Week 20 Hockey Release

Photo by Dan Garcia

OFFICIAL RELEASE

• The penultimate week of the Big Ten Hockey season finds No. 1/1 Michigan State with an opportunity to clinch a share of the Big Ten Championship as the conference race tightens. Michigan State holds a three-point lead over No. 7/6 Ohio State and No. 5/4 Minnesota with four games remaining. The Spartans can clinch a share of the regular season title if they: 1.) win twice in regulation and 2.) Ohio State and Minnesota both earn no more than three points over the weekend. MSU will host No. 18/17 Penn State, which has won eight of 10 games (8-1-1) since last meeting the Spartans on Jan. 11. No. 5/4 Minnesota will take on No. 7/6 Ohio State in Minneapolis in a showdown of Top 10 programs. The teams split in Columbus with OSU posting a 5-1 win on Jan. 10 and Minnesota answering with a 6-1 victory the next night. Rv/rv Wisconsin concludes its conference slate against Notre Dame. The two sides split one-goal games earlier this season, which should come as no surprise, as the teams are tied in conference play (14-14-2) dating to ND’s entry into the Big Ten in 2017-18. The Big Ten Network will broadcast doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday, starting with Penn State-Michigan State, followed by Notre Dame-Wisconsin. The Ohio State-Minnesota series will be televised on FOX 9 and streamed on B1G+. 

• Three teams — Michigan State, Ohio State and Minnesota — have claimed home ice for the Big Ten Hockey Tournament which commences the weekend of March 7-9 with best-of-three quarterfinal games. The No. 1 seed receives a bye into the tournament semifinals on March 15. The championship game is slated for March 22. All games for the 12th edition of the tournament will be hosted by the higher-seeded team.

• Michigan State has reclaimed the top spot in the USCHO.com and USA Hockey/The Rink Live national polls. It is the first time since Jan. 13 the Spartans have been the consensus No. 1, a position they have occupied for seven weeks at various points this season. No. 5/4 Minnesota remains in the Top 10 for the 33rd consecutive week (dating back to last season) while No. 7/6 Ohio State has achieved its highest rankings of the season. A total five Big Ten teams are cited in the Top 20 with Wisconsin receiving votes.

• Sophomore Trey Augustine of Michigan State has been named a semifinalist for the Mike Richter Award, given to the nation’s top goaltender. He is one of ten student-athletes on the list, which will be pared down to three finalists in March. Augustine leads Big Ten netminders with 15 wins and ranks second in goals-against average (2.07) and save percentage (.926). The South Lyon, Mich., native was also tabbed a semifinalist for the AAU James E. Sullivan Award, presented annually to the most outstanding athlete at the collegiate or Olympic level in the United States. A two-time gold medalist with the U.S. National Junior Team, Augustine is one of 39 semifinalists in a field that includes 13 current or former Big Ten student-athletes. A Sullivan Award fan vote is being held at www.aausullivan.org.