In need of a solid weekend in order to remain in first place in the Big Ten, Michigan State hockey faced a matchup against No. 18 Penn State and it stumbled big-time.
Adam Nightingale's Spartans just needed to take care of business against the Big Ten's fifth-place team and they couldn't do it, losing in a shootout on Friday night to Penn State and then losing 3-2 on Saturday, missing out on a chance to secure that top spot in the conference standings with just one weekend left in the regular season.
Michigan State has been limping to the finish line, losing Red Savage for the season a couple of weeks ago and bouncing back and forth between that No. 1 ranking in the country and somewhere in the top five. After this weekend, however, it's looking like the Spartans are going to surrender that top spot in the rankings after giving up the No. 1 spot in the Big Ten.
With a weekend series upcoming against Notre Dame in South Bend against the worst team in the Big Ten, the Spartans need to pull off the sweep and hope that Minnesota slips up in at least one of the final two games against these same Nittany Lions in Happy Valley.
Nightingale is going to have his guys ready, but slipping up in a prime spot to make a statement and stay atop the Big Ten standings with four games left would've been nice. Now the Spartans don't control their own destiny. Not a great spot to be.
A second straight Big Ten title will be tough to come by.