GBMWolverine
Fansided

Big Ten Hockey Tournament: Can Michigan Hockey Take The Crown?

By Grant Dossetto

Nov 26, 2016; Detroit, MI, USA; A view of the inside of Joe Louis Arena is seen before the start of the Detroit Red Wings game against the Montreal Canadiens at Joe Louis Arena. The Red Wings are playing their last season in Joe Louis Arena before the team moves to Little Caesars Arena next season. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 26, 2016; Detroit, MI, USA; A view of the inside of Joe Louis Arena is seen before the start of the Detroit Red Wings game against the Montreal Canadiens at Joe Louis Arena. The Red Wings are playing their last season in Joe Louis Arena before the team moves to Little Caesars Arena next season. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

It hasn’t been a great season for Michigan hockey, but the Big Ten Hockey tournament offers a chance to possibly change that path.

Michigan hockey is the No. 5 seed in a six-team field for the Big Ten Hockey tournament. That means the Wolverines will face off in the tournament’s first round on Thursday.

Related Story: Michigan will have its hands full with Oklahoma State

The Big Ten is unique in college hockey, having adopted a basketball style one-weekend, single elimination tournament. The top two seeds have byes with the bottom four playing No. 3vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5. Michigan will play Penn State.

That is a familiar matchup. Michigan ended the season at home last weekend with a two-game set against the Nittany Lions. Michigan won both. Against ranked Ohio State, top-five Minnesota, and ranked Penn State the Wolverines finished the Big Ten schedule strong, going 4-2 in the stretch with two shutouts. Those four wins were more victories than the Wolverines managed in the first 14 conference games.

If you write about sports long enough you will be wrong a lot. You also get it right a time or two. It was just before the trip to Columbus that I said Michigan wasn’t as bad as its record, that the Wolverines couldn’t fold up shop, and if they competed down the stretch during a disappointing season they could win against the conference’s best.

More from GBMWolverine

They did just that. Some wins were the result of good goaltending in the face of sustained pressure by the opponent, the normal recipe for a bad team to win. Others not so much. Michigan fell behind Minnesota multiple times during the Friday game of the series.

The Wolverines kept fighting, tying it just a couple minutes after giving up a late go-ahead goal for the Gophers in the third then going ahead for good. Michigan put up 41 shots that game.

Sweeping Penn State saw more sustained 60-minute efforts. This still isn’t the normal Michigan hockey quality but it isn’t the awful form seen in December and January.

Can Michigan win the tournament? Given the single elimination style and Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena being the host site, Michigan comes in hot and a de facto home team. That is enough. Is it probable? No.

Michigan doesn’t have to win it to cause problems for the conference though. Sixteen teams make the NCAA tournament. A computer system called the Pairwise rankings determines how the teams are ranked.

The Atlantic Hockey conference and the WCHA are guaranteed an automatic qualifier. That is two slots taken, so the remaining conference tournament winners and at-large bids get 14 slots.

Currently the Big Ten has Minnesota at No. 5, Penn State tied for No. 12, Ohio State at No. 14 and Wisconsin at No. 18. If Michigan and Michigan State win in the first round and Minnesota wins the title the conference will be a one-bid league for the third straight year.

Next: Top 10 running backs in Michigan history

Not exactly the super conference people expected when the league was announced in 2012.

Home/Michigan Wolverines News