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Michigan Wolverine Hockey: Big Ten Tournament — Minnesota

By Eroc Wolverine

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Posted at 8:00am — 3/19/2015

Michigan Wolverine Hockey: Big Ten Tournament — Minnesota

What: B1G Ten Hockey Tournament
When: Thursday-Saturday March 19th-21st
Where: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit
#4 Penn State (18-14-4) vs. #5 Ohio State (13-18-3) Thursday @ 4:30 p.m. Winner vs. #1 Minnesota (21-12-3) 4:30 p.m. Friday.
#3 Michigan (20-14-0) vs. #6 Wisconsin (4-25-5) Thursday @ 8 p.m. Winner vs. #2 MSU (17-15-2) 8:00 p.m. Friday.

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Championship Game 8 p.m. Saturday.

TV/Radio: Thursday/ Friday/Saturday: BTN

WTKA 1050 a.m. with Al Randall & Bill Trainor. www.mgoblue.com

Handicapping The B1G Ten Tournament Field

#1 Minnesota (21-12-3)

Earned a 1st round bye and their 2nd consecutive B1G Ten regular season title. Has a winning record this season against every team in the league except Michigan (2-2). Will take on either Penn State or Ohio State in the semi-final round on Friday. Is 3-1 against both of those programs this season. Is the only team that has an at-large berth (13th) in the NCAA barring a semi-final loss and other combinations that could place them on the bubble.

Michigan Wolverines
Michigan Wolverines /

Michigan Wolverines

Boasts of All-B1G Ten and Defensive Player of the Year junior defenseman Mike Reilly (6-36-42) as well as seniors Kyle Rau (19-20-39) and Travis Boyd (16-20-36) both of which earned Second Team B1G Ten honors. Junior netminder Adam Wilcox (20-11-3, 2.46 GAA, .909 save %) had an off season by his standards but still earned Second Team B1G Ten recognition. If he is on, he is as good as any netminder in the country. When he is off, he is awful, giving up fat rebounds and losing his mental focus.

Consensus: *Should* win its semi-final game and await the other side of the bracket in the final: Wisconsin-Michigan-MSU. Probably has the best talent/depth in the conference with six seniors leading the way. They will miss sophomore forward Connor Reilly who is out for the season. They will be the slight favorite to win the tournament even if home state fans fill JLA to root on either Michigan or MSU. It would not be a complete shock to see the Gophers lose considering that they are vulnerable on the road or at neutral sites.

X-factors: Minnesota has the best PP in the country, but is also susceptible to defensive lapses. Wilcox is capable of stealing games but hasn’t shown it much this season.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Yostmeister

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