By Jacob Messing

The newly formatted Big Ten Tournament saw three weekend sweeps in each of its best-of-three series while top-seeded Notre Dame earned a bye through the first round.

The higher-seeded team won all eight games, leading a top-four matchup for the single elimination, second round. The higher-seeded team will host the second round and the two winners will face off on the evening of Friday, March 17.

The 2018 #B1GHockey Tournament Bracket with updated times and TV designations for next weekend's single-elimination semifinal round. https://t.co/GOw75mnNYr pic.twitter.com/GotvwnZG3x

— Big Ten Hockey (@B1GHockey) March 5, 2018

No. 1 Notre Dame vs No. 4 Penn State

Friday, March 10 at 5:30 PM EST

In their first Big Ten season, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish led the conference with a 17-6-1 record and a 23-9-2 overall mark, earning a bye for opening weekend. The Irish are ranked No. 5 nationally and went 3-0-1 against Penn State this season, but the Nittany Lions will be looking to take advantage of Notre Dame’s 1-4 mark to close the season.

The No. 12 Nittany Lions have gone 18-13-5 this season, but the offense has been fierce over a five-game win streak, which included two sweeps over Minnesota to both close the season and start the Big Ten Tournament. Nineteen different players have recorded at least one point in that span, which has seen the Nittany Lions average 4.8 goals per game.

“Last few weeks we’ve really played to our potential,” forward Liam Folkes told Gordon Brunskill of the Centre Daily Times following the second sweep.

Folkes has led the offensive surge with six points (2 G, 4 A), while Trevor Hamilton, Evan Barratt, and leading scorer Andrew Sturtz have each posted five.

But a grueling Notre Dame that spent 12 weeks of the season nationally ranked first or second stands in the way of the championship round. Even with an ugly stretch to end the season, the Irish remain a potent team and coach Jeff Jackson surely put the extra rest to good use.

Jackson said his team is “still learning a little bit about the Big Ten,” and for some, learning happens faster through losses. But Jackson’s team needs to buckle down for the elimination portion of the season. The extra rest should bode well for goaltender Cale Morris, who boasts a 22-7-1 record, 1.92 goals against average, and .945 save percentage, and has become one of the best goalies in Division I hockey this season.

Prediction: Expect Morris to ground the Nittany Lions’ high-flying offense and Notre Dame to be the winner in the single elimination game, sending the Irish to play for their first Big Ten title.

?Buckeyes are No. 6 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll again this week.

No. 2 seed Buckeyes take on No. 3 seed and No. 11-ranked Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals Saturday night in @NationwideArena. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/DorIE6FIY5

— Ohio State M Hockey (@OhioState_MHKY) March 5, 2018

No. 2 Ohio State vs No. 3 Michigan

Friday, March 10 at 7:30 PM EST

One of college football’s biggest rivalries is taking it to the ice for the fifth time, where No. 11 Michigan will look to break its 0-4 record against the No. 6 Buckeyes this season.

“They whipped us, it’s out there, the only team I believe in the Big Ten that we didn’t beat this year,” head coach Mel Pearson told David Goricki of The Detroit News. “They took us four games and made it look easy. We’re a huge underdog and we just hope to go down there and keep it close.”

But the 20-13-3 Wolverines have been possibly the hottest team in the country with a 12-3-1 stretch over their past 16 games, including winning their past seven. Leading scorer Cooper Marody and linemate Tony Calderone have been a force, combining for four goals and seven points in the series opener over Wisconsin.

The Buckeyes, 23-8-5, have been an incredibly consistent team this season with their worst patch of hockey coming early February during a 1-3 stretch. They followed it up with a tie before winning four straight to get to this weekend’s game with Michigan.

Conference bottom-dweller Michigan State took the Buckeyes to overtime in game two, where they were one goal from continuing the series. But even with fans on the edge of their seats, OSU coach Steve Rohlik kept his team calm.

“I thought we played a complete game tonight,” Rohlik told Cameron Thompson of The Lantern. “It was good to get the win and move on in the tournament.”

Mason Jobst scored six points (3 G, 3 A) in the series as usual suspect Sean Romeo stood tall in the crease to help advance the Buckeyes to another matchup with Michigan.

Prediction: But now, with everything on the line, the previous matchups mean nothing, as Michigan will stay hot, earn the victory when it matters most, and down Ohio State for a ride to the title game.

The Big Ten championship game is set for Friday, March 17, with the time to be determined. Check in next week for FloHockey’s preview of the game.

Have a question or a comment for Jacob? You can find him on Twitter @JMessing23.