030219 Big Ten Notebook
Looking at the final weekend of play, briefly highlighting playoff match-ups and high school hockey tournament play
I don’t think anyone expected the story of the last weekend of regular season play in the Big Ten to be a non-conference series, but it probably was. Minnesota closed out the regular season schedule with a home series against upstart Division 1 independents Arizona State, and made the nationally-ranked Sun Devils look out of place. The first game wasn’t a great showing for the boys from the desert (who were down leading scorer Johnny Walker both nights), losing 5-1. The second game was worse, with a three-goal first period leading into a 2nd period where the Gophers would find themselves with a 5-minute powerplay up 4-0. Arizona State’s comeback was stymied and starting goaltender Joey Daccord would go on to uncharacteristically allow 10 goals on the weekend.
The Sun Devils were pretty uninspired on the whole, while the Gophers played to their strengths and with the desperation this time of year necessitates. Minnesota fans will likely be pleased with the way this young team has closed out the second half. Since being swept at Penn State the Gophers have posted a 5-1 record, winning their last three games on home ice.
State Tournament (MN)
The Minnesota High School tournament loomed over the weekend series in the Twin Cities. It will play out this coming week. “The Tourney” is particularly noteworthy as the Minnesota men’s team has a number of players who jumped right into college from high school this season: draft-eligible defenseman Ben Brinkman and 2017 7th-rounder (TB) Sammy Walker both played for Edina and looked like veterans against the Sun Devils varsity this weekend. ASU also have a skater from that 2017-2018 Edina roster in forward Demetrios Koumontzis, a fourth-round NHL draft look (CGY) last summer.
There are a number of Big Ten-bound recruits playing in this year’s state tournament. Edina, the top seed, feature Gopher recruits Mason Nevers and Jake Boltmann as well as future Badger Mike Vorlicky. Rivals Eden Prairie have three Gopher recruits starring: Jack Jensen, a Mr. Hockey candidate and the Mittelstadt brothers —Luke and John. #5-seed Duluth East’s towering, wheeling draft-eligible center Ryder Donovan recently announced his commitment to Wisconsin. He punched the Hounds ticket to the playoffs with an OT winner last week. Blaine, another top seed, lean on a goalscorer of their own in Bryce Brodzinski. The Minnesota recruit is the last in a line of talented Brodzinski brothers.
New England Prep Tournament
Speaking of high school tournaments, Kimball Union (NH) side-swiped Lawrence Academy (MA) to punch their ticket to the prep school final. It will be their chance to three-peat — and against coach Andrew Will’s Salisbury (CT) team — the first to ever do it, just a few years ago with his dominant Crimson Knights rosters. Whether Salisbury return to championship form or the Wildcats lock down a piece of prep history for themselves, the game should be a battle. Both programs will be in the mix for years to come. Coincidentally, Salisbury beat day school Dexter (MA) for the chance to spoil Kimball Union’s chance at the three-peat, and it was Dexter that they had to beat to win their own three-peat in 2015. Catch the stream here at 5 EST.
The other two post-season prep tournaments that will be decided that day will also be streamed on that site: Holderness x Tilton and Kent x Cushing.
Around the Big Ten
Michigan State split with Ohio State, despite the Buckeyes really threatening to comeback and sweep in the third period. Tanner Laczynski’s (1G1A) tenth of the year wasn’t enough as the KHL line turned it back on for the second night.
Penn State and Notre Dame traded one-goal wins. Penn State star Evan Barratt’s return was felt as he threw in the winner on the powerplay with 14 minutes to play on Saturday night. The Irish have been limping since February, going 4-5 including this weekend. The season hasn’t been terrific since their early going, and they haven’t swept anyone since November 16-17 against Michigan State. That’s who they’ll host in South Bend for the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals next weekend. The winner will play regular season title-holders Ohio State.
Penn State will host Wisconsin in a series which has all the makings of a barn-burner three-game set. The scores of the season series, a 2-2 split overall? 4-3, 8-5, 8-2 and 7-3. The Badgers have two very skilled forwards in Linus Weissbach and Sean Dhooghe producing down the stretch, while the Nittany Lions have five of the top fifteen scorers in the Big Ten this season.
The winner of #4 Penn State and #5 Wisconsin will play the winner of #6 Michigan at #3 Minnesota. I think the Gophers have to be favored by a large margin despite how tight the season was shaping up to be points-wise. The Gophers are doing solidly in the second half while the Wolverines have had a rollercoaster entire year. The x-factor will obviously be Quinn Hughes, who may be able to get a lot done on the big ice sheet, fighting out his likely last college games.
