Week 21 Hockey Release

Photo courtesy of Penn State Athletics

OFFICIAL RELEASE

• The Big Ten Hockey regular season concludes this week with three teams still in contention for the championship trophy. Minnesota is looking for its seventh title overall (and third in four seasons), Michigan State aims to defend its title and Ohio State goes for its first crown since 2019. MSU and OSU are both seeking their second banners overall. In 11 previous seasons, there has never been a tie for the championship, which is allowed under Big Ten rules. The closest race occurred in 2015-16 when Minnesota edged Michigan by a point. The regular season champion receives the No. 1 seed and a quarterfinals bye for the 2025 Big Ten Tournament, which begins next week.

• No. 2/2 Minnesota, which moved into first place last weekend, takes on No. 15/16 Penn State, which is unbeaten in nine of its last 10 games (7-1-2) and still in contention for home playoff ice. The teams last met Nov. 1-2 when Minnesota allowed one goal in a weekend home sweep. No. 3/3 Michigan State, two points back of first, travels to Notre Dame. Notre Dame’s Jeff Jackson will coach his final home games at the Compton Family Ice Arena where he has spent 19 seasons behind the bench. No. 11/11 Michigan renews its rivalry with No. 8/10 Ohio State in Columbus, starting Thursday night. The schools split a pair of one-goal decisions to start the new year. Both games of the series will be carried on the Big Ten Network, as will both nights of the Minnesota-Penn State series. Wisconsin, which has finished its conference slate, plays host to the U.S. National Team Development Program for an exhibition game Sunday at the Kohl Center.

• With postseason action just around the corner, attention turns to the Pairwise Rankings, which mimics the selection criteria used to fill the at-large slots for the 16-team NCAA Tournament. The latest Pairwise finds Michigan State ranked second, Minnesota rated third, Ohio State and Michigan tied for 10th and Penn State listed at No. 15.

• The Big Ten scoring title is coming down to the wire with three points separating four players, all of whom will be in action this weekend. Michigan State’s Isaac Howard leads the pack with 32 points (15-17), just ahead of Minnesota’s Jimmy Snuggerud (18-12—30). Penn State’s Aiden Fink (17-12—29) and Michigan’s T.J. Hughes (14-15—29) are tied for third. Snuggerud is pursuing his second scoring title, a feat accomplished just once before by Cole Caufield of Wisconsin. In the NCAA ranks, Howard and Fink are part of a four-way tie in overall scoring, averaging 1.41 points per game based on their 45-point campaigns.

• The 12th edition of the Big Ten Hockey Tournament begins the weekend of March 7-9 with best-of-three quarterfinal games. Single elimination semifinal contests take place on March 15 with the championship game slated for March 22 at the site of the highest remaining seed. The tournament winner receives the Big Ten’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.