January begins the big push in Big Ten play, with midseason nonconference matches slowing giving way to nothing-but-B1G league series as students return to campuses by the third week of the month and classes resume.
Last week, Wisconsin swept Notre Dame in South Bend to open the second half of the Big Ten season. This week, two conference series feature Michigan State at Penn State and Notre Dame at Ohio State.
Three of the four teams playing for Big Ten points this weekend are chasing the fourth – and everyone is chasing first-place Wisconsin, who hosts Lindenwood in nonleague play for two games.
The Badgers sit in first place with 30 points, followed by the Spartans with 25. Wisconsin and Michigan State are also two of the three Big Ten teams comfortably among the top 16 teams in the PairWise Rankings. Wisconsin sits at No. 1, Michigan State is seventh and Minnesota at 12th is a little less cozy.
Michigan is on the bubble at No. 15. Everyone else is outside looking in.
In fact, outside looking in – or up – is where pretty much everyone is in the Big Ten, except for Wisconsin and Michigan State.
That’s nothing new, said Jeff Jackson.
“I think it’s a continuation of what we’ve been seeing,” said Jackson, now in his 19th season behind the Notre Dame bench. “I just think that the teams have shifted around. We’re the ones taking the punches right now, at least in the last month.”
With four conference wins and half the points of first-place Wisconsin, Notre Dame sits in fourth place in the Big Ten. The Fighting Irish went 4-2-2-1 in their first three Big Ten series, with two ties against Penn State, a sweep of Ohio State, and splits with both Minnesota and Michigan.
To end the first half of B1G play, the Irish dropped two on the road to Michigan State. To begin the second half, they were swept at home last weekend against Wisconsin.
“We had been doing pretty well in the Big Ten until we got to the last two series,” said Jackson. “We’ve got to find a way to get back to where we get points every weekend. We can’t afford to be taking sweeps. It is harder to sweep in the Big Ten.”
The wins against Minnesota and Michigan – plus a win against Boston University in an early nonconference split against the Terriers – all came on Friday nights.
“Consistency has been a little bit of a problem for us all season long, but I think I hear that from most teams that aren’t having the kind of success that they would like to have,” said Jackson. “It’s just a matter of our guys finding a way to be prepared for opponents when they have a pushback, which is going to happen on the second night if you beat them on the first night, which has been the main problem that we’ve dealt with.
“The two times that we’ve been swept, we played good enough to win on Friday night and, again, it was a drop-off even after a loss, which we have to find a way to cure because we’re not going to win every Friday night game. We have to make sure that we’re as prepared as we were the first night [on] the second night.”
With no B1G wins and four conference points, Ohio State begins conference play in the second half with a three-game nonconference win streak after beating Mercyhurst 5-3 Dec. 30 and sweeping instate rival Bowling Green in a home-and-home series last weekend, 6-2 and 4-2.
In fact, the Buckeyes own a four-game unbeaten streak, dating back to their home series against Minnesota Dec. 8-9. After losing 5-4 the first night, Ohio State tied Minnesota 1-1 in the second game and took the extra shootout point.
Another good sign: in four of their last five games, the Buckeyes have scored no fewer than four goals.
Steve Rohlik said that the recent roll is good for his team’s confidence.
“We’ve been resilient,” said Rohlik, in his 11th season as OSU’s head coach. “Nothing’s been easy. The guys came back with a good focus, good energy. Our practice has been good.
“We thought we played pretty good there before the break. We had a good series there against Minnesota and I think we came back with that mentality. Every game’s big – conference, nonconference. For us, we’re trying to get better every night. We’ve certainly got to be at our best this weekend. We know that.”
And what do the Buckeyes need to improve on in the second half?
“Everything,” said Rohlik. “The way we approach everything is that we look to improve from one-on-ones to full-team efforts, in all areas. Special teams, we talk about it a lot and it’s an area that we’ve worked on a lot that we’ve got to continue to get better in, but if we can contribute five-on-five and score a couple of goals five-on-five, that would be a big area for us.”
Averaging 2.75 goals per game, the Buckeyes are pretty good with the extra man, converting at 22 percent for the 18th-best power play in the nation.
When Notre Dame hosted Ohio State Nov. 10-11, the Fighting Irish swept the Buckeyes by a collective score of 7-1. Jeff Jackson knows that such history means nothing this weekend.
“They’ve found their footing since Christmas break as far as getting off to a good start,” said Jackson, who added that his own team is “probably getting back into some semblance of game shape which we lost over the break.”
The Buckeyes, said Jackson are “always a challenge, especially in their own building. We’re looking to have to be prepared to play our best to beat them.”
Looking for their first Big Ten win of the season, Rohlik said that the Buckeyes have to “go out there and limit our mistakes, because they do. They don’t give games away.”
It’s the nature of Big Ten hockey, said Jackson.
“The biggest thing is that even if there’s two teams at the top, nobody walks away easily in the Big Ten from a game,” Jackson said. “It is a challenge. We beat each other up. You hope that it makes us better.”
