~~2017-18 Big Ten Hockey Thread~~

[Brutus Buckeye]

Week 22; Game 2

Michigan State beats Notre Dame. Series split. 

Ohio State beats Wisconsin. Series Sweep.

Penn State beat Minnesota. Series Sweep. 

Also Michigan swept Arizona State.

-------------------------------------

Final Standings

1 Notre Dame 53 pts
2 Ohio State 45
3 Michigan 38
4 Penn State 34
5 Minnesota 33
6 Wisconsin 28
7 Michigan State 21

[ELA]

Some positive signs.  I think down the stretch, MSU got a tie with UM, and split weekend series with OSU, UW and PSU

And also earns a split with ND.  Dug themselves too deep a hole, but a solid last 5ish weeks.

[PSUinNC]

Where do yinz think the sweep of Minnesota put PSU in terms of an NCAA at-large?  I have a feeling the Nits are square on the bubble right now.  

[ELA]

Where do yinz think the sweep of Minnesota put PSU in terms of an NCAA at-large?  I have a feeling the Nits are square on the bubble right now.  

#13 in the PWR, so I think pretty squarely in now.  Big Ten looking good for 5 teams.

[HailHailMSP]

Current B1G pairwise:

2. Notre Dame
6. Ohio State
9T Minnesota
9T Michigan
13 Penn State

Notre Dame and Ohio State are in. At this point Notre Dame has more or less locked itself into a 1 seed. Ohio State could play into a 1 with a deep B1G run or play itself down to 3 if they get swept this weekend. I THINK Michigan and MN are safe with 1 win this weekend. I am sure the USCHO geeks are doing some pairwise predictors that I haven't looked into. A sweep for either could move them down the line though. I THINK Penn State needs to advance beyond this weekend to ensure their spot. If they lose to MN they likely drop a spot or two. And with an upset or two in auto qualifier conference championships they will be on the wrong side of the line.

[Brutus Buckeye]

[PSUinNC]

Have to think that sweeping puts PSU in regardless of what happens at ND?

[HailHailMSP]

Have to think that sweeping puts PSU in regardless of what happens at ND?

 I think Penn State is in as long as they don't get swept, and they might even be in if they did.
Current status:
2. Notre Dame
4  Ohio State
7  Michigan
11 Penn State
13 Minnesota
Minnesota is in big trouble. They can afford only two below the line conference tourney qualifiers, and that is contingent on no one else jumping them. I am not going out on a limb stating this, but the 4 game sweep by Penn State will be the final nail in the coffin for Don Lucia. Grant Potulny, Don Motzko, Scott Bell are all rumored names.

[NickSmith4Three]

Illinois has concluded it's feasibility study on adding D1 hockey.  I would be ecstatic if this happens.

http://whyillinihockey.com/

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/fightingillini.com/documents/2018/3/8/hockeyreport_022718.pdf

[Brutus Buckeye]

That would be sweet.

OSU and PSU need to have another friend atop the Big Ten Standings, looking down upon those uppity "Hockey Schools"

[ELA]

Illinois has concluded it's feasibility study on adding D1 hockey.  I would be ecstatic if this happens.

http://whyillinihockey.com/

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/fightingillini.com/documents/2018/3/8/hockeyreport_022718.pdf

You can have ours if you want.  Total waste of resources

[MichiFan87]

Of all the non-hockey BigTen schools, I would still think college hockey would make the most sense at Iowa, Nebraska, or even Rutgers, but more power to Illinois if they go through with it. That said, I'm skeptical until they find a big donor like Penn State and Arizona State had.

Oakland and UNLV are looking into D1 hockey, too. Oakland would be an easy addition to the WCHA, as would any Midwestern school (I still think public non-FB schools with minimal basketball success within the Midwest and Northeast like Green Bay, Cleveland State, and Binghamton are obvious potential hockey schools, but what do I know?), while UNLV along with Arizona State would have to align with the Alaska schools, Air Force, and another future program in the West to create a new league, assuming Denver and Colorado College wouldn't leave the NCHC. That said, UAH could join that group and improve its hopes for relevance without increasing its travel costs that much. Time will tell.

Anyway, Michigan should have a 2/3 seed. It's absurd that none of the regionals are actually in the Midwest, though....

[NickSmith4Three]

Illinois needs some big donors no doubt, but not a huge donor like Penn State.  Under these proposals, private companies are building the arenas rather than the Illinois athletic department.

[HailHailMSP]

I love college hockey and I love the new entrants and growth for the sport. But, as more programs add hockey I wonder what it does to the product? Does it get watered down? You have a limited number of states out there that sponsor the sport at a HS level. And in those states there is a very limited entry to who can even keep up with it. We have a mite level player (8 years old) in MN where ice time is more plentiful and less expensive and it cost $700, not including equipment, to go Nov - March. This doesn't include the year around business either. No youth sports are cheap these days but hockey is on a different level. The numbers get further watered down when you factor in those that go the JR or Minor League route permanently in the US and Canada (Tkachuk, Matthews).

It feels like the quality and skill level has dropped off a bit in the last decade. The top lines will always carry top NHL talent like Brock Boeser, Johnny Gaudreau. But the level of play from lines 2,3, and 4 seems to have fallen off.

Going strictly on the eye test for me there is no greater drop off from collegiate to professional than the NCAA hockey to the NHL.