College Hockey TV: 5 Big Ten games to be televised on NBCSN

NBCSN announced Wednesday that in addition to carrying games featuring Hockey East and Notre Dame, the sports network will also feature five games from the Big Ten. Four are conference games while the fifth, a December 13th rematch of the 2013 WCHA Final Five championship game between Wisconsin and Colorado College, is a non-conference game against the NCHC.

The five games per Ken Schott of The Daily Gazette in Schenectady, NY.

• Dec. 13 Colorado College at Wisconsin, 7:30 p.m. ET
• Jan. 18 Penn State at Michigan State, 6:30 p.m. ET
• Feb. 1 Wisconsin at Michigan, 6:30 p.m. ET
• Feb. 15 Wisconsin at Ohio State, 8 p.m. ET
• March 1 Penn State at Minnesota, TBA

These games air on NBCSN along with five Hockey East games announced yesterday.

NBCSN has yet to announce the schedule for Notre Dame games outside of Friday night's contest against Western Michigan, but the Fighting Irish do host Minnesota in South Bend November 8-9.

The Big Ten games, which are in addition to the 34 games on BTN and both ESPNU & ESPNEWS, continue the national televised growth of the conference in its first year sponsoring hockey. Several schools already have regional contracts (i.e. Fox Sports, STO), but the conference is spread across multiple national outlets. If you include Michigan playing Nebraska-Omaha on CBS Sports Net then the Big Ten reaches every channel that broadcasts college hockey nationally.

Wisconsin is the biggest winner. The Badgers, ranked third nationally to start the season, only have 8 appearances on BTN/ESPN. That's tied with Ohio State for the fewest. Now Wisconsin has three more.

All six teams playing in the Big Ten will be featured at least once on NBCSN.

For the full BTN/ESPN schedule, click here.

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Nathan Wells is a college hockey columnist for SB Nation and College Hockey News. You can also follow him on Twitter -- Follow @gopherstate