• The 2018 Big Ten Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament opens Friday with three best-of-three quarterfinal series at campus sites. The tournament will feature a new three-weekend format with all games taking place on the campus of the higher-seeded teams …
• The tournament begins March 2-4 as No. 2 seed Ohio State will host No. 7 seed Michigan State, No. 3 seed Michigan will entertain No. 6 seed Wisconsin and No. 4 seed Penn State will host No. 5 seed Minnesota. Penn State is the defending Big Ten Tournament Champion …
• As the top-seeded team, Big Ten Champion Notre Dame will have a bye to the single-elimination semifinals, which are scheduled for Saturday, March 10. The field will be re-seeded following the quarterfinals, as the highest-seeded team advancing from the quarterfinals will host the second-highest advancing seed, while the lowest-seeded advancing team will play at Notre Dame …
• The highest-seeded team remaining after the semifinals will host a championship game scheduled for Saturday, March 17 …
• Michigan enters the Big Ten Tournament on a six-game unbeaten streak, going 5-0-1 over that stretch. The Wolverines led all Big Ten schools in the second half of the conference season, going 8-3-1-1 …
• With 27 points in 24 conference games, Michigan junior forward Cooper Marody earned the conference scoring title. Marody paced all Big Ten players with 21 assists in conference play and added six goals. Marody is the third Wolverine to claim the Big Ten scoring title, joining Zach Hyman in 2015 and Kyle Connor in 2016 …
• Ohio State continues to lead the nation on the penalty kill, stopping 91.1 percent of opponent opportunities (112-of-123). The Buckeyes are the only team above 90 percent nationally …
• Ohio State and Notre Dame currently rank in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense. The Buckeyes are tied for third nationally and pace all Big Ten teams by allowing just 2.06 goals per game, while the Fighting Irish are tied for seventh at 2.18 …
• Over the last four years, Ohio State is the only school to have won at least one game in the Big Ten Tournament each season. The Buckeyes have won five Big Ten Tournament games over the last four seasons, tied with Penn State for the most of any school …
• Michigan’s Sam Piazza and Notre Dame’s Jake Evans have been named among the 10 men’s hockey finalists for the 2017-18 Senior CLASS Award. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award honors the attributes of senior students in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition …