seedings for the playoffs next week, but could still impact the pairwise, in one case by quite a bit.
Michigan State wins its first regular season title since the dawn of the 21st century. They claim the playoff bye and will await the results next week to see who they will play. They've had quite the turnaround over the last 3 seasons. from 12 wins in 2022 to 18 last season to 22 this year, with plenty more games to play. They also went from last in the conference to 5th to 1st over that timeframe. A trajectory not unlike Notre Dame from 2005-2007.
Wisconsin finishes 2nd and will face Ohio State. It might not be the cakewalk one would expect. Wisconsin dominated OSU in December, sweeping a pair of games with the combined score of 9-1. But just two weeks ago they traveled to Columbus looking to overtake Michigan State in the standings and did something only Notre Dame managed to do this year in the Big Ten, lose to Ohio State. At home, in a 3 game series, Wisconsin should prevail, but you just never know.
Minnesota pounded Michigan last night to assure a 3rd place finish. They will face Penn State. The teams split a series in Pennsylvania in December, with each team winning by 3 goals. Two weekends ago Minnesota swept a pair of 3-0 games to win the season series. Minnesota currently has the longest home win streak in the NCAA. I would be surprised if Penn State won a game next weekend.
Michigan will host Notre Dame. A couple of years ago they may have been a little more nervous coming into a playoff series against the Irish, as Notre Dame had managed to build a 9-2-1 record at Yost during the regular season since joining the Big Ten in 2017. But in that run was a loss at Yost in the Big Ten semi-finals in 2022, and then last week Notre Dame struggled mightily and was swept, assuring us of traveling for the playoffs. If Michigan loses or ties tonight, they will need to beat Notre Dame to make the NCAA tournament. Their game in Minneapolis appears huge though, as a win could potentially flip a bunch of pairwise comparisons for them. Hopefully Minnesota wins so we can potentially end their season. We've done it a few times and once more might be enough to call this season at least a partial success.
Michigan State, Wisconsin and Minnesota are in the NCAAs no matter what happens in the conference playoffs. Michigan is the bubbliest of bubble teams. They need wins. Tonight, and if not tonight, next week and maybe the week after that. The Irish, Penn State, and Ohio State will see their seasons end unless one of the three is the last team standing in the Big Ten.
I see the league getting 3 in. I don't really expect any of the road playoff teams next week to pull off as many as 3 weekends of upsets, and Michigan is no better against the top 3 of the league (2-8-1) than we were (3-9). The CCHA and Atlantic Hockey autobids are going to go to teams outside the top-16 in the PWR so barring any other upsets in conference tournaments, you'll have to be at least 14th to get in.
I think there is at least a decent chance a team outside the top 16 making a run in one of the other conferences. The leagues are making that tougher though as many are following the Big Ten's lead and going to all-campus sites for their tournaments. Even the NCHC is going that route starting next season. Only the ECAC and Hockey East are holding on the pre-determined neutral sites for the final four of their tournaments. One has to wonder if, after seeing all the excitement and packed houses for these conference playoffs if the NCAA will ever come around to admitting the notion of 4 neutral site regionals is an experiment that -- while well intentioned -- has run its course. I'd like to see a change.