{"id":145508,"date":"2024-02-29T14:00:48","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T20:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=145508"},"modified":"2024-02-28T20:56:16","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T02:56:16","slug":"this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Regular-season conference championship up for grabs this weekend as Michigan State heads to Wisconsin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Wisconsin players celebrate a goal earlier this season (photo: Tom Lynn).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This weekend, history will be made when Michigan State travels to Wisconsin to decide the regular-season Big Ten championship.<\/p>\n

If the Spartans win, the title will be their first since the Big Ten formed. If the Badgers prevail it will be their second B1G regular-season title, marking the first time that any team other than Minnesota captures multiple season championships.<\/p>\n

Minnesota has six. The only team other than Michigan State not to have earned this honor so far is Michigan. Everyone else has one.<\/p>\n

That the title comes down to the last weekend of the season has been common enough in the Big Ten. That these two teams, specifically, are competing for it is certainly something to note.<\/p>\n

The Spartans finished the 2022-23 season tied for fifth place in the Big Ten with Penn State, and Wisconsin was last season\u2019s last-place team. At the start of this campaign, B1G coaches had Michigan State finishing third and Wisconsin fifth.<\/p>\n

Heading into the final series before conference playoffs, not only are Wisconsin and Michigan State top-10 teams in the USCHO.com Poll, but the Badgers and Spartans are high in the PairWise Rankings, Wisconsin tied for third and Michigan State in fifth. There is the potential for each to be a top seed in an NCAA regional.<\/p>\n

How did the Spartans and Badgers play their way for the opportunity to capture the regular-season B1G title and first-round playoff bye? Each team\u2019s coach points to a single series that shaped everything that came afterward.<\/p>\n

For Michigan State, it was being on the wrong end of a road sweep against Boston College Oct. 26-27. The Spartans followed up those losses with a 14-game span in which they went 10-1-3, the only blemish an overtime loss to Minnesota Nov. 26.<\/p>\n

Adam Nightingale brought up the weekend against BC after Michigan State beat Michigan in the annual Duel in the D game in Little Caesar\u2019s Arena Feb. 10. He brought it up again in his press conference this week, noting that the losses to Boston College changed the Spartans\u2019 \u201capproach\u201d to the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like, it\u2019s simple,\u201d said Nightingale. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get better. They\u2019re better than us. We didn\u2019t lose again until we lost to Michigan in regulation here and got beat good, and then [look at] our response after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

That loss to Michigan was Jan. 19, 7-1 and in front of the Munn Arena faithful. The following night, the Spartans overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Wolverines 7-5 in Yost Arena.<\/p>\n

Nightingale points to \u201cthe character in the room, the buy-in to\u201d improvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that moment was pretty telling of this group,\u201d said Nightingale, whose Spartans are the youngest team in college hockey. \u201cThey understood that, hey, we\u2019re not perfect. We\u2019ve got to keep working and getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Badgers learned a similar lesson in the first half of the season after being swept by none other than Michigan State.<\/p>\n

The Spartans and Badgers first met Nov. 17-18, when Wisconsin was enjoying a 9-1-0 start to the season and a six-game win streak, their most recent being sweeps of Michigan and Minnesota. They lost 4-2 and 3-2 on the road to Michigan State, held to two or fewer goals for the first time since their only previous loss, when North Dakota beat them 2-0 in the Ice Breaker Tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the games very well,\u201d said Mike Hastings. \u201cThey put us on our heels. They pressured us when we had [the puck], they pressured us when they had it, and it was one of the first teams that I thought really kind of put it to us a bit, and we learned and we grew from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Badgers extended their losing streak to three games with a 1-0 loss to Alaska Anchorage the following weekend but went on to rack up 10 wins in a row after that in an 11-game (10-0-1) unbeaten streak that ended with a 5-1 loss to Michigan Jan. 26. The Badgers rebounded the next night to beat the Wolverines 6-5.<\/p>\n

In his weekly press conference, Hastings said that the games against the Spartans were close and that he expects the same this weekend, adding that Michigan State has depth and confidence and that they\u2019re very well coached.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat series was one we grew from, a negative experience of not being able to get points on the road, said Hastings, \u201cso now I think we\u2019re a different team, but I think State is also.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth teams have grown. Some of their drivers are young players, new players, and the longer that those players can play in the spots that they are, they play with a little more confidence. I think both teams are at that spot and you want to have this opportunity at this time of the year. When you play a team like Michigan State, they exposed our weaknesses and I know that they\u2019re going to try to do that again, so we\u2019ll have to be on point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last weekend, the Badgers took five of six points on the road from Penn State and Hastings said he\u2019s \u201creally happy\u201d with how Wisconsin responded to a road sweep against Ohio State the week before. The chance to play for a conference title is new to this squad, though, and much remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our first go-around as a group in this situation, but it\u2019s one we\u2019ve tried to build from [last] summer until right now, to try and be prepared for it,\u201d said Hastings. \u201cAll you can do is stay on that and stay on the dailies and just try and maintain consistency, which the group\u2019s done a pretty good job of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nightingale said that high-stakes games like these are what college hockey is all about. \u201cYou come to Michigan State, you want to play in games like this. For our guys, we played in the GLI, the championship game there and it didn\u2019t go our way [but] we played really good.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Duel in the D is another one. It\u2019s a similar-type feel where it\u2019s a loud crowd, so our guys have had some experience with that. The guys that were in World Juniors have played in those environments, so I think it\u2019s super exciting. This is what you want and now we\u2019ve got to take advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michigan State has 49 points. Wisconsin has 47. One win outright will give the Spartans the crown. The Badgers need five points total this weekend to capture the title for themselves alone. If the teams tie for points, they\u2019ll share the title but the Spartans will earn the first-round bye in the Big Ten playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity that we have this weekend, that Michigan State has this weekend, those are potentially forever moments,\u201d said Hastings. \u201cThey don\u2019t go away. You hang a banner. You become brothers a little bit deeper than just the idea of going out and competing. It\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you\u2019d better enjoy it, because I\u2019ve been on the other side of it. That\u2019s not real fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This weekend, history will be made when Michigan State travels to Wisconsin to decide the regular-season Big Ten championship. If the Spartans win, the title will be their first since the Big Ten formed. If the Badgers prevail it will be their second B1G regular-season title, marking the first time that any team other than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":145509,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[802],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Week in Big Ten Hockey: Regular-season conference championship up for grabs this weekend as Michigan State heads to Wisconsin - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This weekend, history will be made when Michigan State travels to Wisconsin to decide the regular-season Big Ten championship. If the Spartans win, the\" \/>\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\/145508\" \/>\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: Regular-season conference championship up for grabs this weekend as Michigan State heads to Wisconsin - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This weekend, history will be made when Michigan State travels to Wisconsin to decide the regular-season Big Ten championship. If the Spartans win, the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145508\" \/>\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=\"2024-02-29T20:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-29T02:56:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/whitelaw_goal.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1416\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"797\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paula C. Weston\" \/>\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=\"Paula C. Weston\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/\",\"name\":\"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Regular-season conference championship up for grabs this weekend as Michigan State heads to Wisconsin - College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/whitelaw_goal.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-29T20:00:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-29T02:56:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7af35c92417e30bd0dde3637ed101757\"},\"description\":\"This weekend, history will be made when Michigan State travels to Wisconsin to decide the regular-season Big Ten championship. If the Spartans win, the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/whitelaw_goal.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/whitelaw_goal.png\",\"width\":1416,\"height\":797,\"caption\":\"Wisconsin players celebrate a goal earlier this season (photo: Tom Lynn).\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Regular-season conference championship up for grabs this weekend as Michigan State heads to Wisconsin\"}]},{\"@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\/7af35c92417e30bd0dde3637ed101757\",\"name\":\"Paula C. Weston\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/8ca927e9f51d403bfd423fbbb1331c95\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ab9970d5ede2145c958e295a4d36781?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ab9970d5ede2145c958e295a4d36781?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paula C. Weston\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/author\/paula\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Regular-season conference championship up for grabs this weekend as Michigan State heads to Wisconsin - College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"This weekend, history will be made when Michigan State travels to Wisconsin to decide the regular-season Big Ten championship. If the Spartans win, the","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\/145508","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Regular-season conference championship up for grabs this weekend as Michigan State heads to Wisconsin - College Hockey | USCHO.com","og_description":"This weekend, history will be made when Michigan State travels to Wisconsin to decide the regular-season Big Ten championship. If the Spartans win, the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145508","og_site_name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/","article_published_time":"2024-02-29T20:00:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-29T02:56:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1416,"height":797,"url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/whitelaw_goal.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Paula C. Weston","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@USCHO","twitter_site":"@USCHO","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paula C. Weston","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/","name":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Regular-season conference championship up for grabs this weekend as Michigan State heads to Wisconsin - College Hockey | USCHO.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/whitelaw_goal.png","datePublished":"2024-02-29T20:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-29T02:56:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7af35c92417e30bd0dde3637ed101757"},"description":"This weekend, history will be made when Michigan State travels to Wisconsin to decide the regular-season Big Ten championship. If the Spartans win, the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/whitelaw_goal.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/whitelaw_goal.png","width":1416,"height":797,"caption":"Wisconsin players celebrate a goal earlier this season (photo: Tom Lynn)."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2024\/02\/29\/this-week-in-big-ten-hockey-regular-season-conference-title-up-for-grabs-this-weekend-as-michigan-state-heads-to-wisconsin\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Regular-season conference championship up for grabs this weekend as Michigan State heads to Wisconsin"}]},{"@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\/7af35c92417e30bd0dde3637ed101757","name":"Paula C. Weston","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/8ca927e9f51d403bfd423fbbb1331c95","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ab9970d5ede2145c958e295a4d36781?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7ab9970d5ede2145c958e295a4d36781?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Paula C. Weston"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/author\/paula\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145508"}],"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\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145508"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145511,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145508\/revisions\/145511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145508"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=145508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}