Both games on the first day of the Big Ten Hockey Tournament went into overtime at the Xcel Energ Center.
Penn State pulled an opening round upset in the first round of the tournament beating Michigan 2-1 in double overtime.
Penn State’s Zach Saar beat Wolverine goaltender Zach Nagelvoort to win the game for the Nittany Lions.
Both Nagelvoort and Penn State’s Matthew Skoff played well in net. Skoff stopped 52 Wolverine shots, while Nagelvoort made saves on 63 of the 65 shots he faced.
The Nittany Lions got on the scoreboard first when Taylor Holstrom scored just seconds into the second period. It didn’t take the Wolverines long to respond. Phil Di Giuseppe scored a few moments later to tie the game at one.
Penn State will move on and face Wisconsin on Friday at 2 p.m.
In the second game, Ohio State knocked off Michigan State in overtime 2-1. Drew Brevig’s goal for the Buckeyes at the 4:23 mark of overtime won the game for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes fell behind in the first, when Michigan State’s Greg Wolfe put the Spartans on the scoreboard.
But that was the only blemish on Christian Frey’s night. The Ohio State goaltender stopped 26 shots.
The Buckeyes advance to face the Gophers at 7 p.m. on Friday night.
90 seconds until face off. Good seats available for Michigan State-Ohio State. pic.twitter.com/0lbdPeoZni
— Nate Wells (@gopherstate) March 21, 2014
Here’s the full tournament bracket. All games will be carried live on Big Ten Network and streamed online at BTN2Go.com.
The six-team tournament doesn’t yet have the appeal the WCHA Final Five developed. Without Minnesota’s chief rival North Dakota, the potential championship collision doesn’t appeal to fans the same.
“It’s not going to be like the Final Five was. We’re kidding ourselves if we think there are going to be 15,000, 16,000 people there this weekend,” Lucia said, according to FOX Sports North. “Hopefully we’ll have a great contingent of Gopher fans and we can put on a real good show for them. The goal for us is to get to Saturday night.”
Minnesota enters the tournament as the favorite, having won the Big Ten Conference title five points clear of the Badgers. Their outstanding season was recognized earlier this week with all major conference awards going to Gophers. Goalie Adam Wilcox was named Big Ten Player of the Year and Big Ten Goaltender of the Year. Mike Reilly was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Hudson Fasching was honored with the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award.
This won’t be the last time this season Minnesota plays at the Xcel Energy Center. The Gophers are set to host the West Regional of the NCAA tournament March 29-30 at the X as well.
