It was
dubbed as “NEW” but this weekend's match-ups reeked of familiarity and they
came and went without the travesty that many fans saw Big Ten hockey as.
Yes, the first weekend of Big Ten hockey action featured
series' between former conference foes; Wisconsin at Minnesota, Ohio State and
Michigan. Teams that had met in the past and have already established a rivalry
among them.
Starting off the conference with these teams probably was
the best route the Big Ten could go. A cherry on top is that all four are doing
decently well across the board, especially Minnesota and Michigan who are the
top two teams in the conference and No. 1 and 3 respectively in the nation.
So why the big hoopla leading up to this point? Were things
any different?
No.