First half of 2020 Big 10 hockey schedule released

This afternoon, the Big 10 released the 2020 half of the 2020-21 Big 10 Men’s Hockey schedule. Wisconsin starts their campaign against known Big 10 Conference rival Notre Dame Friday, November 13th, in a sentence that’s remarkably insane even for this website, this writer and this year.

Skimming that poster, it looks pretty normal. Three home series, three away series.

Then you keep looking at it, and you actually check out the entire Big 10 schedule because it’s actually crazier than expected in a lot of dimensions.

Unbalanced Scheduling

Wisconsin plays 12 games. Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame play 10. Penn State plays 8. Since the announcement also indicates 24 conference games, Wisconsin’s going to have at least an extra week off compared to the rest of the conference, and Penn State’s going to have tired legs going into the conference tournament.

Tuesdays With Hockey

There are four conference games that will be played on a Tuesday: Ohio State at Minnesota and Penn State at Wisconsin are November 24ths doubleheader, and Minnesota at Michigan and Wisconsin at Michigan State play on December 8th. Look upon my need to fill Big 10 Network time slots and despair.

College hockey belongs on the weekend. Dabble in Thursdays and Sundays as necessary but keep Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday free from it.

Frequent Flyer Arizona State

Arizona State, as I guessed, is filling in the eighth slot to make sure one team isn’t left out in the seven member Big 10 hockey conference every weekend. What I didn’t guess, and am laughing a lot with all my friends who are off-screen about, is that the Sun Devils would be playing road games and only road games. ASU will be traveling from Arizona to the Midwest six different times in November and December.

So now, if you were ever wondering what the opposite of a snow bird is, you have an answer: Sun Devil.