Are you feeling all rested and refreshed after the bye week? I hope so, because this is a big week for Buckeye hockey. The Big Ten officially gets underway on Friday when Ohio State visits Yost for the opening leg of a home-and-home series with No. 3 Michigan.
The teams will shift the action to the Schott next Monday night when the Buckeyes will wrap up their first half schedule. In the meantime, if you’re starving for hockey, you can check out the women’s team hosting Robert Morris at the Ice Rink tonight at 7 p.m.
Short Shifts
Buckeye Men
- Steve Rohlik is Jim Connelly's pick for "First Year Coach Whose Team is Most Likely to Sustain Their Early Season Success."
- As Movember winds down you can check up on the state of the Buckeyes’ staches here.
- This is the final week to vote for your picks for the All-Buckeye team's defensemen.
- In case you’ve missed the video at the Schott, Tanner Fritz is featured as one of the “Faces of the Big Ten” in this video.
Big Ten
This week’s B1G recap is brought to you by the number six. Michigan played a single game against Niagara and won 6-0. Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth split six-spots and their weekend series (6-1, 2-6). Michigan State was swept by Western Michigan by a combined score of 6-1. Nate Wells recaps the week in the conference for CHN and has a question for each team as they enter Big Ten play. Paula Weston has three thoughts for three Big Ten teams at USCHO.
Thankful for hockey and hockey fans- The latest round of rankings has Minnesota hanging on to the No. 1 spot, Michigan at No. 3, Wisconsin No. 12/13, and Ohio State receiving votes in both the USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey polls.
- Your B1G Three Stars of the Week are Michigan's Zach Nagelvoort and Tyler Motte, and Minnesota's Michael Brodzinski.
- Opinions about Ohio State aside, MGoBlog user “Gordon Berenson” put together a fascinating look at the history of the B1G hockey championship. Despite the lack of an official conference, the title has been claimed by one team or another for years and some have gone so far as to commemorate the “victories” with championship banners.
- Red Berenson was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame last week. It was his second HOF induction in 2013.
- Michigan officially announced four commitments last week, while Wisconsin announced six (including former OSU recruit Jack Daugherty).
- How did I manage to miss Penn State’s dancing Bon Jovi guy the week before last? (Thanks to Chris for that link!)
Buckeye Women
The lady Bucks’ troubles continued at Minnesota State where they were swept by scores of 4-1 and 2-1. Both games were knotted at 1-1 heading into the respective third periods, but the Mavericks were able to prevail in the final frame on each occasion. Katie Matheny and Ally Tarr recorded their second goals of the season in the series. The team faces Robert Morris at home tonight (7pm at the Ice Rink) before traveling to New Hampshire this weekend for a Saturday-Sunday series.
- You can read the game recaps from the MSU series on Ohio State’s website here and here.
- Be sure to check out the game preview for Robert Morris here, including links for following along from home.
Nuts Abroad
- Kim Nursall has more on Tessa Bonhomme's surprising release from Team Canada here.
- Pretty much any time the Penguins play the Bruins we get a Matt Bartkowski update from the Post-Gazette. The teams played each other last night, so here's Bartkowski (via Dave Molinari) on getting comfortable in the NHL.
- The Washington Capitols reassigned Tyson Strachan to the Hershey Bears.
- Ted Warren of The Hockey Writers talked to Dave Steckel about coming to play for Norfolk and what role he’s playing for the Admirals.
- Patrick Schafer signed a contract with Bloomington of the SPHL on Friday. He has a goal and two assists through two games with the Thunder.
- It's been a rocky road for the Vancouver Canucks lately and Ryan Kesler had some strong words to share following the team’s latest loss.
- And finally, it was an unfortunate outcome for South Carolina, but a good night for Peter Boyd as he scored twice in the Stingrays’ 6-4 loss.
