BIG TEN HOCKEY
• Big Ten Conference play begins in earnest this week with two series on the schedule. Rv/rv Wisconsin, which opened the Big Ten season two weeks ago, travels to No. 19/20 Notre Dame while No. 4/4 Minnesota hosts No. 18/18 Penn State. The Golden Gophers swept the Nittany Lions in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals. In nonconference action, #11/11 Michigan takes on No. 5/5 Boston University on the road and No. 15/15 Ohio State entertains Lake Superior State in Columbus. No. 3/3 Michigan State is idle this week after moving up a spot in the national polls. Six Big Ten teams are ranked in the USCHO.com and USA Hockey/The Rink Live Top 20 polls, matching an all-time high for the conference.
• Ohio State, picked seventh in the preseason coaches poll, is off to a 2-0 conference start and remains unbeaten with a 5-0-1 overall record. RIT transfer Aiden Hansen-Bukata owns a team-best eight points on defense and second-year forward Max Montes has five goals in six games. Kristoffer Eberly (1.00 GAA, .962 SV%) and Logan Terness (1.59 GAA, .942 SV%) have been formidable in goal for the third-best defensive team in the country (1.33 goals allowed per game). The OSU penalty kill is operating at an .889 clip (16-for-18) and the Buckeyes have allowed one goal or fewer in four-straight contests.
• Coming off 2024 NCAA Tournament appearances, Minnesota and Michigan State continue to experience success based on 5-1-0 starts to the season. The Gophers rank second nationally in scoring, averaging 5.50 goals per game after netting five-or-more goals in four-straight outings. Junior forwards Connor Kurth and Matthew Wood are averaging 2.0 points per game as the third-leading scorers in the nation. The offense has helped Bob Motzko’s team complete sweeps of in-state rivals Minnesota Duluth and St. Thomas. Michigan State has proven to be stingy on defense as well, allowing 1.50 goals per game while outscoring opponents, 18-9, on the season. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, the Spartans have compiled a 30-11-3 record with Adam Nightingale behind the bench.
• Entering this week’s action with a 4-1-0 record, Penn State is continuing a trend of fast starts under 13-year Head Coach Guy Gadowsky. The Nittany Lions have won 19 of their last 22 games in October going back three years and sport a 33-5-0 record in October dating to 2018. Penn State’s only setback this season was a one-goal loss to No. 8/8 Quinnipiac on the road.
• The next Big Ten Hockey game scheduled for the Big Ten Network will take place December 5 when Penn State travels to Ohio State. Until then, fans can tune into live streams of Big Ten games on B1G+ (bigtenplus.com), a subscription service from BTN. In addition to hockey, B1G+ offers live streaming of over 1,400 non-televised games, On-Demand archives of both non-televised and televised games and access to the BTN’s video library and programming.
• Tickets for The Frozen Confines: Big Ten Hockey Series are on sale at Cubs.com/BigTenHockey.
Western Michigan
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan forward Zach Nehring was selected as the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Rookie of the Month, the league announced this afternoon.
Nehring was exceptional in October, registering more than a point per game. He finished the month with five points on three goals and two assists. The Minot, N.D. native was +4 and scored a point in all but one game.
The rookie forward began his career with a goal against Ferris State on Oct. 11. He followed that up with an assist the next night in a 5-1 win over the Bulldogs.
The next week, he tallied the first multi-goal/multi-point game of his career in a 6-2 victory against Bowling Green. Nehring scored the first two goals of the game and added a helper later that night. That led to him earning NCHC Rookie of the Week honors.
Nehring is currently tied for the team lead in points and is second in goals. Along with his offensive game, Nehring has blocked three shots this season. That is the most among forwards on the roster.
The Broncos will hit the ice again on Nov. 8 at Omaha. Puck drop for the NCHC opener is set for 8 PM.
Michigan Tech
WEEKEND SERIES
• Michigan Tech opens its CCHA portion of the schedule this weekend against Northern Michigan.
• The Huskies and Wildcats will meet at the Berry Events Center at 7:07 p.m. on Friday.
• The series will wrap up at 6:07 p.m. Saturday at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
• The two teams will play on Jan. 24-25 to wrap up the season series.
• Tech is 2-2 overall and NMU is 1-4.
ON THE RADIO
• Mix 93.5 FM WKMJ broadcasts all Michigan Tech hockey games.
• Fans can listen live on the radio at Mix 93.5 FM WKMJ, online at TheMix93.com or Pasty.com, or by using your favorite radio streaming app.
• Dirk Hembroff will call all the action in his 23rd year behind the microphone.
WATCH THE GAME
• All Michigan Tech home and CCHA games during the 2024-25 season will be live-streamed on Midco Sports Plus.
• Fans can stream all CCHA games live and on-demand, on their home televisions, computers, tablets, and mobile devices via Midco Sports Plus.
• The app is available on mobile/tablet apps (iOS and Android), connected TV device apps (AppleTV, FireTV and Roku) and a web-based browser interface.