2020–21 Big Ten Conference ice hockey season

2020–21 Big Ten Conference
ice hockey season
Season2020–21
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
DivisionDivision I
Sportice hockey
DurationNovember 13, 2020–
March 28, 2021
Number of teams7
2021 NHL Entry Draft
Top draft pickOwen Power
Picked byBuffalo Sabres
Regular Season
Season championsWisconsin
Season MVPCole Caufield
Top scorerCole Caufield
Big Ten tournament
Tournament championsMinnesota
  Runners-upWisconsin
Tournament MVPJack LaFontaine
Top scorerAlex Limoges
NCAA tournament
Bids4
Record1–2
Best FinishRegional final
Team(s)Minnesota
Big Ten Conference ice hockey seasons
« 2029–20 2021–22 »

The 2020–21 Big Ten men's ice hockey season was the 31st season of play for the Big Ten Conference's men's ice hockey division and took place during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. The start to the regular season was delayed until November 13, 2020, and concluded on March 6, 2021.[1] The conference tournament was held at the Compton Family Ice Arena in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Season

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Big Ten season did not begin until mid-November, 6 weeks later than usual. As a result of the pandemic, the Big Ten only scheduled conference opponents during the regular season with one exception. Arizona State, an independent program, entered into a scheduling alliance with the Big Ten for this season. The group consented to play the full season on the road and forfeit its right to compete in the Big Ten tournament.[2]

The regular season was highlighted by the prominence of Minnesota for most of the year and the scoring exploits of Cole Caufield. Caufield averaged a goal per game pace for the year and led both the Big Ten and the nation in both goals and points. The conference was able to earn 3 at-large bids for member schools, resulting in more than half of the Big Ten making the NCAA tournament.[3] Unfortunately, while the conference was able to avoid too much trouble from COVID during the regular season, both Michigan and Notre Dame had players test positive just before their regional semifinal games and were forced to withdraw.[4] As a result, their matchup with Boston College was ruled a no-contest and the Eagles automatically advanced to the Northeast Regional final. Similarly, on March 26, the NCAA announced Michigan was forced to withdraw as well due to COVID protocols.[5] Minnesota provided the conference with its only tournament victory, defeating Omaha 7–2 before losing in the quarterfinals to in-state rival Minnesota State.

After the season, Michigan made national headlines by having 3 players be drafted in the first five selections of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. The Wolverines had an incoming freshman taken 4th overall as well.[6]

Standings

2020–21 Big Ten ice hockey Standings
Conference record Overall record
GP W L T OTW OTL 3/SW PTS PT% GF GA GP W L T GF GA
#8 Wisconsin † 24 17 6 1 1 1 0 52 .722 92 52 31 20 10 1 118 80
#7 Minnesota * 22 16 6 0 0 0 0 48 .727 69 44 31 24 7 0 117 64
#9 Michigan 20 11 9 0 1 0 0 32 .550 69 45 26 15 10 1 91 51
#17 Notre Dame 24 12 10 2 1 2 2 41 .542 65 53 29 14 13 2 84 78
Penn State 18 7 11 0 2 1 0 20 .389 48 68 22 10 12 0 65 81
Ohio State 22 6 16 0 0 2 0 20 .273 39 82 27 7 19 1 53 101
Michigan State 22 5 16 1 2 0 0 15 .250 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

Coaches

Records

Team Head coach Season at school Record at school Big Ten record
Michigan Mel Pearson 4 53–45–14 30–30–10
Michigan State Danton Cole 4 39–60–9 25–39–8
Minnesota Bob Motzko 3 34–30–11 20–18–10
Notre Dame Jeff Jackson 16 334–206–64 37–26–7
Ohio State Steve Rohlik 8 133–95–33 66–67–17
Penn State Guy Gadowsky 10 145–120–23 59–57–14
Wisconsin Tony Granato 5 62–72–12 36–46–10

Statistics

Leading scorers

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes[7]

Player Position Team GP G A Pts PIM
Cole Caufield Sophomore Wisconsin 24 24 19 43 2
Linus Weissbach Senior Wisconsin 24 9 24 33 8
Dylan Holloway Sophomore Wisconsin 18 11 20 31 4
Alex Steeves Junior Notre Dame 24 14 15 29 8
Thomas Bordeleau Freshman Michigan 18 7 18 25 10
Ty Pelton-Byce Senior Wisconsin 19 11 14 25 2
Graham Saggert Junior Notre Dame 22 6 18 24 8
Kent Johnson Freshman Michigan 20 7 12 19 2
Roman Ahcan Junior Wisconsin 21 7 12 19 22
Sampo Ranta Junior Minnesota 22 12 7 19 6
Sammy Walker Junior Minnesota 22 9 10 19 8
Ben Meyers Sophomore Minnesota 22 9 10 19 12

Leading goaltenders

Minimum 1/3 of team's minutes played in conference games.
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average[8]

Player Class Team GP Min W L T GA SO SV% GAA
Cameron Rowe Freshman Wisconsin 11 555 7 0 1 16 1 .947 1.73
Jack LaFontaine Senior Minnesota 22 1272 16 6 0 38 4 .932 1.79
Dylan St. Cyr Senior Notre Dame 18 1067 9 8 1 38 3 .930 2.14
Strauss Mann Junior Michigan 16 894 8 8 0 33 3 .924 2.21
Robbie Beydoun Senior Wisconsin 16 884 10 6 0 34 3 .927 2.31

Conference tournament

Main article: 2021 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
Quarterfinals
March 14[9] 		Semifinals
March 15 		Championship
March 16
         
1 Wisconsin 4*
5 Penn State 3
4 Notre Dame 3
5 Penn State 6
1 Wisconsin 4
2 Minnesota 6
2 Minnesota 2*
7 Michigan State 1
2 Minnesota 3*
3 Michigan 2
3 Michigan 4
6 Ohio State 0

Note: * denotes overtime periods.

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament

Regional semifinal

East

March 26, 2021
1:00 PM		(1) Wisconsin3 – 6
(0–2, 1–2, 2–2)		(4) Bemidji StateWebster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Attendance: 0
Game reference
Robbie Beydoun (40 min)
Cameron Rowe (20 min)		GoaliesZach DriscollReferees:
Brendan Blanchard
Chris Leavitt
Linesmen:
Bob Griffin
Brendan Lewis
0–106:33 – Ross Armour (5) (Rosén)
0–219:44 – Elias Rosén (5) (unassisted)
(C. Caufield, Pelton-Byce) Linus Weissbach (12) – PP – 22:381–2
1–334:42 – Ethan Somoza (3) (Miller, Harris)
1–438:39 – SH GW – Owen Sillinger (10) (unassisted)
1–546:08 – Ethan Somoza (3) (Harris)
(Holloway, Pelton-Byce) Cole Caufield (29) – PP – 48:192–5
(Ahcan, Vorlicky) Cole Caufield (30) – 54:563–5
3–659:58 – EN – Brendan Harris (9) (Somoza)
6 minPenalties12 min
33Shots40

West

March 27, 2021
8:00 PM		(1) Minnesota7 – 2
(3–1, 3–0, 1–1)		(4) OmahaBudweiser Events Center, Loveland, Colorado
Attendance: 125
Game reference
Jack LaFontaineGoaliesIsaiah Saville (27:13)
Austin Roden (32:47)		Referees:
Scott Hansen
Holton Walker
Linesmen:
Kevin Briganti
Kyle Richetelle
(Munson, Faber) Mason Nevers (1) – 05:481–0
(Faber, Johnson) Jack Perbix (4) – 15:352–0
(McLaughlin, Walker) Scott Reedy (11) – GW – 17:363–0
3–118:04 – Taylor Ward (12) (Weiss, Scanlin)
(Faber, Meyers) Ryan Johnson (2) – 20:414–1
(LaCombe, Brodzinski) Ben Meyers (12) – 27:135–1
(Ranta, Faber) Mason Nevers (2) – 36:136–1
6–243:05 – Taylor Ward (13) (Weiss, Proctor)
(Nelson, Faber) Sampo Ranta (19) – 44:177–2
2 minPenalties4 min
30Shots28

Regional final

West

March 28, 2021
6:00		(1) Minnesota0 – 4
(0–2, 0–0, 0–2)		(2) Minnesota StateBudweiser Events Center, Loveland, Colorado
Attendance: 175
Game reference
Jack LaFontaineGoaliesDryden McKayReferees:
Peter Schlittenhardt
Jermey Tufts
Linesmen:
William Kingdom
Nicholas Briganti
0–110:23 – GW – Sam Morton (5) (Sandelin, Zmolek)
0–212:30 – Ryan Sandelin (7) (McNeely, Furry)
0–349:50 – Nathan Smith (7) (Borchardt, Napravnik)
0–457:41 – EN – Dallas Gerads (8) (Aamodt)
6 minPenalties8 min
22Shots27

Ranking

Main article: 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings

USCHO

Team Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Final
Michigan 12 6 4 7 5 6 7 8 9 9 8 7 7 8 7 7 7 6 7 8 N/A 9
Michigan State NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR N/A NR
Minnesota 14 11 8 5 4 1 1 1 1 1 4 4 2 5 4 4 3 4 4 2 N/A 7
Notre Dame 20 NR NR 16 15 16 18 18 18 NR 16 NR NR NR NR NR NR 19 20 18 N/A 17
Ohio State 10 9 10 13 14 18 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR N/A NR
Penn State 9 10 15 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR N/A NR
Wisconsin NR 14 14 14 12 14 13 14 12 12 12 13 11 7 5 5 5 5 5 4 N/A 8

USCHO did not release a poll in week 20. [10]

USA Today

Team Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Final
Michigan 12 6 3 7 5 6 7 8 9 10 9 7 7 8 6 7 7 7 6 8 9 9
Michigan State NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
Minnesota 13 11 7 5 4 1 1 1 1 1 4 4 2 5 4 4 3 5 4 2 6 7
Notre Dame NR NR NR 13 15 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
Ohio State 10 10 10 14 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
Penn State 9 9 14 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
Wisconsin NR 13 15 NR 13 14 15 15 14 14 12 13 12 6 5 5 5 4 5 4 8 8

[11]

Awards

NCAA

Award Recipient
Hobey Baker Award Cole Caufield, Wisconsin
Tim Taylor Award Thomas Bordeleau, Michigan
Mike Richter Award Jack LaFontaine, Minnesota
AHCA All-American Teams[12]
West First Team Position Team
Jack LaFontaine G Minnesota
Cameron York D Michigan
Cole Caufield F Wisconsin
Sampo Ranta F Minnesota
West Second Team Position Team
Jackson LaCombe D Minnesota
Dylan Holloway F Wisconsin
Linus Weissbach F Wisconsin

Big Ten

Award Recipient[13]
Player of the Year Cole Caufield, Wisconsin
Defensive Player of the Year Cameron York, Michigan
Goaltender of the Year Jack LaFontaine, Minnesota
Freshman of the Year Thomas Bordeleau, Michigan
Scoring Champion Cole Caufield, Wisconsin
Coach of the Year Tony Granato, Wisconsin
All-Big Ten Teams[13]
First Team   Position   Second Team
Jack LaFontaine, Minnesota G Strauss Mann, Michigan
Cameron York, Michigan D Owen Power, Michigan
Jackson LaCombe, Minnesota D Spencer Stastney, Notre Dame
Sampo Ranta, Minnesota F Thomas Bordeleau, Michigan
Cole Caufield, Wisconsin F Alex Steeves, Notre Dame
Dylan Holloway, Wisconsin F Linus Weissbach, Wisconsin
Freshman Team   Position  
Cameron Rowe, Wisconsin G
Owen Power, Michigan D
Brock Faber, Minnesota D
Matty Beniers, Michigan F
Thomas Bordeleau, Michigan F
Kent Johnson, Michigan F

Conference tournament

Tournament MOP
Jack LaFontaine Minnesota
All-Tournament Team
Player Pos Team
Jack LaFontaine G Minnesota
Mike Koster D Minnesota
Ty Emberson D Wisconsin
Cole Caufield F Wisconsin
Sampo Ranta F Minnesota
Sammy Walker F Minnesota

2021 NHL Entry Draft

Main article: 2021 NHL Entry Draft
Round Pick Player College NHL team
1 1 Owen Power Michigan Buffalo Sabres
1 2 Matty Beniers Michigan Seattle Kraken
1 4 Luke Hughes† Michigan New Jersey Devils
1 5 Kent Johnson Michigan Columbus Blue Jackets
1 18 Chaz Lucius† Minnesota Winnipeg Jets
1 24 Mackie Samoskevich† Michigan Florida Panthers
1 25 Corson Ceulemans† Wisconsin Columbus Blue Jackets
2 57 Matthew Knies† Minnesota Toronto Maple Leafs
2 58 Tristan Broz† Minnesota Pittsburgh Penguins
3 66 Sasha Pastujov† Notre Dame Anaheim Ducks
4 104 Brody Lamb† Minnesota New York Rangers
4 126 Dylan Duke† Michigan Tampa Bay Lightning
7 195 Justin Janicke† Notre Dame Seattle Kraken
7 206 Owen McLaughlin† Penn State Philadelphia Flyers
7 215 Daniel Laatsch† Wisconsin Pittsburgh Penguins

† incoming freshman [14]

References

  1. ^ "2021-22 Big Ten Schedule". Big Ten. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  2. ^ "ASU/Big Ten Agree to Schedule Arrangement for 2020-21". Arizona State Sun Devils. October 6, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  3. ^ "2021 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey championship selections announced". NCAA.com. March 21, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  4. ^ "BC advances in NCAA men's hockey tournament as Notre Dame has to forfeit Saturday's game - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  5. ^ Paul, Tony; Bianchi, Nolan. "UM hockey forced out of NCAA tournament because of positive tests". The Detroit News. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  6. ^ "Michigan Wolverines Strut NCAA Hockey In 2021 NHL Draft". Flo Hockey. July 30, 2021. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  7. ^ "2020-2021 Men's Ice Hockey Conference Statistics". Atlantic Hockey. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  8. ^ "2020-21 MEN'S COLLEGE HOCKEY NATIONAL STATISTICS DATABASE". Big Ten Conference. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  9. ^ "Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament Bracket Announced". BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. March 6, 2021. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  10. ^ "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  11. ^ "USA Today Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  12. ^ "Boston College, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin lead way with three All-American college hockey players apiece for '20-21 season". USCHO.com. April 9, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Hockey Postseason Honors Announced". Big Ten. March 16, 2021. Archived from the original on March 16, 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  14. ^ "NCAA player rankings, selections in 2021 NHL Draft". USCHO.com. Retrieved July 24, 2021.