- Six teams will take the ice this week for a trio of conference series to conclude the regular season and determine the Big Ten Champion. Penn State will visit Michigan State, conference-leading No. 2/2 Michigan will travel to No. 9/8 Notre Dame, and No. 4/4 Minnesota will welcome Wisconsin, with the three series finalizing the seedings and matchups for the Big Ten Tournament.
• Two games will be carried on linear networks, with the remaining contests available to stream. The complete schedule can be found to the right.
• The 2022 Big Ten Tournament begins March 4-6 with best-of-three series at campus sites. The top seed will earn a first-round bye and the No. 2-4 seeds will host the first-round series. The No. 1 seed and the other highest remaining seed will host single-game semifinals on March 12 and the highest remaining seed will host the championship contest on March 19.
• The winner of the Big Ten Tournament receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Championship, which culminates at the Frozen Four, April 7-9 at TD Garden in Boston.
• Michigan and Minnesota remain in the chase for the conference regular-season championship, and a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament, entering the final weekend of action. The Wolverines secured six points in last weekend’s series with Ohio State to take sole possession of the conference lead with 51 points, while the Gophers swept Penn State at Pegula Ice Arena for the first time since 2017 to finish the weekend in second place with 49 points.
• Ohio State is in third place with 42 points in 24 games and Notre Dame sits in fourth place for the final home ice spot for the first-round, best-of-three series in the Big Ten Tournament, with 41 points in 22 games.
• Four Big Ten teams are receiving votes in the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls this week. Michigan leads the conference at No. 2 in both polls, while Minnesota follows at No. 4/4, Notre Dame checks in at No. 9/8 and Ohio State rounds out the list at No. 12/12.
• Since the 2013-14 season, six Big Ten programs (Michigan, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin) have been ranked in the top five of the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls. Those six teams have combined to be ranked in the top five of both polls a total of 178 times, with at least one top-five team in 137 out of 217 weeks.
• Michigan’s Erik Portillo and Ohio State’s Jakub Dobeš were named among the 11 semifinalists for the 2022 Mike Richter Award, which annually honors the most outstanding goaltender in NCAA Division I men’s hockey and is named after former Wisconsin netminder Mike Richter. This year’s honoree will be announced at the 2022 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four in Boston.
• Big Ten teams currently occupy five of the top 20 positions on the national team scoring list, including four of the top 10 spots. Michigan leads the conference and ranks third nationally with 4.03 goals per game, followed by Ohio State in seventh (3.37), Minnesota and Notre Dame in a tie for eighth (3.47), and Penn State at No. 20 (3.16).
• Seven Big Ten goalies find themselves among the top 25 nationally in save percentage, including three of the top 10. Ohio State’s Jakub Dobeš leads the conference and ranks fourth nationally with a .933 save percentage, followed by Michigan’s Erik Portillo (7th, .927), Notre Dame’s Matthew Galajda (8th, .927), Notre Dame’s Ryan Bischel (13th, .924), Minnesota’s Justen Close (14th, .924), Michigan State’s Drew DeRidder (19th, .921) and Wisconsin’s Jared Moe (25th, .915).
• Ten standouts representing five Big Ten programs are among the 77 nominees for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, given annually to the top NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey player in the nation. The list of nominees includes Michigan’s Matty Beniers, Kent Johnson and Owen Power; Michigan State’s Drew DeRidder; Minnesota’s Ben Meyers; Notre Dame’s Max Ellis and Matthew Galajda; and Penn State’s Connor MacEachern, Clayton Phillips, and Kevin Wall. The Hobey Baker Memorial Award will be presented to the winner on April 8 during the NCAA Frozen Four in Boston.
• Ten Big Ten standouts were selected as hockey candidates for the 2021-22 Senior CLASS Award: Michigan’s Nick Blankenburg, Michigan State’s Adam Goodsir, Minnesota’s Sammy Walker, Notre Dame’s Graham Slaggert and Spencer Stastney, Ohio State’s Quinn Preston, Will Riedell and Gustaf Westlund, Penn State’s Oskar Autio and Wisconsin’s Tarek Baker. 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. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2022 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four in April.
• Big Ten teams finished the non-conference slate with a mark of 48-19-4. With a winning percentage of .704, the Big Ten paces all Division I conferences.
• This season, teams will be awarded three points in the conference standings for a win in regulation. If the game is tied following regulation, both teams will receive one point, with a second point being awarded to the team that wins in either the 3-on-3 overtime period or the shootout.
2021-22 Big Ten Hockey Standings
Conference Overall GP PTS W L T OW OL SW GF GA GP W L T GF GA 1 Michigan 22 51 16 6 0 0 3 0 89 53 33 25 7 1 133 73 2 Minnesota 22 49 16 6 0 1 2 0 77 50 32 21 11 0 111 77 3 Ohio State 24 42 13 9 2 1 1 1 76 59 34 21 11 2 118 79 4 Notre Dame 22 41 15 7 0 5 1 0 68 53 32 23 9 0 111 69 5 Wisconsin 22 20 6 15 1 1 2 0 53 83 32 9 20 3 69 111 6 Penn State 22 17 5 16 1 1 1 1 57 87 32 14 17 1 101 107 7 Michigan State 22 14 5 17 0 1 0 0 46 81 32 11 20 1 70 101