fell one point short of evening the season series between the teams. Wisconsin swept the Wolverines earlier this season at Kohl Center.
“The environment during the shootout made it feel like a complete win,” Michigan head coach Red Berenson said. “It’s an important win, but it’s not a three-point win. It felt good to get five of the six points against a good team that swept us in their building. Did we get everything back? No, but we got most of them.”
Even though Wisconsin only picked up one points, its head coach Mike Eaves called it a “moral point.”
“To be shorthanded and come back and give ourselves a chance to get more than one point. …I think the guys rose to the occasion today,” Eaves said.
3. Michael Mersch’s goal
The Badgers only managed to get one point from their series with Michigan, but Michael Mersch came out of the series with something to add to his highlight reel.
I found myself watching this goal over and over again, so I felt like it needed to be included in here.
