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ST. LOUIS — Do you fear the Big 10 hockey conference?
Why?
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Penn State’s 3-1 defeat Friday to Boston University at the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four at Enterprise Center in St. Louis clinched another season without a national championship for the Big 10. It’s now 0-11 in its 12 years as a conference, and no one from the league was considered a contender in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down.
Hockey East and the ECAC have won two NCAA titles each while the NCHC has reigned supreme since realignment with six national championships. The NCHC could win a seventh — or Hockey East could win a third — when Western Michigan takes on BU at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in St. Louis.
Of the league’s seven members, Penn State became the fifth Big 10 school to reach a Frozen Four this year. Wisconsin and Michigan State — despite being No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament — have yet to reach a Frozen Four.
The five Big 10 schools that have made it this far are a combined 2-9 against the rest of college hockey in their 10 appearances. The league has a 3-10 record at the Frozen Four if you count Notre Dame’s win over Michigan in 2018 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
The Fighting Irish are one of just two Big 10 schools to play for a national championship — losing to Minnesota Duluth in 2018 at Xcel — along with Minnesota. The Gophers have played for an NCAA title twice since 2014 and lost both times to the ECAC’s Union in 2014 and Quinnipiac in 2023.
There was a lot of hype about the Big 10 hockey conference when it was announced in 2011, that its then six members would dominate the sport with all of their name recognition, resources and a cable television station where all of the games would be broadcast to national audiences.
I know none of you are worried anymore about the Big 10 Network, and depending on your age, you might be confused as to what cable television is, or why someone would care about it.
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The transfer portal and pending NCAA vs. House settlement has raised a whole new round of fears about the Big 10 hockey conference and its members. Once approved, Big 10 schools will be permitted to make direct NIL payments to student-athletes and share revenue from their gigantic television deals.
Schools like UMD and Denver that are opting into the House Settlement will also be able to do that. However, the Bulldogs and Pioneers have little to no revenue from media rights to share, and they do not have as deep of NIL pockets as an Ohio State.
I’ve heard everyone’s fears that the Big 10 members will be able to buy recruits and use the transfer portal to poach players from smaller schools like St. Cloud State and Colorado College, and that is going on. It’s even happening to college hockey blue bloods that are mid-majors elsewhere, like a North Dakota.
But will all that money buy the Big 10 a national championship?
Those schools have always had more money, resources and name recognition than the rest of college hockey, even before they got together under the Big 10 umbrella. Yet, it’s been almost two decades since any of them won an NCAA title. Michigan State in 2007 and Wisconsin in 2006 are the last to do so.
We’ve all heard the saying “Hard work beats talent.” That’s a saying that especially rings true in hockey.
The Big 10 has a ton of talent on its rosters. The schools will continue to bring in a ton of talent — via recruiting and the transfer portal — and fly that talent around on private charter airplanes.
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But the Big 10 still does not have a national championship in men’s college hockey. Until that starts happening on a regular basis, fans of the little guys have nothing to fear.
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