Besse named to Big Ten Players to Watch list

Now a senior starter at center, Blythe talks to his freshman self about the importance of balance in the latest installment of the Big Ten’s Lettered in Life video series.

With the start of the 2015-16 men’s hockey season around the corner, the Big Ten coaches voted on where they think teams will finish and what players in the league fans should keep an eye on.

No one though Michigan would be able to compete with the elite teams in the conference this season, but Jim Harbaugh has his team playing above expectations so far in the early part of the season. Minnesota and Michigan were above the Buckeyes as usual, with Michigan State and Penn State ascending higher than pretty much any preseason poll predicted them to go. All three of these aspects were on display for Michigan on Saturday, as well as during the team’s three-game winning streak.

Hildebrand started all 35 games for the Spartans a year ago, and led all Big Ten goaltenders with a. 930 save percentage and a 2.18 goals-against average. Wisconsin took a horrendous tumble from conference champs to a whole two wins in conference previous year. Schilkey was also an Academic All-Big Ten honoree last season.

Both Maryland and Purdue lost at home to Bowling Green, and Rutgers is a dumpster fire of drama.

A win over a BYU squad, who had recently given playoff contender UCLA all it could handle, as well as a seven-point loss in the opener against Utah, which recently pummeled Oregon on the road by 42 points, means that Michigan could be the spoiler the Big Ten needs.

Here are the five biggest things we learned in Week 4 and heading into conference play.