{"id":98864,"date":"2015-01-05T08:59:55","date_gmt":"2015-01-05T14:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/big-ten-blog\/?p=417"},"modified":"2015-01-05T08:59:55","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T14:59:55","slug":"three-things-from-the-big-ten-show-us-that-anything-can-probably-happen-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2015\/01\/05\/three-things-from-the-big-ten-show-us-that-anything-can-probably-happen-this-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Three things from the Big Ten show us that anything can (probably) happen this season"},"content":{"rendered":"
As the league begins conference play in earnest this coming weekend, this past weekend of nonconference play — the past two weeks of play, really — taught us that nearly anything may happen as the rest of the season unfolds. <\/p>\n
1. Joel Rumpel can play.<\/strong> And when the Badgers play in front of him, Wisconsin can beat anyone. After being pulled in the first period of Friday’s 8-1 loss to Michigan Tech, having given up three goals in 10 minutes, Rumpel gave a career performance Saturday in Wisconsin’s 2-0 win over the Huskies,<\/a> stopping 47 shots in the game. The team in front of him blocked 27 shots; the Huskies tried to put the puck on net a total of 102 times. The Badgers gave the No. 5 Huskies their first shutout loss of the season and their first road loss. They’re young, but with a little confidence the Badgers could make at least a little noise in the heart of the Big Ten schedule between now and the end of March.<\/p>\n 2. Minnesota is beatable.<\/strong> And the Golden Gophers are especially beatable in their own holiday tournament. Minnesota outshot Merrimack 42-17 in Friday’s 3-2 loss in Mariucci Classic semifinal action and needed overtime to beat RIT 3-2<\/a> in the tournament’s third-place game Saturday. The Gophers have captured the Mariucci Classic title twice since 2007; Minnesota captured their tournament championship for eight consecutive years (1999-2007) prior to that. This particular Mariucci Classic performance proved that this particular Minnesota team needs to have every player performing at 100 percent every game to win. With a few players out for the IIHF World Junior Championship, the Gophers were vulnerable. Any injuries or illness will leave the Gophers struggling like other mere mortals for the remainder of the season. <\/p>\n