Friday, October 19, 2018 // FACEOFF 2018
6B
Big Ten Breakdown: Entire conference hoping to maintain
success of last season, when three teams made Frozen Four
When the No. 11 Michigan
hockey team starts Big Ten
play against Notre Dame three
weeks from now, it will have a
chance at redemption. In last
year’s Frozen Four semifinal,
a last-second Fighting Irish
goal ended the Wolverines’
tournament
run
and
their
surprisingly successful season.
But with Notre Dame ranked as
the No. 2 team in the country,
that chance at redemption may
be a tall order for Michigan.
After
the
opening
series
against
the
Fighting
Irish,
the Wolverines’ Big Ten slate
doesn’t get any easier. Three
of last year’s four Frozen
Four teams came from the
conference — the Wolverines,
Ohio State and Notre Dame.
And the Big Ten is poised to
be a talent-filled conference
again throughout the 2018-19
season. Six of the seven teams
are currently ranked inside the
top 15 in the USCHO poll, with
four teams in the top 10.
With
that
much
talent
in a single conference, the
competition will be intense
from now until March. The
Daily takes a look at each of the
teams in the Big Ten.
No. 1 Ohio State
After reaching the Frozen
Four for the first
time in 20 years
last season, the
Buckeyes
(2-0)
are
set
for
a
similarly strong
year.
They returned
75
percent
of
their
scoring,
led by forwards
Mason
Jobst,
Tanner
Laczynski and Dakota Joshua.
Jobst is the NCAA’s active-
leading scorer, having notched
128 points — 52 of them goals
— in his three years in an Ohio
State sweater.
Last year’s Buckeye defense
had
the
top
penalty-kill
percentage
in
the
nation,
preventing
their
opponents
from scoring on .894 percent
of their chances, and ranked
third in goals allowed per game
with 2.1. With just two goals
allowed through the first two
games, the Ohio State defense
— headlined by
Wyatt
Ege
—
appears
poised
for another year
of
high-level
performances.
No. 2 Notre
Dame
In their first
year in the Big
Ten, the Fighting
Irish (1-0-1) made quite the
impression on the rest of the
conference. They lost just six
conference
games,
winning
the regular season title by
eight points, and defeated the
Buckeyes in overtime for their
first Big Ten championship.
After losing the National
Championship to Minnesota-
Duluth, Notre Dame surely
has motivation to reach the
pinnacle this year. And with
the return of the Big Ten Player
of the Year and a top-10 Hobey
Baker finalist in goaltender
Cale
Morris,
the
Fighting
Irish’s defense shouldn’t have
much to worry about.
At forward, Notre Dame
has been led by Cal Burke and
Bobby Nardella in the first
two games. Burke’s three goals
in the third period against
Mercyhurst
allowed
the
Fighting Irish to rally and tie
the game at six goals before
earning a shootout victory.
No. 7 Minnesota
The Golden Gophers (1-0-
1) opened the 2018-19 season
with
a
series
against
the
team that kept them from
the NCAA Tournament last
season,
Minnesota-Duluth.
The Bulldogs edged Minnesota
by just 0.001 points in the
Pairwise rankings, leaving the
Golden Gophers on the outside
looking in.
Minnesota has a new head
coach, Bob Motzko, which sets
up some uncertainty in the
early going of the
year. The Golden
Gophers
have
two
talented
goaltenders
to
choose from in
Mat Robson, who
was
named
to
the watch list for
the Mike Richter
award, and Eric
Schierhorn, who
was
Big
Ten
Goaltender of the Year two
years ago.
On offense, Minnesota will
have to replace forward Casey
Mittlestadt, who departed for
the Buffalo Sabres. Forwards
Brannon McManus and Sampo
Ranta have emerged as the
leading scorers thus far, but
time will tell if they can
replace Mittlestadt’s 30-point
performance from last season.
No. 10 Penn State
After making their second-
straight
NCAA
Tournament
last season, the
Nittany
Lions
(2-0) are seeking
to
improve
on
their
Midwest
regional loss to
Denver and make
it farther in the
postseason.
But
with
the
loss
of
one of their top forwards,
Andrew Sturtz, and a pair of
talented defensemen in Trevor
Hamilton
and
Erik
Autio,
Penn State will need to find
replacements — and quickly —
for those key players. Forwards
ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Michigan hockey team will have to play five teams in the Big Ten that are currently ranked in the top 15 of the USCHO.com rankings.
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
Ohio State looks to top the conference thanks to returns of Jobst, Laczynski and Joshua
See BIG TEN, Page 7B
The Buckeyes
(2-0) are set
for a similarly
strong year.
Minnesota will
have to replace
forward Casey
Mittlestadt