Here are the top three series this week in men's college hockey, headlined by Michigan and Michigan State rekindling one of the oldest rivalries in the sport.
We are well into the second half of the NCAA men’s hockey season, which means from here on out, the games matter more. And that means from here on out, we’re going to pick some key matchups to watch each week. This week offers a great slate, including rival grudge matches and games that could play huge roles in deciding some conference standings.
Here are this week’s must-watch matchups:
Michigan at/vs. Michigan State
This game needs no introduction. The last time Michigan (10-7-3 overall) and Michigan State (15-4-3) squared off for a series, fists flew and two players earned suspensions the first night. The next game, the Wolverines won on a literal last second overtime goal in the Duel in the D. Oh yeah, this series will be special.
This series also has major implications for the rest of the season, with both programs jockeying not only for their position in a stacked Big Ten, but also for the title of the state’s premier hockey program. Michigan leads the all-time series 175–138–24, but Michigan State is among the top programs in the country right now with all sorts of success on the recruiting front and even in their facilities upgrades. These teams face off four times in the second half, all of which are bound to be good considering the hatred between these two programs.
“We openly hate them, right?” Michigan defenseman Steven Holtz said. “Like I think all Michigan people are open to saying that to any Michigan State fan’s face too — it's like a respect between the Michigan and Michigan State rivalry that like we openly hate each other. You could use other words to describe it, but we hate them.”
Expect this to be a hard-fought series, as both teams rank top five in offense and are likely to pile on the goals. The Spartans are full of talent, especially star defenseman Artyom Levshunov and breakout transfer forwards Joey Larson and Isaac Howard. For the Wolverines, forwards Rutger McGroarty and Gavin Brindley, as well as defenseman Seamus Casey, are part of a sophomore core that hit the ground running this season.
Simply put, there should be lots of goals and lots of extracurriculars — everything that makes rivalry hockey so great.
“It’s gonna be a hostile environment in there,” McGroarty said of playing at Munn Ice Arena. “We’re really looking forward to it. Any time that you can play those guys and especially go to their barn and have a little bit of fun, it’ll be awesome.”
North Dakota at St. Cloud State
Between the Fighting Hawks (15-6-1) and the Huskies (11-6-3), it’s hard to identify who should be the underdog.
North Dakota hasn’t lost in regulation since facing Boston University to kick off November, while St. Cloud State has only lost twice in NCHC play, including one shootout loss to Omaha. Both teams are top 10 defensively, while the Hawks boast the nation’s eighth-best offense. This series could very well be a war of attrition, especially since both rosters are chock full of veteran graduate students and upperclassmen.
Separated by just two points in the NCHC standings, these opponents could decide who has the inside track to winning this season’s Penrose Cup by winning this series. While there’s a lot of season left — 12 games for each team, to be exact — these are juicy conference points that neither team will want to give up.
Bemidji State at Michigan Tech
With powerhouse Minnesota State rather weakened by the departure of Mike Hastings and some of his players to Wisconsin, the CCHA is rather wide open. At the start of the season, it seemed that a stacked Michigan Tech (9-10-4) roster could run the table, but the Huskies have been rather middling while dealing with off-ice controversy. Even after winning the Great Lakes Invitational, they went right back to the loss column getting swept by league-leading St. Thomas.
And as Michigan Tech has struggled, other schools have taken the opportunity and ran with it. The top four teams are within four points of each other, including second-place Bemidji State (9-13-0) with 25 points. Thus sets the table between the Beavers and the Huskies this weekend.
This series won’t necessarily decide the conference like some other matchups this week, but it’s as good a time as ever for Michigan Tech to turn the corner and string together some wins to try and get back to the spot it wants to be in atop the conference.
Meanwhile, Bemidji State has the chance to beat a talented foe that will likely give others trouble while jockeying for its first conference championship since 2016-17. It’ll get a boost from Eric Pohlkamp, who returned from Sweden with World Junior gold around his neck and the honor of being the Beavers’ first ever medal-winner at the tournament.