The Big Ten men's ice hockey tournament is the conference tournament for the Big Ten Conference. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
The tournament was first held in 2014, the first year of conference play; the first four tournaments alternated between Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota and Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. Due to the addition of Notre Dame to conference play, a new playoff format was introduced for the 2018 tournament, utilizing campus sites instead.
Format 2014–2017 From 2014 through 2017, all six Big Ten teams participated in a single-elimination tournament held over three days at one neutral host site. These four tournaments alternated between Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota and Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
Teams were seeded by the regular-season conference standings. In the quarterfinals on Thursday of the tournament weekend, No. 3 played No. 6 and No. 4 played No. 5. On Friday, No. 2 played the winner of the first game and No. 1 played the winner of the second game (the teams were not reseeded). The two semifinal winners played each other on Saturday in the final.
2018–present Due to poor attendance at the neutral site tournaments, and the addition of Notre Dame as a seventh Big Ten team in hockey, a new format was introduced in 2018. The No. 1 team in the regular-season conference standings automatically advances to the conference semifinals, while the remaining teams are seeded into best-of-three quarterfinals to determine the three remaining teams. The remainder of the playoff is single-elimination.
All games are held at the home arena of the team with the higher seed, rather than a neutral site. In order to reduce the likelihood of scheduling conflicts at team venues, the semifinals and championship are played as single games (in contrast to other conference tournaments). The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Members There are currently seven member schools, with all seven participating in the men's division. 1817Public44,718 1855Public55,543 1851Public48,231 1842Private12,292 1870Public59,873 1855Public46,606 1848Public43,820
Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament champions
2014 Wisconsin Ohio State 5–4 (OT) Saint Paul, Minnesota Xcel Energy Center 2015 Minnesota Michigan 4–2 Detroit, Michigan Joe Louis Arena 2016 Michigan Minnesota 5–3 Saint Paul, Minnesota Xcel Energy Center 2017 Penn State Wisconsin 2–1 (2OT) Detroit, Michigan Joe Louis Arena 2018 Notre Dame Ohio State 3–2 (OT) Notre Dame, Indiana Compton Family Ice Arena 2019 Notre Dame Penn State 3–2 Notre Dame, Indiana Compton Family Ice Arena 2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Minnesota Wisconsin 6–4 Notre Dame, Indiana Compton Family Ice Arena 2022 Michigan Minnesota 4–3 Minneapolis, Minnesota 3M Arena at Mariucci 2023 Michigan Minnesota 4–3 Minneapolis, Minnesota 3M Arena at Mariucci 2024 Michigan State Michigan 5–4 (OT) East Lansing, Michigan Munn Ice Arena 2025 Michigan State Ohio State 4–3 (2OT) East Lansing, Michigan Munn Ice Arena 2026 Michigan Ohio State 7–3 Ann Arbor, Michigan Yost Ice Arena
Championship records
By school 1 Michigan 4–2 2 Notre Dame 2–0 3 Michigan State 2–0 4 Minnesota 2–3 5 Penn State 1–1 6 Wisconsin 1–2 7 Ohio State 0–4
By coach T1 Jeff Jackson 2–0 T1 Adam Nightingale 2–0 2 Brandon Naurato 2–1 T3 Mike Eaves 1–0 T3 Mel Pearson 1–0 T4 Red Berenson 1–1 T4 Guy Gadowski 1–1 T4 Don Lucia 1–1 5 Bob Motzko 1–2 6 Tony Granato 0–2 7 Steve Rohlik 0–4
Performance by team The code in each cell represents the furthest the team made it in the respective tournament: Team not in Big Ten Quarterfinals (4 teams from 2014 to 2017, 6 teams afterwards) Semifinals Finals Champion
Note: the 2020 tournament was cancelled prior to the start of the semifinal round.
School # QF SF F CH 12 11 8 5 3 12 6 10 5 2 12 9 4 2 2 8 7 4 2 2 12 9 3 3 1 12 11 9 2 1 12 11 10 3 0
References
External links Big Ten Conference Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament