2019-20 BIG TEN HOCKEY BIG TEN TOURNAMENT - QUARTERFINAL RELEASE Primary Contact: Megan Rowley, Assistant Director, Communications • Office: 847-696-1010 ext. 129 • E-mail: [email protected] • Twitter: @B1GHockey Secondary Contact: Leigh McGuirk, Bob Hammel Communications Intern • Office: 847-696-1010 ext. 142 • E-mail: [email protected] 2019-20 STANDINGS Conference Games All Games PTS GP W L T 3/SW PCT GF GA GP W L T PCT GF GA 1. Penn State^ 41 24 12 8 4 1/0 .583 79 70 34 20 10 4 .647 121 88 2. Ohio State 38 24 11 9 4 0/1 .542 62 62 34 18 11 5 .603 91 80 Michigan 38 24 11 10 3 1/1 .521 65 52 34 16 14 4 .529 92 72 Minnesota 38 24 9 8 7 3/1 .521 66 62 34 14 13 7 .515 95 94 BIG TEN TOURNAMENT 5. Notre Dame 37 24 9 9 6 0/4 .500 59 59 34 14 13 7 .515 90 91 6. Michigan State 35 24 11 11 2 0/0 .500 54 54 34 15 17 2 .471 80 82 QUARTERFINAL SCHEDULE 7. Wisconsin 25 24 7 15 2 1/1 .333 63 89 34 14 18 2 .441 110 124 March 6-8 | Best-of-three series ^ Big Ten Champion #7 WISCONSIN AT #2 OHIO STATE BIG TEN. BIG NEWS. Game 1: Friday, March 6 7 p.m. BTN+ • The 2020 Big Ten Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament opens Friday with three best-of-three quarterfinal series at campus sites. The Game 2: Saturday, March 7 7 p.m. seventh edition of the tournament will continue to feature a three-weekend format for the quarterfinals, with all games taking place BTN+ on the campus of the higher-seeded teams. Game 3: Sunday, March 8 (if nec.) 7 p.m. • The tournament begins March 6-8 as No. 2 seed Ohio State will host No. 7 seed Wisconsin, No. 3 seed Michigan will entertain No. BTN+ 6 seed Michigan State and No. 4 seed Minnesota will host No. 5 seed Notre Dame. The Wolverines, Golden Gophers and Buckeyes all tied for second place in the final standings, but Ohio State claimed the No. 2 seed due to the Buckeyes and Wolverines having more conference victories than the Gophers, as well as Ohio State’s 3-1-0 record against Michigan this season. #6 MICHIGAN STATE AT #3 MICHIGAN Game 1: Friday, March 6 7 p.m. • Penn State claimed its first Big Ten Championship and, as the top-seeded team, the Nittany Lions will have a bye to the single-eli- BTN+ mination semifinals, which are scheduled for the weekend of March 14-15. 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 Game 2: Saturday, March 7 7 p.m. advancing team will play at Penn State. BTN+ Game 3: Sunday, March 8 (if nec.) 6 p.m. • The highest-seeded team remaining after the semifinals will host the championship game the weekend of March 21-22. Notre Dame has won the last two Big Ten Tournaments, defeating Penn State, 3-2, in last year’s final. BTN+ • The winner of the Big Ten Tournament receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Championship, which culminates at the NCAA #5 NOTRE DAME AT #4 MINNESOTA Frozen Four, April 9-11 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Game 1: Friday, March 6 8 p.m. • Over the first six years of the Big Ten Tournament, five different schools have claimed the tournament title: FS2/FOX Sports App 2014 – Wisconsin (No. 2 seed) Game 2: Saturday, March 7 8 p.m. 2015 – Minnesota (No. 1) 2016 – Michigan (No. 2) FS North Plus/BTN+ 2017 – Penn State (No. 4) Game 3: Sunday, March 8 (if nec.) 7 p.m. 2018 – Notre Dame (No. 1) FS2/FOX Sports App 2019 – Notre Dame (No. 2) • Penn State became the fourth different team win the Big Ten Championship over the past four years and fourth team overall since All times are ET the Big Ten launched conference play in 2013-14: Minnesota – 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 Notre Dame – 2018 Ohio State – 2019 Penn State - 2020 LAST WEEK’S RESULTS • A trio of Big Ten squads continue to be ranked in the USCHO.com and/or USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls this week. Penn State leads conference teams in both polls at No. 8/7, followed by Ohio State at No. 11/11 and No. 19/-- Minnesota. Michigan is first FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28 among other teams receiving votes in the USCHO.com poll, with Notre Dame and Michigan State also receiving votes. The Golden WISCONSIN def. #10/10 OHIO STATE, 3-2 Gophers and Wolverines are among teams receiving votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll. MICHIGAN STATE def. NOTRE DAME, 3-1 • For the third time in conference history, every Big Ten team has reached 12 overall victories on the season, with every squad MICHIGAN tied #18/- MINNESOTA, 2-2 (OT) posting at least 14 wins. (MICH wins SO, 1-0) • With 24 points in Big Ten games, Wisconsin freshman forward Cole Caufield earned the conference scoring title. Caufield paced all Big Ten players with 11 goals in conference play and added 13 assists. Caufield is the first Badger to claim the Big Ten scoring title SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 29 since the accolade’s inception in 2015. MICHIGAN def. #18/- MINNESOTA, 2-1 • Three Big Ten goalies continue to be among the top 10 nationally in save percentage this season. Michigan State’s John Lethemon MICHIGAN STATE tied NOTRE DAME, 2-2 (OT) is fifth nationally with a .937 save percentage, followed by Michigan’s Strauss Mann (6th, .936) and Ohio State’s Tommy Nappier (ND wins SO, 1-0) (9th, .929). The above trio of goalies also are among the top 20 nationally in goals against average: Mann (8th, 2.00), Nappier (12th, 2.08) and Lethemon (17th, 2.11). WISCONSIN tied #10/10 OHIO STATE, 3-3 (OT) (WIS wins in 3x3 OT) • Notre Dame’s Cal Burke and Ohio State’s Tanner Laczynski were named finalists for the 2019-20 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 com¬petition. To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be classified as Rankings: USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine NCAA Division I seniors. The finalists were chosen by national media from the list of candidates announced in the fall. • Nine standouts representing five Big Ten programs are among the 79 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 State’s Patrick Khodorenko, Notre Dame’s Cale Morris, Ohio State’s Tanner Laczynski and Tommy Nappier, Penn State’s Cole Hults and Peyton Jones, and Wisconsin’s Cole Caufield, Wyatt Kalynuk and Linus Weissbach. The Hobey Baker Memorial Award will be presented to the winner on April 10 during the NCAA Frozen Four in Detroit. BIG LIFE. BIG STAGE. BIG TEN. The Big Ten Academic Alliance is an academic consortium of all 14 Big Ten universities, which is widely considered to be the model for effective and voluntary collaboration among top research universities. BIG TEN HOCKEY WEEKLY RELEASE 2 BIG TEN IN THE POLLS BIG TEN THREE STARS USCHO.com Division I Poll - March 2 USA Today/USA Hockey Division I Poll - March 2 First Star Last Last Strauss Mann, Michigan Rank School (Votes) Record Points Poll Rank School (Votes) Record Points Poll G – So. – Greenwich, Conn. – Business Administration 1. Cornell (37) 23-2-4 978 1 1. Cornell (19) 23-2-4 488 2 2. North Dakota (11) 25-4-4 957 3 2. North Dakota (13) 25-4-4 485 1 3. Minnesota State (1) 29-5-2 881 2 3. Minnesota State (2) 29-5-2 451 3 • Backstopped Michigan to a five-point weekend 4. Boston College (1) 23-8-1 829 4 4. Boston College 23-8-1 402 4 against No. 18/- Minnesota, securing home ice 5. Minnesota Duluth 20-10-2 802 5 5. Minnesota Duluth 20-10-2 362 5 for the Wolverines in the Big Ten Tournament 6. Denver 20-9-5 728 6 6. Denver 20-9-5 326 6 7. Clarkson 23-8-3 666 7 7. PENN STATE 20-10-4 290 8 • Made a career-high 48 saves in a 2-2 draw on 8. PENN STATE 20-10-4 645 9 8. Clarkson 23-8-3 261 7 Friday, adding five more saves in the 3-on-3 9. Massachusetts 20-11-2 629 8 9. UMass 20-11-2 251 9 overtime and stopping both shots he faced in 10. Bemidji State 20-9-5 545 11 10. Bemidji State 20-9-5 210 11 the shootout 11. OHIO STATE 18-11-5 491 10 11. OHIO STATE 18-11-5 186 10 • Registered 27 saves in Saturday’s 2-1 win to 12. UMass Lowell 17-10-6 454 12 12. Massachusetts Lowell 17-10-6 103 15 13. Arizona State 22-11-3 404 14 13. Arizona State 22-11-3 101 13 finish the weekend with a .962 save percentage 14. Quinnipiac 21-11-2 331 17 14.