2021 Big Ten men's ice hockey tournament

2021 Big Ten men's ice hockey tournament
Dates	March 14–16, 2021
Teams	7
Finals site	Compton Family Ice Arena Notre Dame, Indiana
Champions	Minnesota (2nd title)
Winning coach	Bob Motzko (1st title)
MVP	Jack LaFontaine (Minnesota)
Big Ten men's Ice Hockey Tournaments ← 2020 2022 →

The 2021 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the eighth tournament in conference history. It was played between March 14 and March 16, 2021, at Compton Family Ice Arena in Notre Dame, Indiana.^[1] By winning the tournament, Minnesota earned the Big Ten's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.

Format

All seven Big Ten teams will participate in the tournament, which will return to a single-elimination format for the first time since 2017.^[2] Due to the number of games postponed this season and the limited number of windows remaining to reschedule contests, the Big Ten Tournament seeding will be determined using the protocol for unbalanced schedules approved prior to the start of the season. Teams will be seeded No. 1 through No. 7 according to the final regular season conference standings, with the team that finishes first in the conference standings receiving a first-round bye.^[3]

Conference standings

2020–21 Big Ten ice hockey Standings v t e
	Conference record												Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	OTW	OTL	3/SW	PTS	PT%	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#8 Wisconsin †	24	17	6	1	1	1	0	52	.722	92	52		31	20	10	1	118	80
#7 Minnesota *	22	16	6	0	0	0	0	48	.727	69	44		31	24	7	0	117	64
#9 Michigan	20	11	9	0	1	0	0	32	.550	69	45		26	15	10	1	91	51
#17 Notre Dame	24	12	10	2	1	2	2	41	.542	65	53		29	14	13	2	84	78
Penn State	18	7	11	0	2	1	0	20	.389	48	68		22	10	12	0	65	81
Ohio State	22	6	16	0	0	2	0	20	.273	39	82		27	7	19	1	53	101
Michigan State	22	5	16	1	2	0	0	15	.250	32	70		27	7	18	2	40	77
Championship: March 16, 2021 † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Bracket

	Quarterfinals March 14[4]					Semifinals March 15					Championship March 16
						1	Wisconsin	4*
						5	Penn State	3
	4	Notre Dame	3
	5	Penn State	6
											1	Wisconsin	4
											2	Minnesota	6
	2	Minnesota	2*
	7	Michigan State	1
						2	Minnesota	3*
						3	Michigan	2
	3	Michigan	4
	6	Ohio State	0

Note: * denotes overtime periods.

Results

Quarterfinals

(4) Notre Dame vs. (5) Penn State

March 14	Penn State		6 – 3		Notre Dame	Compton Family Ice Arena	Recap
Christian Sarlo – (Alex Limoges) – 18:52		First period			2:10 – pp – Colin Theisen – (Alex Steeves, Landon Slaggert) 2:41 – Jesse Lansdell – (Matt Hellickson, Max Ellis)
Connor McMenamin – (Kevin Wall) – 3:19 Connor McMenamin – (Kevin Wall) – 10:10 Tim Doherty – (Alex Limoges, Connor MacEachern) – pp – 14:55		Second period			No scoring
Chase McLane – (Mason Snell, Connor MacEachern) – 8:20 Chase McLane – (Jarred Westcott) – 19:28		Third period			12:56 – pp – Ryder Rolston – (Jake Pivonka)
Oskar Autio (30 saves / 33 shots)		Goalie stats			Dylan St. Cyr (28 saves / 33 shots)

(2) Minnesota vs. (7) Michigan State

March 14	Michigan State		1 – 2	OT	Minnesota	Compton Family Ice Arena	Recap
Dennis Cesana – (Mitch Lewandowski, Charlie Combs) – pp – 10:39		First period			No scoring
No scoring		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			15:01 – Bryce Brodzinski – (Mike Koster, Matt Staudacher)
No scoring		First overtime period			10:35 – Sampo Ranta – (Jaxon Nelson)
Pierce Charleson (48 saves / 50 shots)		Goalie stats			Jack LaFontaine (22 saves / 23 shots)

(3) Michigan vs. (6) Ohio State

March 14	Ohio State		0 – 4		Michigan	Compton Family Ice Arena	Recap
No scoring		First period			19:23 – pp – Brendan Brisson – (Cam York, Thomas Bordeleau)
No scoring		Second period			11:21 – Cam York – (Luke Morgan, Kent Johnson)
No scoring		Third period			2:53 – Eric Ciccolini – (Nick Granowicz, Jimmy Lambert) 15:07 – Brendan Brisson – (unassisted)
Tommy Nappier (35 saves / 38 shots)		Goalie stats			Strauss Mann (26 saves / 26 shots)

Semifinals

(1) Wisconsin vs. (5) Penn State

March 15	Penn State		3 – 4	OT	Wisconsin	Compton Family Ice Arena	Recap
No scoring		First period			18:55 – Sam Stange – (Dominick Mersch, Tarek Baker)
Alex Limoges – (Jimmy Dowd Jr., Christian Sarlo) – 9:21		Second period			No scoring
Tim Doherty – (Christian Sarlo, Alex Limoges) – 1:44 Tim Doherty – (Alex Limoges) – 11:50		Third period			9:45 – Ty Emberson – (Dominick Mersch, Tarek Baker) 14:07 – pp – Cole Caufield – (Linus Weissbach)
No scoring		First overtime period			6:50 – Cole Caufield – (Ty Emberson, Owen Lindmark)
Oskar Autio (41 saves / 45 shots)		Goalie stats			Robbie Beydoun (43 saves / 46 shots)

(2) Minnesota vs. (3) Michigan

March 15	Michigan		2 – 3	OT	Minnesota	Compton Family Ice Arena	Recap
Kent Johnson – (Jack Becker, Matty Beniers) – pp – 3:44		First period			No scoring
Garrett Van Wyhe – (Dakota Raabe, Jack Summers) – 14:38		Second period			No scoring
No scoring		Third period			4:07 – Nathan Burke – (Jack Perbix) 15:34 – Sampo Ranta – (Jaxon Nelson, Ryan Johnson)
No scoring		First overtime period			6:00 – Sammy Walker – (Ben Brinkman)
Strauss Mann (37 saves / 40 shots)		Goalie stats			Jack LaFontaine (35 saves / 37 shots)

Championship

(1) Wisconsin vs. (2) Minnesota

March 16	Minnesota		6 – 4		Wisconsin	Compton Family Ice Arena	Recap
Blake McLaughlin – (Scott Reedy, Jackson LaCombe) – 10:32		First period			No scoring
Mike Koster – (Blake McLaughlin, Sammy Walker) – 1:47 Brannon McManus – (Sampo Ranta, Jaxon Nelson) – 15:24 Scott Reedy – (Sammy Walker, Blake McLaughlin) – 16:49 Jaxon Nelson – (Brannon McManus, Jackson LaCombe) – 18:06		Second period			12:54 – Roman Ahcan – (Ty Emberson)
Blake McLaughlin – (Ben Meyers, Ryan Johnson) – en – 19:36		Third period			4:08 – Mike Vorlicky – (Owen Lindmark, Josh Ess) 5:34 – Roman Ahcan – (Linus Weissbach, Ty Pelton-Byce) 17:49 – Cole Caufield – (Owen Lindmark)
Jack LaFontaine (46 saves / 50 shots)		Goalie stats			Cameron Rowe (19 saves / 24 shots) Robbie Beydoun (9 saves / 9 shots)

Tournament awards

All-Tournament Team

• G: Jack LaFontaine* (Minnesota)
• D: Mike Koster (Minnesota)
• D: Ty Emberson (Wisconsin)
• F: Cole Caufield (Wisconsin)
• F: Sampo Ranta (Minnesota)
• F: Sammy Walker (Minnesota)

* Most Outstanding Player

References

1. Crawford, Kirkland (January 28, 2021). "2021 Big Ten hockey tournament: March 18-20 at Notre Dame, single-elimination". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
2. "Big Ten Weekly Hockey Release". BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. January 28, 2021. Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
3. "Statement on Date Change of the 2021 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament". BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. February 25, 2021. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
4. "Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament Bracket Announced". BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. March 6, 2021. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 6, 2021.