After Michigan lost to Minnesota earlier this week, it looked like Michigan State hockey was going to easily lock up a Big Ten title with four opportunities to attain five points in the standings.
A three-peat was likely — until Friday night.
Ohio State marched into Munn Arena and dominated the Spartans from start to finish, securing a 5-1 win and dropping Michigan State to 24-7-0 with three games left to get those five points.
This loss showed that Michigan State’s third straight Big Ten title isn’t going to be a cakewalk. Even Ohio State, a 12-18-1 squad, is going to give Michigan State all it can handle. The Buckeyes would love to spoil a Big Ten title run, even if that means giving their top rival the crown.
Michigan State is down four points to Michigan in the standings (49-45) with three games left and it will need to win at least two to share the Big Ten title. Winning out would give Michigan State the outright crown for the third straight time, but losing a game that was assumed to be an easy win is not going to help matters.
This may be the first real on-ice adversity that the team has faced all season. It’s been a rough month mentally for this squad after losing an assistant coach, but they had been playing for him, and playing well, until Friday’s loss.
Now they need to lock in for the final three games or they’re going to watch the title slip away.
Michigan State hockey faces a tough-ish road
Although the Spartans need to win out to claim the outright title, they’re not facing the easiest road. Throw records out the window, Minnesota is not an easy place to win. The Gophers have a historically-good hockey program and playing in Minneapolis presents one of the toughest challenges even if they’re having a bad year.
Also, Minnesota proved that it wasn’t a pushover despite being just 11-20-2 on the season, going into Ann Arbor and picking up a win this week. The Gophers are going to test the Spartans.
The Spartans need to take care of Ohio State on Saturday night and then win one of the two road games against Minnesota — or win both — and the Big Ten title is theirs for a third year in a row.
This isn’t an easy road, but it’s a winnable one.