Thursday, September 19, 2013

B1G Media Day: Preseason Polls, Players To Watch & What The Coaches Are Saying

Photo courtesy of Big Ten Hockey


By Jessi Pierce

Lots of action starting early this morning at the Xcel Energy Center as the St. Paul building hosted the inaugural Big Ten Media Day Thursday. And what a day of events it is as we get a peek at preseason favorites, hear from our favorite coaches and players and see what the B1G revealed as the playoff trophy.

Monday, September 16, 2013

"Hockey is B1G" -- The Newest Big Ten Network Hockey Promo



I have to give the Big Ten Network some props. The TV station is doing a great job of promoting the Big Ten hockey season, dropping commercials and notes during Big Ten football games and in between other sports airings.

It looks like they are ready to get fans excited for the season and I expect them to do a top notch job, apparent by the network's latest promo released today. The Big Ten Network TV schedule will also be released later this afternoon.

It's an exciting time for college hockey fans and Oct. 10 can't come soon enough.

To watch the video click here

Friday, September 6, 2013

Preseason Previews: Not looking any better for Michigan State



Spartan fans know, it was a rough year for MSU last season. A grim 14-26-3 overall record and a well below .500 conference finish, sorry to say I don't see things getting much better for Michigan State in the Big Ten conference this year.

They just don't have the players this season, or even that one extremely strong leader that Torey Krug was to help aid struggles on both offense and defense.

And then there's the question of will they be able to regroup from last year?

To be honest they do have some solid players coming in, including some Michigan natives which always has its own homer appeal. Head Coach Tom Anastos told MSUSpartans.comwww.msuspartans.com earlier this May:

"We are very excited about this class," said Anastos. "They possess a nice blend of scoring ability, size, speed, toughness and tenacity that will help us continue our evolution into a championship-caliber team."  

One I am interested to see step up is Johnny Draeger. Draeger was the top point-producing defenseman at Shattuck-St. Mary's but struggled in green, putting up just six points on the season. Now entering his sophomore season I'd expect to see him more comfortable and put again in that role this year.

Of course the Chelios' brothers are both in their senior season this year and guessing family blood holds plenty of competitiveness and will to win that the duo won't want to go out on bottom (or as in my prediction, second to bottom of the conference).

On top of the limited roster depth, the schedule puts the Spartans in a tough spot with playing its rival Wolverine team each time before heading into equally big competition with Minnesota and Wisconsin. That could bode well for MSU though if they top Michigan in either of those series' that momentum could help them against Big Ten's big dog teams.

I guess we will see.

Preseason Prediction: Finish 5th of 6 in the Big Ten Conference with a 16-22 regular season record.