Big Ten championship is on the line
The good news is that Michigan State can still win the Big Ten championship this year. It’s just that it won’t be coming in basketball. The Michigan State Hockey team will be playing the last two games of their regular season this weekend and the stakes could not be higher. In a bit of fortuitous scheduling, the first-place Spartans will be taking on the second-place team, the Wisconsin Badgers, with a chance to claim the conference crown. There will be two games, one Friday and one Saturday. Currently, MSU’s lead is a mere two points. The Spartans clinch the conference with a regulation win in either game. Short of that, MSU will end in a tie with Wisconsin if Wisconsin wins both games in overtime or a shootout. A tie could also occur if MSU wins one game in overtime or shootout and Wisconsin wins the other game in regulation.
The Badgers visited East Lansing back in November and lost both of those games. But the Badgers have only lost two home games all season, one in overtime, and only one since November. Basically, this is going to be a tough environment for the Spartans to go into and try to earn the title. And while MSU does have an impressive road record this season, they have lost five games away from Munn Ice Arena. Wisconsin will be looking to grow that number.
Both games will begin at 9 PM Eastern Time, and will be streaming on BTN+. Regardless of their finish in the conference standings, MSU will be skating again the following weekend in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament. That round will be a best of three series in which MSU is guaranteed to have home-ice advantage. If they advance beyond that, the semifinals and finals are single-game affairs spread out over the ensuing two weekends. Both of those rounds are hosted by the higher seeded team, so if MSU can get the regular season title, they will host any games they play beyond the quarters.
Beyond that, the NCAA tournament is a 16-team field featuring the winners of the six conference tournaments and ten at-large teams. At this point, it is safe to say that MSU will be included in that field one way or the other.
So get that MSU t-shirt ready for Friday night, subscribe to BTN+ if you haven’t already, and cheer your Spartans on to a banner.