Week 21 Hockey Release

Photo by Brad Rempel / Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics

OFFICIAL RELEASE

• The final week of the regular season will provide plenty of suspense as Michigan and Michigan State contend for the Big Ten Championship. Michigan is the leader in the clubhouse, having finished conference play last week. The Wolverines – the new consensus No. 1 in the polls – are seeking their first Big Ten regular season title. No. 2/3 Michigan State controls its destiny, needing two points to earn a share of the title and three points to win outright. The Big Ten Championship has been shared only once before when Michigan State and Minnesota tied last season. The Spartans are looking for their third-straight conference crown, a feat matched only by Minnesota, which won four-straight conference championships from 2014-17.

• The final conference series for 2025-26 feature No. 2/3 Michigan State at Minnesota, No. 11/11 Wisconsin at No. 6/6 Penn State and Notre Dame at rv/- Ohio State. A home playoff spot for the Big Ten Quarterfinals is also on the line this week. Wisconsin holds a six-point edge over Ohio State for home ice with the Buckeyes owning the tiebreaker. Michigan will host Simon Fraser in an exhibition on Thursday.

• Michigan took over the top spot in the USCHO.com and USA Hockey national polls on Monday, reclaiming the honor it held for 10 weeks. This is the 19th-straight week that either Michigan or Michigan State has occupied the No. 1 position in both polls.

• The conference scoring title, determined by total points in league play, is coming down to the wire. Michigan senior T.J. Hughes and Penn State freshman Gavin McKenna top the scoring chart with 36 points, three points ahead of Michigan State’s Porter Martone. No Penn State player has won the scoring crown. Four freshmen have captured Big Ten scoring titles, the most recent being Minnesota’s Logan Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud during the 2022-23 season. The only senior to lead the conference in scoring was Michigan’s Zach Hyman in 2014-15.

• Michigan State and Ohio State made Big Ten history on Saturday in a 3-3 overtime tie. A shootout lasting 13 rounds (and won by MSU) set a new conference record, breaking the old mark of 10 rounds established by Ohio State and Wisconsin in March 2015. Saturday’s shootout was the third-longest in NCAA history. 

• Next week’s Big Ten Tournament will have a new look as the postseason event is shortened from three weeks to two weeks. The quarterfinals, previously played as best-of-three series over a weekend, will now be single-elimination games held on Wednesday to open the tournament. Single-elimination semifinals and the ensuring championship game will be played on consecutive Saturdays (March 14 and March 21) at campus sites. The tournament champion will receive the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.