2017-18 Big Ten Season

This is the 2017-18 Big Ten Conference men's ice hockey season. This is the conference's 5th season.

Change in Conference Tournament Format

Due to the poor attendance of the neutral site tournaments, and the addition of Notre Dame as a Big Ten team in hockey, the 2018 tournament will introduce a new three-week playoff format. In the first round, the No. 1 team in the regular season conference standings receives a bye, and the remaining six play in a set of best-of-three series. The winners of these three playoff series, along with the No. 1 team, will then participate in two semifinal games. Their winners will advance to the Big Ten championship game.

All games will be held at the home arena of the highest seed in each match-up, rather than a neutral site. Unlike other playoff-style conference tournaments in college hockey, the Big Ten will only use single-game semifinals and finals to reduce the likelihood of conflicts with other events that may be scheduled at team arenas.

Membership changes

• The University of Notre Dame announced that the men's hockey program will leave Hockey East after the 2016-17 season and join the Big Ten Conference as an associate member for men's ice hockey only.

Membership

Institution	Location	Nickname	Arena
University of Michigan	Ann Arbor, Michigan	Wolverines	Yost Ice Arena
Michigan State University	East Lansing, Michigan	Spartans	Munn Ice Arena
The Ohio State University	Columbus, Ohio	Buckeyes	Jerome Schottenstein Center
Pennsylvania State University	University Park, Pennsylvania	Nittany Lions	Pegula Ice Arena
University of Minnesota	Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota	Golden Gophers	Mariucci Arena
University of Notre Dame	South Bend, Indiana	Fighting Irish	Compton Family Ice Arena (Charles W. "Lefty" Smith Jr. Rink)
University of Wisconsin–Madison	Madison, Wisconsin	Badgers	Kohl Center

Standings

Big Ten Conference								Overall Record
Team	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Notre Dame Fighting Irish	24	17	6	1	66	47	53	40	28	10	2	117	87
Ohio State Buckeyes	24	14	8	2	77	55	45	41	26	10	5	131	85
Michigan Wolverines	24	11	10	3	70	72	38	40	22	15	3	136	121
Penn State Nittany Lions	24	9	10	5	76	73	34	38	18	15	5	138	120
Minnesota Golden Gophers	24	10	12	2	65	69	33	38	19	17	2	102	100
Wisconsin Badgers	24	8	13	3	69	83	28	37	14	19	4	115	124
Michigan State Spartans	24	6	16	2	53	77	21	36	12	22	2	91	117

Conference Tournament

Format

See Above

Quarterfinals

• Ohio State Buckeyes defeated Michigan State Spartans 2 games to none
• Michigan Wolverines defeated Wisconsin Badgers 2 games to none
• Penn State Nittany Lions defeated Minnesota Golden Gophers 2 games to none

Semifinals

• Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated Penn State Nittany Lions 3-2
• Ohio State Buckeyes defeated Michigan Wolverines 3-2

Final

• Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated Ohio State Buckeyes 3-2 (ot)

2018 Big Ten champions Notre Dame Fighting Irish