Seven men’s hockey teams compete in the Big Ten. Right now, the top five teams in the conference’s standings have absolutely no idea what their postseason fate will be once the regular season ends on February 29.

Ohio State and Penn State are currently tied for first with 29 points each. The teams boast identical 9-7-2 records in conference play, but the Nittany Lions’ overall record of 17-9-2 is only marginally better than that of the Buckeyes, who are 16-9-3 so far this year. Beyond them, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Notre Dame are all level on 28 points, but their records have a bit more variation.

Michigan State is the clear-cut No. 3 team in the conference thanks to its 9-6-1 mark in Big Ten play, and Minnesota and Notre Dame each have seven conference wins to their name. The Golden Gophers have two games in hand on the Fighting Irish, who jumped right back into the thick of the Big Ten conversation thanks to a five-point weekend at Penn State on Friday and Saturday.

Notre Dame managed to steal a 3-3 tie and earn the extra Big Ten point by winning a shootout after tying against Guy Gadowsky’s team on Friday before winning 4-2 on Saturday night. The series has set the stage for an unprecedented, thrilling race for the Big Ten’s regular-season crown.

Despite the insanely-tight nature of the league standings, Gadowsky and his team don’t spend too much time worrying about it.

“It is what it is. This league, I don’t think anybody is surprised,” Gadowsky said on Monday. “The benefits to that are every game is extremely intense and exciting. Honestly, we don’t [look at the standings]. We look at the information we got the weekend before and try to work during the week to get better.”

Junior wing Alex Limoges said that he’s never played in a league with the standings as tight as the Big Ten’s right now, but Paul DeNaples recalled going through a similar situation during his time with the Sioux Fall Stampede in the USHL.

DeNaples’ main takeaway from that prior experience was fairly simple, and he’s using that now as his team is right in the thick of an incredibly tight playoff race.

“It makes the game fun,” DeNaples, who’s spent most of this season on the top Penn State defensive pairing with Cole Hults, said. “You really just have to stick with what makes you successful. Lately, we haven’t been doing the best, but it’s an easy fix. We just have to get back to what got us to the top, and that’ll go a long way to making us successful.”

Penn State has three more regular season series to take care of before the regular season draws to a close. The Nittany Lions will take on No. 13 Ohio State this weekend in a top-of-the-table clash that could go a long way towards determining the regular season conference champion. A sweep or five-point weekend by one side would send the other crashing down toward the bottom, and it’ll definitely help clarify exactly who will have home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

After Ohio State, Penn State will travel to Madison for a series against Wisconsin. The Badgers are currently rooted to the bottom of the standings on 17 points, so it’s safe to say they’re firmly out of the title race. That said, Wisconsin has one of the most talented rosters on paper in the league and could pan out to be a perfect spoiler for a team’s postseason hopes.

The Nittany Lions will close the regular season at home against Minnesota over THON weekend before not playing on February 28 and 29. Regardless of their upcoming results, the Nittany Lions will have to wait and see where they’ll be seeded once the conference tournament begins over the first weekend of March.