2020–21 Big Ten Conference ice hockey season explained

Color:	color:white; background:#0088CE;
Color Text:	white
Season:	2020–21
Season:	2020–21
Conference:	Big Ten Conference
Shortconference:	Big Ten Conference
Division:	Division I
Sport:	ice hockey
Sportname:	ice hockey
Pixels:	225 px
Duration:	November 13, 2020– March 28, 2021
No Of Teams:	7
Draft:
Top Pick:	Owen Power
Picked By:	Buffalo Sabres
Regular Season:
Season Champs:	Wisconsin
Mvp:	Cole Caufield
Mvp Link:	Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Player of the Year
Top Scorer:	Cole Caufield
Tournament:
Tournament Champs:	Minnesota
Tournament Place:	Wisconsin
Mvp2:	Jack LaFontaine
Mvp Link2:	Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament Most Outstanding Player
Ncaa:
Bids:	4
Conf Rec:	1–2
Best:	Regional final
Ncaa Team:	Minnesota
Prevseason:	2029–20
Nextseason:	2021–22
Labelstyle:	background:#eeeeee;

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]

Coaches

Records

Team	Head coach	Season at school	Record at school	Big Ten record
Michigan		4	53–45–14	30–30–10
Michigan State		4	39–60–9	25–39–8
Minnesota		3	34–30–11	20–18–10
Notre Dame		16	334–206–64	37–26–7
Ohio State		8	133–95–33	66–67–17
Penn State		10	145–120–23	59–57–14
Wisconsin		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
	Sophomore		24	24	19	43	2
	Senior		24	9	24	33	8
	Sophomore		18	11	20	31	4
	Junior		24	14	15	29	8
	Freshman		18	7	18	25	10
	Senior		19	11	14	25	2
	Junior		22	6	18	24	8
	Freshman		20	7	12	19	2
	Junior		21	7	12	19	22
	Junior		22	12	7	19	6
	Junior		22	9	10	19	8
	Sophomore		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
	Freshman		11	555	7	0	1	16	1	.947	1.73
	Senior		22	1272	16	6	0	38	4	.932	1.79
	Senior		18	1067	9	8	1	38	3	.930	2.14
	Junior		16	894	8	8	0	33	3	.924	2.21
	Senior		16	884	10	6	0	34	3	.927	2.31

Conference tournament

See main article: 2021 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. Note: * denotes overtime periods.

NCAA tournament

See main article: 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Regional semifinal

West

Regional final

West

Ranking

See 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.^[9]

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

^[10]

Awards

NCAA

Award	Recipient
	Cole Caufield, Wisconsin
	Thomas Bordeleau, Michigan
	Jack LaFontaine, Minnesota
AHCA All-American Teams^[11]
West First Team	Position	Team
	align=center		Minnesota
	align=center		Michigan
	align=center		Wisconsin
	align=center	F	Minnesota
West Second Team	Position	Team
	align=center	D	Minnesota
	align=center	F	Wisconsin
	align=center	F	Wisconsin

Big Ten

Award		Recipient^[12]
		Cole Caufield, Wisconsin
		Jack LaFontaine, Minnesota
		Thomas Bordeleau, Michigan
		Cole Caufield, Wisconsin
		Tony Granato, Wisconsin
All-Big Ten Teams
	Position	Second Team
Jack LaFontaine, Minnesota	align=center	G	Strauss Mann, Michigan
Cameron York, Michigan	align=center	D	Owen Power, Michigan
Jackson LaCombe, Minnesota	align=center	D	Spencer Stastney, Notre Dame
Sampo Ranta, Minnesota	align=center	F	Thomas Bordeleau, Michigan
Cole Caufield, Wisconsin	align=center	F	Alex Steeves, Notre Dame
Dylan Holloway, Wisconsin	align=center	F	Linus Weissbach, Wisconsin
	Position
Cameron Rowe, Wisconsin	align=center	G
Owen Power, Michigan	align=center	D
Brock Faber, Minnesota	align=center	D
Matty Beniers, Michigan	align=center	F
Thomas Bordeleau, Michigan	align=center	F
Kent Johnson, Michigan	align=center	F

Conference tournament

Tournament MOP
		Minnesota
All-Tournament Team
Player	Pos	Team
		Minnesota
		Minnesota
		Wisconsin
		Wisconsin
		Minnesota
		Minnesota

2021 NHL Entry Draft

See main article: 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

1	1		Michigan	Buffalo Sabres
1	2		Michigan	Seattle Kraken
1	4	Luke Hughes^†	Michigan	New Jersey Devils
1	5		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^[13]

External links

• official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2021-22 Big Ten Schedule . Big Ten . September 2, 2021.
2. Web site: ASU/Big Ten Agree to Schedule Arrangement for 2020-21 . Arizona State Sun Devils . October 6, 2020 . February 5, 2021.
3. News: 2021 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey championship selections announced . NCAA.com. March 21, 2021. March 18, 2021.
4. Web site: BC advances in NCAA men’s hockey tournament as Notre Dame has to forfeit Saturday’s game - The Boston Globe. 2021-03-25. BostonGlobe.com. en-US.
5. Web site: Paul. Tony. Bianchi. Nolan. UM hockey forced out of NCAA tournament because of positive tests. 2021-03-27. The Detroit News.
6. Web site: Michigan Wolverines Strut NCAA Hockey In 2021 NHL Draft . Flo Hockey . July 30, 2021 . September 16, 2021.
7. News: 2020-2021 Men's Ice Hockey Conference Statistics . Atlantic Hockey . September 14, 2021.
8. News: 2020-21 MEN'S COLLEGE HOCKEY NATIONAL STATISTICS DATABASE . Big Ten Conference . September 14, 2021.
9. Web site: USCHO Division I Men's Poll . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.
10. Web site: USA Today Men's Poll . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.
11. News: 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 . April 10, 2021.
12. Web site: Hockey Postseason Honors Announced . https://web.archive.org/web/20210316180922/https://bigten.org/news/2021/3/16/general-hockey-postseason-honors-announced.aspx . dead . March 16, 2021 . Big Ten . March 16, 2021 . April 1, 2021.
13. News: NCAA player rankings, selections in 2021 NHL Draft . USCHO.com . July 24, 2021.