The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team looks to extend their season-long three-game win streak as they continue their road trip and head to East Lansing to take on the Michigan State Spartans Friday and Saturday.
The Badgers (13-8-1, 6-2 Big Ten) are coming off a weekend sweep against then-No. 8 Ohio State, earning a spot in the national rankings for the first time since October of 2014. The pair of victories also propelled Wisconsin into a first-place tie with Minnesota atop the Big Ten, the first and only time the Badgers have led the conference since its inception in 2013-2014.
Men’s hockey: Badgers claw their back into top 20 after weekend win over Buckeyes
Now, Wisconsin heads into East Lansing with the hopes of bringing home six points and possibly sitting alone atop the Big Ten, as Minnesota faces No. 6 Penn State over the weekend as well.
Though the Badgers delivered a convincing series sweep against the Spartans (5-15-2, 1-6-1) at the Kohl Center last month – winning each game by a score of 5-1 – they won’t be paying attention to that.
“We’ve known from earlier in the season that whoever you play, you gotta be ready to play and play your best or you’re putting yourself in a position to get beat,” head coach Tony Granato said. “[The Spartans] played real well against Michigan in their previous Big Ten Games. They tied and beat them at Michigan, so I’m sure they’ll be ready to give us everything we can handle.”
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Despite only having four conference points this year, all four coming last weekend at Michigan, the Spartans hope to carry their momentum back home with them.
Wisconsin is also looking to carry their momentum, as they look for their first season-series win over MSU since the 2013-14 season.
“We like where we’re at, we like where we’re going and we’re gonna have to prepare the same way we’ve prepared for these other teams and be ready to battle,” Granato said.
The Big Ten matchup of first-vs-last will take place Friday and Saturday in East Lansing, with face-off set for 6 p.m. CST both nights.
