2020–21 Big Ten Conference ice hockey season
2020–21 Big Ten Conference ice hockey season | |
---|---|
Season | 2020–21 |
Conference | Big Ten Conference |
Division | Division I |
Sport | ice hockey |
Duration | November 13, 2020– March 28, 2021 |
Number of teams | 7 |
2021 NHL Entry Draft | |
Top draft pick | Owen Power |
Picked by | Buffalo Sabres |
Regular Season | |
Season champions | Wisconsin |
Season MVP | Cole Caufield |
Top scorer | Cole Caufield |
Big Ten tournament | |
Tournament champions | Minnesota |
Runners-up | Wisconsin |
Tournament MVP | Jack LaFontaine |
Top scorer | Alex Limoges |
NCAA tournament | |
Bids | 4 |
Record | 1–2 |
Best Finish | Regional 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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]Records
[edit]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
[edit]Leading scorers
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]Regional semifinal
[edit]East
[edit]March 26, 2021 1:00 PM | (1) Wisconsin | 3 – 6 (0–2, 1–2, 2–2) | (4) Bemidji State | Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut Attendance: 0 |
Game reference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Robbie Beydoun (40 min) Cameron Rowe (20 min) | Goalies | Zach Driscoll | Referees: Brendan Blanchard Chris Leavitt Linesmen: Bob Griffin Brendan Lewis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6 min | Penalties | 12 min | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
33 | Shots | 40 |
West
[edit]March 27, 2021 8:00 PM | (1) Minnesota | 7 – 2 (3–1, 3–0, 1–1) | (4) Omaha | Budweiser Events Center, Loveland, Colorado Attendance: 125 |
Game reference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jack LaFontaine | Goalies | Isaiah Saville (27:13) Austin Roden (32:47) | Referees: Scott Hansen Holton Walker Linesmen: Kevin Briganti Kyle Richetelle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2 min | Penalties | 4 min | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
30 | Shots | 28 |
Regional final
[edit]West
[edit]March 28, 2021 6:00 | (1) Minnesota | 0 – 4 (0–2, 0–0, 0–2) | (2) Minnesota State | Budweiser Events Center, Loveland, Colorado Attendance: 175 |
Game reference | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jack LaFontaine | Goalies | Dryden McKay | Referees: Peter Schlittenhardt Jermey Tufts Linesmen: William Kingdom Nicholas Briganti | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
6 min | Penalties | 8 min | ||||||||||||
22 | Shots | 27 |
Ranking
[edit]USCHO
[edit]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
[edit]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 |
Awards
[edit]NCAA
[edit]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
[edit]Conference tournament
[edit]2021 NHL Entry Draft
[edit]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
[edit]- ^ "2021-22 Big Ten Schedule". Big Ten. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
- ^ "ASU/Big Ten Agree to Schedule Arrangement for 2020-21". Arizona State Sun Devils. October 6, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
- ^ "2021 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey championship selections announced". NCAA.com. March 21, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Paul, Tony; Bianchi, Nolan. "UM hockey forced out of NCAA tournament because of positive tests". The Detroit News. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
- ^ "Michigan Wolverines Strut NCAA Hockey In 2021 NHL Draft". Flo Hockey. July 30, 2021. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
- ^ "2020-2021 Men's Ice Hockey Conference Statistics". Atlantic Hockey. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
- ^ "2020-21 MEN'S COLLEGE HOCKEY NATIONAL STATISTICS DATABASE". Big Ten Conference. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
- ^ "USA Today Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
- ^ "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.
- ^ a b "Hockey Postseason Honors Announced". Big Ten. March 16, 2021. Archived from the original on March 16, 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
- ^ "NCAA player rankings, selections in 2021 NHL Draft". USCHO.com. Retrieved July 24, 2021.