Hockey Night In Columbus: Big Ten Conference Recap Feb. 28

While I recapped the exciting series between Ohio State and Michigan (see below), let's have a look at what the rest of the Big Ten Conference was up to this past weekend.

Penn State @ Minnesota

It was the final home series for the No.2 ranked Golden Gophers and the home crowd at Mariucci Arena wasn't disappointed with the results on either night. On Friday night, Penn State jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on the strength of sophomore Kenny Brooks' power play goal. It would prove to be the only time the Nittany Lions would visit the red light district, as Hobey Baker candidate, sophomore Adam Wilcox, impressed the fans at Mariucci for his last time this season, stopping 30 of 31 shots. The explosive Gopher offense went to work just 4:43 after the tally by Brooks when junior Sam Warning put home his 12^th goal of the season. The sixth ranked offense in the nation peeled off four more goals courtesy of freshman Hudson Fasching, junior captain Kyle Rau, freshman Taylor Cammarata, and senior captain Nate Condon.

Saturday night would prove to be more of a test for Minnesota, but the Gophers would not be denied on Senior Night, as some of the Gopher seniors played center stage in a dramatic home finale. At the 12:37 mark in the 1^st period, junior Travis Boyd displayed a great individual effort in firing one past junior P.J. Musico to light the lamp, putting the Gophers up 1-0. Physical play ensued for much of the game in what was a tight contest the entire night. Sophomore Curtis Loik notched his fifth goal of the season, beating senior Michael Shibrowski to tie things up at 1 a piece late in the second period, making things very interesting heading into the final 20 minutes at Mariucci. In only his second start of the season, Shibrowski pitched a gem, stopping 26 of 27 pucks fired in his direction. It was only fitting that the seniors would steal the show for the Gophers, as senior Tom Serratore sent the 10,045 in attendance into a frenzy with 6:45 remaining in the game, scoring his third goal of the season and his final goal at Mariucci Arena. The defense along with Shibrowski stood tall for the remaining time on the clock, completing the sweep over the Nittany Lions. The Gophers finished their home schedule with a remarkable 15-1-3 record. One loss at Mariucci is the fewest in the building's 20-year history.

Minnesota will head to Columbus to take on a very dangerous Ohio State Buckeye team next weekend. Penn State heads back to University Park for the first of four home games to finish their second campaign as a program. The Nittany Lions will welcome Wisconsin who comes off of a bye week.

USANTDP U18s @ Michigan State

Although Michigan State had the weekend off in terms of collegiate opponents, they still had an exhibition matchup against the USANTDP U-18 team at Munn Ice Arena. The best 17-year-old hockey players in the United States stormed into East Lansing and made a huge statement in beating the Spartans for the second consecutive year on their home ice. USANTDP held a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of action off of goals from Jack Eichel (a Boston University recruit) and Sonny Milano (a Boston College recruit). 12:29 into the second period, USANTDP upped its lead to three goals thanks to a power play goal from Scottsdale, AZ, native Auston Matthews. The Spartans woke up immediately after that, with a goal coming 50 seconds later from freshman Joe Cox and another goal from sophomore Michael Ferrantino just two minutes after to cut the USANTDP lead down to 1. The game was tied with just under seven minutes remaining on a short handed goal by senior Lee Reimer. The Spartans had full momentum heading into the overtime period, but it would be the program out of Ann Arbor that would have the last laugh. Eichel struck again for the second time of the night 2:12 into overtime, giving his team a 4-3 win.

Michigan State has a home and home series next weekend with in-state rival Michigan. Friday's game will be in Ann Arbor at Yost Ice Arena while Saturday's contest will be in East Lansing at Munn. Both puck drops are set for 7 p.m.

BIG TEN STANDINGS

Here is a look at how things stand with just a few weeks remaining in the regular season

Games Played Points Conference Overall

MINNESOTA	16	38	12 – 2 – 2	23 – 4 – 5
WISCONSIN	16	31	10 – 5 – 1	19 – 9 – 2
MICHIGAN	16	27	8 – 6 – 2 – 1	16 – 10 – 4
OHIO STATE	16	22	5 – 7 – 4 – 3	15 – 11 – 4
MICHIGAN STATE	16	19	3 – 7 – 6 – 4	9 – 15 – 7
PENN STATE	16	7	2 – 13 – 1	6 – 22 – 2

*Format

Wins – losses – ties – shootout wins

three points for a regulation or overtime win, two points for a shootout win, one point for a shootout loss and no points for a regulation or overtime loss.