Hockey Bucks End Regular Season with Visit to Michigan State

The hockey Bucks visit Michigan State this week to close out their regular season schedule. The series will be a preview of next week’s first round Big Ten tournament match-up. Though the exact order is still somewhat up in the air, OSU and MSU will be the fourth and fifth place finishers in the Big Ten. As such they will square off in one of the tourney's quarterfinals.

The 2015-16 Buckeyes have come a long way since the season began back in October. The young squad has shown incredible development over the last five months. Its rookies have settled into the collegiate game well and are having a real impact. The team’s scoring chemistry is off the charts.

Over the last month no team in the NCAA has been more productive than Ohio State. In that stretch the Buckeyes have scored a nation-best 4.75 goals per game. They’re 4-1-1-0 in their last six games and enter the week fresh off a sweep of current No. 9 Michigan.

The raging offense helps counterbalance the Bucks' still struggling defense. Despite visible improvement the statistics still aren’t pretty. In the last month, OSU is second to last in average goals-against per game (4.62).

The Spartans’ strengths and weaknesses are directly opposite the Buckeyes’. Michigan State is the offensive equivalent of a water pistol among the big guns of the conference, barely clearing two goals per game on the season. Defense is the Spartans’ stronger suit, and one they’ve been improving over the last month.

Since the beginning of February MSU is tied with Penn State for the lowest average goals-against in the Big Ten (2.67). That’s an outstanding stat given the B1G’s heavy artillery this season. It’s also nearly a full goal less than their season mark.

If Ohio State can reach four goals against MSU the team should be in good shape for a win but, despite the Bucks’ potent offense, that number might not be an easy one to attain. Michigan State’s defenders have already proven they can bottle up the Scarlet and Gray. When the Spartans visited Columbus in January they held OSU to its lowest series goal total (4) since the Buckeyes faced Miami way back in October.

Around the Conference

The Big Ten standings are nearly set. Three points against Wisconsin this week will secure the outright regular season title for Minnesota. Michigan hosts Penn State needing at least two points to clinch the other free pass to the B1G semifinals.

The Badgers-Gophers series is the only one to crack basketball's stranglehold on television this week. ESPNews airs Friday’s game at 8pm ET. BTN has Saturday’s contest, also at 8pm ET.