Week 10 Hockey Release

Photo courtesy of Ohio State Athletics

OFFICIAL RELEASE

• A full slate of conference games are in store this weekend as the schedule rolls into December. In a battle of Top 10 programs, No. 4/4 Minnesota plays host to No. 6/6 Michigan with undefeated league records on the line. Friday’s game from 3M Arena at Mariucci will be featured on FS1. Consensus No. 1 Michigan State, owner of a nine-game win streak, travels to Wisconsin for the first time since clinching last year’s Big Ten Championship. Saturday’s contest will be carried by the Big Ten Network. BTN will also broadcast the series opener between No. 17/16 Ohio State and Penn State from Columbus on Thursday night. Notre Dame, coming off a trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland for the Friendship Four, is off this week.

• The Big Ten schedule heats up this week with the top four teams in the standings squaring off. Minnesota owns a five-point lead in the conference race, having won all six games and securing 17 of a possible 18 points. Michigan State (4-0-0, 12 points) and Michigan (4-0-0, 11 points) also sport unblemished records and have two games in hand. Wisconsin is tied for third at 11 points, having played two more contests than the rest of the lead pack.

• Six Big Ten players have been named to the preliminary roster for the 2025 U.S. National Junior Team, USA Hockey announced on Monday. The six are part of a 28-player group assembling in Plymouth, Mich., from Dec. 16-17 for a training camp. Twenty-five players will be chosen to represent Team USA at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, to be held Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Ottawa, Ontario. Earning invites are Michigan State’s Trey Augustine, Minnesota’s Oliver Moore and Brodie Ziemer, Notre Dame’s Paul Fischer and Danny Nelson and Wisconsin’s Logan Hensler. Augustine, Moore and Nelson helped the United States to gold at last year’s World Junior tournament on a team that featured twelve Big Ten players along with Minnesota Associate Head Coach Steve Miller, who will once again serve on the coaching staff. Michigan State’s Maxim Štrbák (Slovakia) and Minnesota’s Matthew Wood (Canada) have also received invitations to selection camps from their respective countries.

• Pressed into action last week, Penn State junior goaltender John Seifarth made the most of his opportunity, winning the first two starts of his collegiate career in a home sweep of Colgate, Nov. 26-27, at Pegula Ice Arena. A Pittsburgh, Pa., native, Seifarth held Colgate scoreless on four power play attempts and stopped 47-of-50 shots during the series to finish with a .940 save percentage. One of his saves was of the highlight reel variety, earning air time on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays. Seifarth spent the past two seasons playing for the Penn State ACHA Division II club team before joining the varsity Nittany Lions as a No. 3 goalie last spring. For his efforts against Colgate, Seifarth was named the Big Ten Hockey First Star of the Week. 

• Tickets for the Frozen Confines: Big Ten Hockey Series, taking place Jan. 3-4, 2025 at Wrigley Field, are on sale at Cubs.com/BigTenHockey. Tickets start at $15.