{"id":139371,"date":"2023-03-02T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T16:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=139371"},"modified":"2023-03-02T09:10:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T15:10:21","slug":"this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-wacky-regular-season-means-conference-playoffs-shaping-up-to-be-anybodys-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2023\/03\/02\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-wacky-regular-season-means-conference-playoffs-shaping-up-to-be-anybodys-call\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Wacky regular season means conference playoffs shaping up to be anybody’s call"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Michigan’s Nolan Moyle and Wisconsin’s Daniel Laatsch go after a loose puck in a game earlier this season (photo: Clara Boudette).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a hotly contested regular season, the first round of the Big Ten playoffs begins this week and it\u2019s nearly impossible to predict who will advance to the semifinals.<\/p>\n

First-place Minnesota gets a first-round bye. The quarterfinal best-of-three series has No. 7 Wisconsin at No. 2 Michigan, No. 6 Penn State at No. 3 Ohio State and No. 5 Michigan State at No. 4 Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

And some of that, hockey fans, is screwy \u2013 not in any way underhanded or unfair, nor is there an implication here that teams don\u2019t deserve to be exactly where they are right now<\/p>\n

It was just a weird season.<\/p>\n

There are two outliers to the weirdness that was the Big Ten regular season: Minnesota and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

The Golden Gophers have been at the top of the Big Ten standings for so long that it would be easy to forget that they didn\u2019t start the season that way. Minnesota split its opening B1G series with Ohio State (Oct. 28-29) and entered the standings in fourth place.<\/p>\n

After eight conference games had been played, Minnesota ascended to first place after a road sweep of Michigan Nov. 17-18. The Gophers never relinquished that position for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin, on the other hand, never climbed out of last place. The Badgers earned their first conference win in their seventh game of the season, a 6-3 win over Michigan Dec. 2.<\/p>\n

The Badgers finish the regular season with just six wins, having beaten each of their Big Ten opponents once this season.<\/p>\n

In retrospect, Minnesota and Wisconsin seem to have been locked in place for the entirety of the season. Everyone else, though \u2013 well, that\u2019s a ride.<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t enough time to tell the stories of every team between Minnesota and Wisconsin in the Big Ten standings, but there are a couple of ways to illustrate the immense weirdness of this season.<\/p>\n

First is this, the standings after six of the league\u2019s teams had played four conference games. There are three teams at or near the top with three wins and a loss apiece with Michigan State in the middle of the standings and both Michigan and Notre Dame floating just above Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

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The crazy crowding for conference points began early but note the overall records. Early on, the Big Ten was establishing itself as a dominant conference.<\/p>\n

Here are the standings after the third weekend in January. Everyone but Michigan and Wisconsin had played 16 games.<\/p>\n

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Minnesota is clearly running away with things at that point, two teams are 10 points behind and tied for second, and there are nine points \u2013 three games \u2013 separating those two teams with sixth-place Michigan.<\/p>\n

The Fighting Irish and the Wolverines are still hovering above last-place Wisconsin at that point. Granted, the Fighting Irish and Wolverines had distanced themselves from last place, but they hadn\u2019t distanced themselves from finishing higher than fifth place a month before the end of the season.<\/p>\n

A quick glance to the side of those standings, too, shows how successful four teams \u2013 Minnesota, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State \u2013 were in nonconference play. Each remains among the top 10 in the PairWise Rankings heading into this weekend.<\/p>\n

The second way to illustrate the craziness of this season is to look at how Michigan finished second. After having played 14 games, the Wolverines were in sixth place with 18 points.<\/p>\n

A week later, Michigan was tied for fifth place with Michigan State, each with 24 points. Michigan was still, though, only position above last-place Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

On week later, both Michigan and Michigan State had played themselves into a four-way points tie with Ohio State and Penn State \u2013 each in second place, each with 30 points.<\/p>\n

A week later \u2013 mid-February, mind you \u2013 the Wolverines had sole possession of second place after sweeping Michigan State. The Wolverines entered last weekend tied with Ohio State for second place and managed to hold onto sole possession of second at the end of the season with 38 points, two ahead of the Buckeyes.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines finished in second despite going 0-2-2 in their last four games of the season, playing against two of the teams chasing them most ardently, Ohio State and Notre Dame. And they lost shootouts to each team, too.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just one wild ride. Consider that both Michigan and Notre Dame remained below home-ice contention for most of the season and that they\u2019re both hosting first-round playoff series. Also consider the weirdness of Penn State \u2013 No. 9 in the PWR \u2013 traveling in the first round.<\/p>\n

My favorite feel-good oddity of the season: Michigan State\u2019s single week at the top of the Big Ten standings, when the Spartans had gone 4-1-1 with an extra shootout point after six games.<\/p>\n

What forces in the universe must be aligned for each series this weekend to finish in a two-game, home-team sweep? I have neither patience for math, nor the astrology chops to handle that kind of calculation.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at the quarterfinal matches.<\/p>\n

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

Wisconsin comes into this series on a high note, having defeated Penn State 2-1 on the road in their final game of the regular season. The Badgers went 3-5-0 in February, but they\u2019ve split each of their last three series.<\/p>\n

Michigan was 4-2-2 in February, but the four wins were the first four games of the month. The Wolverines were 0-2-2 in their last four, with their last regular-season game an overtime home loss to Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

Michigan leads this all-time series 86-67-14 and is 12-4-0 against Wisconsin in regular-season play for the last four seasons. This year, the Wolverines have won three straight against the Badgers after Wisconsin took the first contest 6-3 (Dec. 2).<\/p>\n

Here are some quick comparative stats.<\/p>\n