Big Ten Hockey moves past holiday break

• Following the break for final exams and the holidays, five conference squads will take the ice this weekend. Ohio State welcomes Mercyhurst for a Friday-Saturday series, while Minnesota hosts Ferris State. Michigan and Michigan State will finish 2018 at the 54th Annual Great Lakes Invitational on Dec. 30-31 at Little Caesars Arena, while Notre Dame entertains Boston College at 5 p.m. ET on Monday, Dec. 31 …
• Four Big Ten students earned spots on the final roster for the 2019 U.S. National Junior Team. Michigan’s Quinn Hughes and Josh Norris, Penn State’s Evan Barratt and Wisconsin’s K’Andre Miller have all been named to the roster and will be attending the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship scheduled for Dec. 26, 2018, to Jan. 5, 2019, in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. Hughes and Norris were both named assistant captains, while Ohio State associate head coach Steve Miller will serve as an assistant coach for the U.S. Squad …
• Penn State’s Aarne Talvitie will represent Finland at the World Junior Championship and will serve as the team’s captain …
• Big Ten teams currently occupy four of the top 20 positions on the national team scoring list. Penn State leads the nation with 5.22 goals per game, followed by Notre Dame in 15th (3.18), Wisconsin in 16th (3.17) and Michigan in 19th with 3.12 goals per contest …
• Big Ten standouts currently occupy the top three positions on the national points list. Penn State’s Evan Barratt and teammate Alex Limonges share the national lead with 29 points. Michigan State’s Taro Hirose ranks third nationally with 26 points through 16 games and also leads the nation with 19 assists …
• With Notre Dame’s 5-4 victory against Penn State on Dec. 7, Fighting Irish head coach Jeff Jackson (307-181-55) tied Lefty Smith (307-320-31) for the most career wins at Notre Dame. Jackson can claim the top spot in the record books on December 31, when Notre Dame hosts Boston College …
• Tickets are on sale for the third annual “Super Saturday – College Hoops & Hockey” doubleheader, which will feature Illinois taking on Maryland in men’s basketball and Michigan facing Penn State in hockey at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019. The men’s basketball contest will tip off at Noon ET, and the hockey game will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster (ticketmaster.com), by calling (866) 858-0008 or at MSG.com …
• The Big Ten Conference will follow a new overtime protocol and points system for the 2018-19 season, including the addition of a 3-on-3 overtime period. Any regular season conference game that remains tied after regulation will play the NCAA-mandated five-minute, 5-on-5 sudden-death overtime period. If the game remains tied, the two teams will then play a five-minute, 3-on-3 sudden-death overtime period. If the game is still tied following both overtime periods, then the game will move to a sudden-death shootout …
• Teams will be awarded three points in the conference standings for a win in regulation or the 5-on-5 overtime period. If the game is tied following the 5-on-5 overtime, both teams will receive one point, with a second point being awarded to the team that wins in either the 3-on-3 overtime period or the shootout …