Exciting Inaugural Big Ten Season Comes to a Close this Weekend

As the final weekend of the inaugural Big Ten Conference season quickly approaches, let's have a look at where the teams stand and what the scenarios are heading into the inaugural Big Ten Conference tournament next weekend held at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

                       POINTS       CONFERENCE RECORD                   OVERALL

Minnesota	42	13 – 2 – 3	24 – 4 – 6
Wisconsin	37	12 – 5 – 1	21 – 9 - 6
Michigan	30	9 – 7 – 2 - 1	17 – 11 – 4
Ohio State	24	5 – 8 – 5 – 4	15 – 12 – 5
Michigan State	22	4 – 8 – 6 – 4	10 – 16 – 7
Penn State	7	2 – 15 – 1	6 – 24 – 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.

MINNESOTA: at #13 Michigan this weekend

For the nation's top ranked team, the top seed in the tournament is theirs to lose. The Gophers head into a hostile Yost Ice Arena to take on the No. 13 ranked Wolverines needing a win (regulation, overtime, or shootout) or a Wisconsin tie or loss to clinch the first Big Ten Conference regular season title as well as the first seed in the tournament next week. A tie will clinch at least a share of the regular season title.

The Gophers swept the Wolverines at home in mid-February by scores of 5-3 and 4-1, respectively.

WISCONSIN: at Michigan State

The Badgers travel to East Lansing to face a Spartan team coming off an impressive 4-3 win over rival Michigan at Munn Ice Arena. The win came just 24 hours after Michigan State was thrashed 7-1 by the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. Wisconsin has already clinched a first round bye and can finish no lower than second in the Big Ten Conference standings. They will need to sweep the Spartans and hope for a Michigan sweep at home against Minnesota to take the Big Ten regualar season title and the number one seed next weekend. If the Badgers get five points out of the weekend and Minnesota gets swept, then both teams will have a share of the conference crown. After a 1-6 start on the road, the Badgers are 3-1-1 since and have wins in their past three road games.

MICHIGAN: vs #1 Minnesota

The Wolverines head into the final home series of the year against No. 1 Minnesota with nothing to gain or lose standings-wise. It has already been determined that Michigan has locked up the third seed and will take on the number six seeded Penn State Nittany Lions in the first round of the tournament. However, the Maize and Blue will still look to gain some momentum out of the weekend, as they know that Penn State is no slouch team despite their record (2-15-1 Big Ten, 6-24-2 overall). Both of Penn State's conference wins came against Michigan.

OHIO STATE: at Penn State

The Buckeyes will make the venture to Pegula Ice Arena for the first time this weekend to take on the Nittany Lions. Ohio State swept Penn State in Columbus by finals of 5-1 and 5-2 when the two teams met the last weekend in January. Ohio State will look to fire up its offense once again, as they will face Michigan State next weekend in Saint Paul. Ohio State has a win and three ties (including two shootout wins and a shootout loss) against the Spartans. Goals will be hard to come by next weekend and the Bucks will take all the offense they can get from here on out. A quality weekend by Big Ten leading scorer junior Ryan Dzingel and company can go a long way as the Buckeyes look to make a run at the tournament championship.

MICHIGAN STATE: vs Wisconsin

It's been a season where Spartan fans have had a lot to hang their heads about. Fortunately, a lot of that head hanging hasn't come within the confines of Munn Ice Arena. Not including the Great Lakes Invitational (where the Spartans went 1-0-1) at Comerica Park and the game at Joe Louis Arena (on Jan. 23) against Michigan (where MSU fell by a 2-1 score), Michigan State went 1-10-3 on the road this year. The Spartans have taken solace in their home building where they have eight out of their ten wins this season. Facing a team that had its own struggles on the road for most of the season in Wisconsin, Michigan State will have to look forward to a defensive battle this weekend. Junior Joel Rumpel (Wisconsin) and sophomore Jake Hildebrand (Michigan State) are two of the best goalies not just in the Big Ten, but in the country as well. Senior Will Yanakeff picked up the win against Michigan last Satuday, so it will be interesting to see who head coach Tom Anastos starts between the pipes this weekend.

Michigan State (the fifth seed) will be taking on Ohio State (the fourth seed) in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. Each game between the two gets more exciting than the last, as the previous three times they've faced off, the games have gone into shootouts.

PENN STATE: vs Ohio State

It might not have been a great year record-wise for the Nittany Lions (6-24-2 overall, 2-15-1 Big Ten), but the biggest bright spot this year has been the energetic crowds on a weekly basis at Pegula Ice Arena. The brand new, state of the art facility, exceeds maximum capacity for the average home game. The fans certainly won't miss the Buckeyes first trip to Happy Valley. It's only a matter of time before Penn State is not only a contender for the Big Ten crown, but a contender on the national scale as well. The building itself will be able to draw top notch recruits for Guy Gadowsky's program.

The Nittany Lions are locked with the sixth seed for next weeks tournament and will most likely play Minnesota, a team they lost to by a 2-1 score in their most recent matchup. This is, of course, unless Wisconsin gets every favorable result that they need.

 It will be a tough task slowing down the speedy Buckeyes this weekend, but Penn State is dying to reward their top-notch fan base with a win, possibly two, in this final weekend for both the inaugural seasons for both the Big Ten Conference and Pegula Ice Arena.