{"id":133276,"date":"2022-03-10T06:00:06","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T12:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=133276"},"modified":"2022-03-09T21:25:42","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T03:25:42","slug":"this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Michigan facing stiff test from Notre Dame in conference semifinal; Penn State hoping magic continues against Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Michigan goalie Erik Portillo has been the go-to netminder for the Wolverines this season (photo: Michigan Photography).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Michigan has lost nine times this season and this weekend it\u2019ll get another crack at the team responsible for 44 percent of those losses.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines will host Notre Dame on Saturday in the first Big Ten Tournament semifinal. The Irish won consecutive overtime games at Yost Ice Arena in November and wrapped up the regular season a couple weeks ago by downing Michigan 4-1 and 2-1 at home, denying the Wolverines their first Big Ten regular season title in the process.<\/p>\n

Michigan finishing second in the conference standings meant both teams played last weekend. The Wolverines cruised to a sweep over Michigan State, winning 4-1 on Friday and 8-0 on Saturday, while Notre Dame was taken to a third game by Wisconsin. The Irish was able to end the Badgers\u2019 season by winning 3-2 on Saturday and 4-2 on Sunday after dropping Friday\u2019s contest 3-1.<\/p>\n

Now the series aspect of the playoffs is over, and it\u2019s win or you\u2019re out for all the remaining teams. Both Michigan and Notre Dame have locked themselves into the NCAA tournament, so both are playing for seeding and conference hardware.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery game from here on in gets more important, starting with next Saturday,\u201d Pearson said after the series-clinching victory over the Spartans. \u201cYou get into the single elimination now and you\u2019ve got to make sure you\u2019re prepared and you do everything you can to get ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

One would think that getting off to a good start on Saturday could help Michigan on Saturday, but Notre Dame hasn\u2019t panicked when falling behind to the Wolverines this season. Michigan had a 2-0 lead in each game in Ann Arbor and jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the Friday game at South Bend. It is worth noting that the three-on-three style of overtime that the Irish used to their advantage for the road sweep won\u2019t be used during the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Even before the opponent was sorted out on Saturday, Pearson predicted that his players would be chomping at the bit when they rolled into this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis team\u2019s hungry, we\u2019ve got guys that are driven,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ll be excited when we come back to the rink Monday and get back to work, I know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prediction: Michigan 4-3<\/b><\/p>\n

Penn State looks to keep road magic alive at Minnesota<\/h4>\n

While the first semifinal has two teams that know they will be in the NCAA tournament, the second features a Penn State team that must keep winning to keep playing.<\/p>\n

The Nittany Lions will try for their second road win at Minnesota this season on Saturday. If they get it, it\u2019ll probably be slightly more memorable than the one in November.<\/p>\n

Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko said he knows how dangerous a lower-seeded team on a run can be.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to think that they\u2019re one excited group,\u201d he said during Minnesota\u2019s media availability on Tuesday. \u201cI\u2019m sure that bus ride home from Columbus, I\u2019ve been on that side before when you win a road series, there\u2019s an adrenaline rush for their team. It\u2019s like a new start, so we\u2019ve got a hockey game here on Saturday night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Motzko added that he wasn\u2019t thrilled that the only action his team saw last weekend was an intrasquad scrimmage, played in Austin, Minn., while the rest of the league was continuing to play games. He jokingly saying that the Big Ten should quickly add an eighth team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never done this, so I called around to the other coaches that have gone through the bye, (and) no one seems to like it,\u201d Motzko said. \u201cI didn\u2019t like it before, now I\u2019ve lived it, what do you do? Quick, let\u2019s add an eighth team. Let\u2019s get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two wins at Penn State are included in Minnesota\u2019s current eight-game winning streak, but the Gophers had to battle back to get the sweep in the second game. Like every other coach in the league, Motzko stressed that the Nittany Lions are a formidable opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you make a mistake, they\u2019re dangerous and they\u2019ll make you pay,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to be cautious when it\u2019s time to be cautious. We have to get after them, but you can\u2019t have blatant turnovers (or) missed nets, because you have got to get back. They play north as fast as any team you will see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prediction: Minnesota 5-3<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michigan has lost nine times this season and this weekend it\u2019ll get another crack at the team responsible for 44 percent of those losses. The Wolverines will host Notre Dame on Saturday in the first Big Ten Tournament semifinal. The Irish won consecutive overtime games at Yost Ice Arena in November and wrapped up the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":133277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[855],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Week in Big Ten Hockey: Michigan facing stiff test from Notre Dame in conference semifinal; Penn State hoping magic continues against Minnesota - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Michigan has lost nine times this season and this weekend it\u2019ll get another crack at the team responsible for 44 percent of those losses. The Wolverines\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133276\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Michigan facing stiff test from Notre Dame in conference semifinal; Penn State hoping magic continues against Minnesota - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Michigan has lost nine times this season and this weekend it\u2019ll get another crack at the team responsible for 44 percent of those losses. The Wolverines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133276\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-10T12:00:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-10T03:25:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/portillo_mi_photog.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"810\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Drew Claussen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Drew Claussen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/\",\"name\":\"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Michigan facing stiff test from Notre Dame in conference semifinal; Penn State hoping magic continues against Minnesota - College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/portillo_mi_photog.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-10T12:00:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-10T03:25:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fbf976132f97155e5f6e6487fbde73fd\"},\"description\":\"Michigan has lost nine times this season and this weekend it\u2019ll get another crack at the team responsible for 44 percent of those losses. The Wolverines\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/portillo_mi_photog.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/portillo_mi_photog.jpg\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":810,\"caption\":\"Michigan goalie Erik Portillo has been the go-to netminder for the Wolverines the past two seasons (photo: Michigan Photography).\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Michigan facing stiff test from Notre Dame in conference semifinal; Penn State hoping magic continues against Minnesota\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/\",\"name\":\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"description\":\"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fbf976132f97155e5f6e6487fbde73fd\",\"name\":\"Drew Claussen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/4e1d9091eeac610709a57e965bd893f6\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f42f2ce3549e15735a085b06d411cbce?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f42f2ce3549e15735a085b06d411cbce?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Drew Claussen\"},\"description\":\"Big Ten Columnist Drew Claussen covers the Big Ten for USCHO.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/author\/drewclaussen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Michigan facing stiff test from Notre Dame in conference semifinal; Penn State hoping magic continues against Minnesota - College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"Michigan has lost nine times this season and this weekend it\u2019ll get another crack at the team responsible for 44 percent of those losses. The Wolverines","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133276","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Michigan facing stiff test from Notre Dame in conference semifinal; Penn State hoping magic continues against Minnesota - College Hockey | USCHO.com","og_description":"Michigan has lost nine times this season and this weekend it\u2019ll get another crack at the team responsible for 44 percent of those losses. The Wolverines","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133276","og_site_name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/","article_published_time":"2022-03-10T12:00:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-10T03:25:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1440,"height":810,"url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/portillo_mi_photog.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Drew Claussen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@USCHO","twitter_site":"@USCHO","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Drew Claussen","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/","name":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Michigan facing stiff test from Notre Dame in conference semifinal; Penn State hoping magic continues against Minnesota - College Hockey | USCHO.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/portillo_mi_photog.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-10T12:00:06+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-10T03:25:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fbf976132f97155e5f6e6487fbde73fd"},"description":"Michigan has lost nine times this season and this weekend it\u2019ll get another crack at the team responsible for 44 percent of those losses. The Wolverines","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/portillo_mi_photog.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/portillo_mi_photog.jpg","width":1440,"height":810,"caption":"Michigan goalie Erik Portillo has been the go-to netminder for the Wolverines the past two seasons (photo: Michigan Photography)."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/03\/10\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-michigan-facing-stiff-test-from-notre-dame-in-conference-semifinal-penn-state-hoping-magic-continues-against-minnesota\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Michigan facing stiff test from Notre Dame in conference semifinal; Penn State hoping magic continues against Minnesota"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/","name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fbf976132f97155e5f6e6487fbde73fd","name":"Drew Claussen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/4e1d9091eeac610709a57e965bd893f6","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f42f2ce3549e15735a085b06d411cbce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f42f2ce3549e15735a085b06d411cbce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Drew Claussen"},"description":"Big Ten Columnist Drew Claussen covers the Big Ten for USCHO.","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/author\/drewclaussen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133276"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133278,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133276\/revisions\/133278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133276"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=133276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}