Week 22 Hockey Release

Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics

OFFICIAL RELEASE

• The 12th Big Ten Hockey Tournament begins this week with three quarterfinal series in a best-of-three format. Winners advance to next week’s single-elimination semifinals. Michigan State, which claimed the No. 1 seed via tiebreaker, has earned an opening round bye and will host a semifinal game March 15. All quarterfinal games will be streamed on B1G+. The tournament pairings for this weekend:

No. 7 seed Notre Dame (10-23-1) at No. 2 seed Minnesota (24-8-4)
No. 3/3 Minnesota will extend its streak of hosting home playoff games to at least seven games when it meets Notre Dame this weekend. The Gophers took three of four from the Irish this season although the teams are dead even (2-2) all-time in the Big Ten Tournament. Notre Dame Head Coach Jeff Jackson is one win shy of 600 for his career and is the only coach to have won multiple Big Ten Tournaments (2).

No. 6 seed Wisconsin (12-19-3) at No. 3 seed Ohio State (21-11-2)
No. 9/10 Ohio State and Wisconsin will meet for the second-straight postseason. As the seventh seed last year, the Buckeyes pulled off the quarterfinals upset. Ohio State Head Coach Steve Rohlik has won eight of nine games (and five-straight) versus his alma mater dating to last season. His 15 wins in the Big Ten Tournament are the most by any coach. Ohio State leads Wisconsin, 4-3, all-time in the Big Ten postseason. This weekend’s games will take place at Nationwide Arena.

No. 5 seed Penn State (18-12-4) at No. 4 seed Michigan (18-13-3)
No. 11/11 Michigan took three of four games from No. 15/15 Penn State this season, finishing with a 27-19 scoring margin. Both teams enter the postseason with 18 wins and nearly identical overall records. Michigan Head Coach Brandon Naurato owns the best winning percentage in Big Ten Tournament history (.875 / 7-1) while Penn State Head Coach Guy Gadowsky is coming off his 400th career win achieved on Friday. PSU owns a 2-1 edge against Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament. 

• Michigan State and Minnesota became the first schools to share a Big Ten Hockey Championship with victories in their respective season finales on Saturday. A year to the day of its first championship (March 1), MSU defended its title while Minnesota claimed its seventh crown overall. It marked the sixth time in 12 seasons the championship was decided on the last day of the season.

• Michigan State’s Isaac Howard fended off three contenders to capture the Big Ten scoring title with 33 points (16-17) in 24 games. Minnesota’s Jimmy Snuggerud (32), Penn State’s Aiden Fink (31) and Michigan’s T.J. Hughes (30) finished just behind Howard, who joined Taro Hirose (2018-19) as the only other Spartan to win a conference scoring title.