This is the 2020-21 Big Ten Conference men's ice hockey season. This is the conference's 8th season.
Membership changes[]
- None, but due to not being able to have fans in arenas for at least the early part of the season the Wisconsin Badgers move their home games to the LaBahn Arena, which is next to their normal home; the Kohl Center. This move was mostly financially motivated as it would save the university money ($4,000 to $5,000 per change) on change overs to the arena and an addition savings by not having to put ice in at the Kohl Center.[1]
Membership[]
Standings[]
| Conference record | Overall record | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | T | 3/SW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | ||
| #5 Wisconsin† | 24 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 92 | 52 | 28 | 19 | 8 | 1 | 107 | 65 | |
| #4 Minnesota* | 22 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 69 | 44 | 27 | 21 | 6 | 0 | 101 | 52 | |
| #20 Notre Dame | 24 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 41 | 65 | 53 | 29 | 14 | 13 | 2 | 84 | 78 | |
| #7 Michigan | 20 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 32 | 69 | 45 | 25 | 15 | 9 | 1 | 89 | 48 | |
| Penn State | 18 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 48 | 68 | 21 | 10 | 11 | 0 | 62 | 77 | |
| Ohio State | 22 | 6 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 39 | 82 | 27 | 7 | 19 | 1 | 53 | 101 | |
| Michigan State | 22 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 32 | 70 | 27 | 7 | 18 | 2 | 40 | 77 | |
| Championship: March 16, 2021 † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 14, 2021 | |||||||||||||||
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 2019 tournament introduced 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.[2] 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.[3][4]. The tournament champion advances to the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
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.[3][4]
| Quarterfinals March 14[5] |
Semifinals March 15 |
Championship March 16 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Notre Dame | 3 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Penn State | 6 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Wisconsin | 4* | |||||||||||
| 5 | Penn State | 3 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Wisconsin | 4 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Minnesota | 2* | 2 | Minnesota | 6 | ||||||||
| 7 | Michigan State | 1 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Minnesota | 3* | |||||||||||
| 3 | Michigan | 2 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Michigan | 4 | |||||||||||
| 6 | Ohio State | 0 | |||||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime periods.
Results[]
Quarterfinals[]
(4) Notre Dame vs. (5) Penn State[]
| March 14 | Penn State | 6 – 3 | Notre Dame | Compton Family Ice Arena | Recap | |||
| Christian Sarlo – (Alex Limoges) – 18:52 | First period | 2:10 – pp – Colin Theisen – (Alex Steeves, Landon Slaggert) 2:41 – Jesse Lansdell – (Matt Hellickson, Max Ellis) | ||||||
| Connor McMenamin – (Kevin Wall) – 3:19 Connor McMenamin – (Kevin Wall) – 10:10 Tim Doherty – (Alex Limoges, Connor MacEachern) – pp – 14:55 |
Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Chase McLane – (Mason Snell, Connor MacEachern) – 8:20 Chase McLane – (Jarred Westcott) – 19:28 |
Third period | 12:56 – pp – Ryder Rolston – (Jake Pivonka) | ||||||
| Oskar Autio (30 saves / 33 shots) | Goalie stats | Dylan St. Cyr (28 saves / 33 shots) | ||||||
(2) Minnesota vs. (7) Michigan State[]
| March 14 | Michigan State | 1 – 2 | OT | Minnesota | Compton Family Ice Arena | Recap | ||
| Dennis Cesana – (Mitch Lewandowski, Charlie Combs) – pp – 10:39 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 15:01 – Bryce Brodzinski – (Mike Koster, Matt Staudacher) | ||||||
| No scoring | First overtime period | 10:35 – Sampo Ranta – (Jaxon Nelson) | ||||||
| Pierce Charleson (48 saves / 50 shots) | Goalie stats | Jack LaFontaine (22 saves / 23 shots) | ||||||
(3) Michigan vs. (6) Ohio State[]
| March 14 | Ohio State | 0 – 4 | Michigan | Compton Family Ice Arena | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 19:23 – pp – Brendan Brisson – (Cam York, Thomas Bordeleau) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 11:21 – Cam York – (Luke Morgan, Kent Johnson) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 2:53 – Eric Ciccolini – (Nick Granowicz, Jimmy Lambert) 15:07 – Brendan Brisson – (unassisted) | ||||||
| Tommy Nappier (35 saves / 38 shots) | Goalie stats | Strauss Mann (26 saves / 26 shots) | ||||||
Semifinals[]
(1) Wisconsin vs. (5) Penn State[]
| March 15 | Penn State | 3 – 4 | OT | Wisconsin | Compton Family Ice Arena | Recap | ||
| No scoring | First period | 18:55 – Sam Stange – (Dominick Mersch, Tarek Baker) | ||||||
| Alex Limoges – (Jimmy Dowd Jr., Christian Sarlo) – 9:21 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Tim Doherty – (Christian Sarlo, Alex Limoges) – 1:44 Tim Doherty – (Alex Limoges) – 11:50 |
Third period | 9:45 – Ty Emberson – (Dominick Mersch, Tarek Baker) 14:07 – pp – Cole Caufield – (Linus Weissbach) | ||||||
| No scoring | First overtime period | 6:50 – Cole Caufield – (Ty Emberson, Owen Lindmark) | ||||||
| Oskar Autio (41 saves / 45 shots) | Goalie stats | Robbie Beydoun (43 saves / 46 shots) | ||||||
(2) Minnesota vs. (3) Michigan[]
| March 15 | Michigan | 2 – 3 | OT | Minnesota | Compton Family Ice Arena | Recap | ||
| Kent Johnson – (Jack Becker, Matty Beniers) – pp – 3:44 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Garrett Van Wyhe – (Dakota Raabe, Jack Summers) – 14:38 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 4:07 – Nathan Burke – (Jack Perbix) 15:34 – Sampo Ranta – (Jaxon Nelson, Ryan Johnson) | ||||||
| No scoring | First overtime period | 6:00 – Sammy Walker – (Ben Brinkman) | ||||||
| Strauss Mann (37 saves / 40 shots) | Goalie stats | Jack LaFontaine (35 saves / 37 shots) | ||||||
Championship[]
(1) Wisconsin vs. (2) Minnesota[]
| March 16 | Minnesota | 6 – 4 | Wisconsin | Compton Family Ice Arena | Recap | |||
| Blake McLaughlin – (Scott Reedy, Jackson LaCombe) – 10:32 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Mike Koster – (Blake McLaughlin, Sammy Walker) – 1:47 Brannon McManus – (Sampo Ranta, Jaxon Nelson) – 15:24 Scott Reedy – (Sammy Walker, Blake McLaughlin) – 16:49 Jaxon Nelson – (Brannon McManus, Jackson LaCombe) – 18:06 |
Second period | 12:54 – Roman Ahcan – (Ty Emberson) | ||||||
| Blake McLaughlin – (Ben Meyers, Ryan Johnson) – en – 19:36 | Third period | 4:08 – Mike Vorlicky – (Owen Lindmark, Josh Ess) 5:34 – Roman Ahcan – (Linus Weissbach, Ty Pelton-Byce) 17:49 – Cole Caufield – (Owen Lindmark) | ||||||
| Jack LaFontaine (46 saves / 50 shots) | Goalie stats | Cameron Rowe (19 saves / 24 shots) Robbie Beydoun (9 saves / 9 shots) | ||||||
Tournament awards[]
All-Tournament Team[]
- G: Jack LaFontaine* (Minnesota)
- D: Mike Koster (Minnesota)
- D: Ty Emberson (Wisconsin)
- F: Cole Caufield (Wisconsin)
- F: Sampo Ranta (Minnesota)
- F: Sammy Walker (Minnesota)
References[]
- ↑ https://arenadigest.com/2020/10/26/uw-mens-hockey-downsizes-to-labahn-arena/
- ↑ Big Ten Announces Conference Schedule for 2017-18 Hockey Season. Big Ten Conference (May 4, 2017). Retrieved on 21 June 2017.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dilks, Chris (September 30, 2016). Big Ten Officially Approves On-Campus Playoffs. Retrieved on 20 June 2017.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gonzalez, Jason (May 20, 2016). Big Ten hockey in process of approving new on-campus playoff format. Retrieved on 20 June 2017.
- ↑ Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament Bracket Announced. BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference (March 6, 2021). Retrieved on March 6, 2021.