2021–22 Big Ten Conference ice hockey season

The 2021–22 Big Ten Conference ice hockey season was the 32nd season of play for the Big Ten Conference's men's ice hockey division and will take place during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. The regular season is set to begin on October 2, 2021, and conclude on February 26, 2022.^[1] The conference tournament is scheduled to begin in early March, 2022.

2021–22 Big Ten Conference ice hockey season
Season	2021–22
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Division	Division I
Sport	ice hockey
Duration	October 2, 2021– April 7, 2022
Number of teams	7
2022 NHL Entry Draft
Top draft pick	David Gucciardi
Picked by	Washington Capitals
Regular season
Season champions	Minnesota
Season MVP	Ben Meyers
Top scorer	Matty Beniers
Big Ten tournament
Tournament champions	Michigan
Runners-up	Minnesota
Tournament MVP	Erik Portillo
Top scorer	Nick Blankenburg (6)
NCAA tournament
Bids	3
Record	5–3
Best Finish	National semifinal
Team(s)	Michigan, Minnesota
Big Ten Conference ice hockey seasons « 2020–21 2022–23 »

Coaches

Records

Team	Head coach	Season at school	Record at school	Big Ten record
Michigan	Mel Pearson	5	68–55–15	41–39–10
Michigan State	Danton Cole	5	46–78–11	30–55–9
Minnesota	Bob Motzko	4	58–37–11	36–24–10
Notre Dame	Jeff Jackson	17	348–219–66	49–36–9
Ohio State	Steve Rohlik	9	140–114–34	66–67–17
Penn State	Guy Gadowsky	11	155–132–23	72–83–14
Wisconsin	Tony Granato	6	82–82–13	53–52–11

Standings

2021–22 Big Ten ice hockey Standings v t e
	Conference record											Overall record
	GP	W	L	T	OTW	OTL	3/SW	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#5 Minnesota †	24	18	6	0	1	2	0	55	90	50		39	26	13	0	138	91
#2 Michigan *	24	16	8	0	0	3	0	51	91	59		42	31	10	1	167	94
#9 Notre Dame	24	17	7	0	5	1	0	47	74	55		40	28	12	0	122	75
#16 Ohio State	24	13	9	2	1	1	1	42	76	59		37	22	13	2	125	87
Penn State	24	6	17	1	1	1	1	20	63	92		38	17	20	1	117	122
Wisconsin	24	6	17	1	1	2	0	20	53	96		37	10	24	3	76	132
Michigan State	24	6	18	0	1	0	0	17	51	87		36	12	23	1	76	119
Championship: March 19, 2022 † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated April 7, 2022

Non-Conference record

Of the sixteen teams that are selected to participate in the NCAA tournament, ten will be via at-large bids. Those 10 teams are determined based upon the PairWise rankings. The rankings take into account all games played but are heavily affected by intra-conference results. The result is that teams from leagues which perform better in non-conference are much more likely to receive at-large bids even if they possess inferior records overall.

As a conference, the Big Ten had a tremendous non-conference season. Only one of the seven league members (Wisconsin) had a losing record in non-league games. Four teams had at least an 80% winning percentage. On the whole, only one conference possessed a winning record against the Big Ten (NCHC), however, they did so by only one victory.

Regular season record

Team	Atlantic Hockey	CCHA	ECAC Hockey	Hockey East	Independent	NCHC	Total
Michigan	2–0–0	3–0–1	0–0–0	2–0–0	0–0–0	2–1–0	9–1–1
Michigan State	1–1–0	3–0–0	0–0–0	0–1–1	0–0–0	2–1–0	6–3–1
Minnesota	2–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0	1–1–0	2–4–0	5–5–0
Notre Dame	4–2–0	2–0–0	0–0–0	1–0–0	1–0–0	0–0–0	8–2–0
Ohio State	2–2–0	2–0–0	0–0–0	2–0–0	2–0–0	0–0–0	8–2–0
Penn State	3–1–0	2–0–0	1–0–0	0–0–0	2–0–0	1–0–0	9–1–0
Wisconsin	2–0–0	0–2–0	1–1–1	0–0–1	0–0–0	0–2–0	3–5–1
Overall	16–6–0	12–2–1	2–1–1	5–1–2	6–1–0	7–8–0	48–19–4

Statistics

Leading scorers

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes^[2]

Player	Class	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Matty Beniers	Sophomore	Michigan	20	13	14	27	10
Ben Meyers	Junior	Minnesota	19	13	11	24	4
Luke Hughes	Freshman	Michigan	24	13	9	22	10
Jackson LaCombe	Junior	Minnesota	24	1	21	22	6
Matthew Knies	Freshman	Minnesota	18	6	14	20	4
Georgii Merkulov	Freshman	Ohio State	23	11	9	20	8
Mackie Samoskevich	Freshman	Michigan	24	5	14	19	6
Jake Wise	Senior	Ohio State	24	7	12	19	0
Owen Power	Sophomore	Michigan	16	2	16	18	4
Thomas Bordeleau	Sophomore	Michigan	22	7	11	18	14

Leading goaltenders

Minimum 1/3 of team's minutes played in conference games.
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average^[3]

Player	Class	Team	GP	Min	W	L	T	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Justen Close	Junior	Minnesota	15	750	10	2	0	21	2	.938	1.68
Matthew Galajda	Graduate	Notre Dame	14	728	9	4	0	25	1	.926	2.06
Erik Portillo	Sophomore	Michigan	24	1403	16	8	0	54	2	.924	2.31
Ryan Bischel	Junior	Notre Dame	16	716	8	3	0	28	1	.921	2.34
Jakub Dobeš	Freshman	Ohio State	24	1299	13	9	2	53	1	.928	2.45

Conference tournament

Main article: 2022 Big Ten men's ice hockey tournament

	Quarterfinals March 4–6[4]							Semifinals March 12					Championship March 19
								1	Minnesota	3
								5	Penn State	2
	2	Michigan	4	8	—
	7	Michigan State	1	0	—
													1	Minnesota	3
													2	Michigan	4
	3	Notre Dame	1	3	4
	6	Wisconsin	3	2	2
								2	Michigan	2
								3	Notre Dame	1
	4	Ohio State	4	2	1
	5	Penn State	3	3	2

Note: * denotes overtime periods. Note: * denotes overtime periods.

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2022 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament

Regional semifinal

Midwest

March 25, 2022 3:00 PM

(1) Michigan

5 – 3 (2–1, 3–1, 0–1)

(4) American International

PPL Center Attendance: 2,155

Game reference
	Erik Portillo	Goalies	Alec Calvaruso	Referees: Cameron Lynch Brad LeBlanc Linesmen: Patrick Dapuzzo Steve Drain
	(Hughes, Moyle) Garrett Van Wyhe (5) – 03:37 1–0 (Brisson, Beniers) Ethan Edwards (3) – 04:16 2–0 2–1 12:32 – Brian Rigali (13) (Bennett, Galambos) (Power, Johnson) Brendan Brisson (20) – PP – 20:43 3–1 (Brisson, Johnson) Matty Beniers (20) – GW – 22:43 4–1 4–2 26:15 – Justin Young (12) (Theodore) (Power, Samoskevich) Dylan Duke (10) – 26:43 5–2 5–3 53:48 – PP – Blake Bennett (19) (Barriga, Young)
	8 min	Penalties	6 min
	31	Shots	32

Northeast

March 25, 2022 6:00 PM

(2) Minnesota

4 – 3 (OT) (1–2, 1–1, 1–0, 1–0)

(3) Massachusetts

DCU Center Attendance: 6,002

Game reference
	Justen Close	Goalies	Matt Murray	Referees: Ryan Hersey Nick Krebsbach Linesmen: John Grandt Tyler Liffrig
	0–1 14:09 – EA – Reed Lebster (8) (Kiefiuk, Ufko) 0–2 15:05 – PP – Garrett Wait (13) (Ufko, Trivigno) (Meyers, Knies) Ryan Johnson (3) – 18:02 1–2 1–3 21:24 – Reed Lebster (9) (Kiefiuk, Del Gaizo) (Nelson, Pitlick) Tristan Broz (6) – 37:09 2–3 (unassisted) Matthew Knies (13) – PP – 53:17 3–3 (Huglen, Nelson) Ben Meyers (17) – GW – 68:31 4–3
	2 min	Penalties	4 min
	24	Shots	23

East

March 24, 2022 6:00 PM

(2) North Dakota

1 – 2 (OT) (1–0, 0–1, 0–0, 0–1)

(3) Notre Dame

MVP Arena Attendance: 2,345

Game reference
	Zach Driscoll	Goalies	Matthew Galajda	Referees: Geno Binda Jr. Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: Kevin Briganti Bill Kingdon
	(Ness) Brent Johnson (2) – 18:43 1–0 1–1 21:03 – Landon Slaggert (12) (G. Slaggert) 1–2 61:38 – GW PP – Graham Slaggert (12) (Leivermann, L. Slaggert)
	6 min	Penalties	6 min
	24	Shots	25

Regional final

Midwest

March 27, 2022 6:30 PM

(1) Michigan

7 – 4 (2–0, 2–0, 3–4)

(2) Quinnipiac

PPL Center Attendance: 3,256

Game reference
	Erik Portillo	Goalies	Yaniv Perets out 40:00 Dylan St. Cyr in 40:00	Referees: Geoff Miller Steve Rouillard Linesmen: Jeff McCorkle Kyle Richetelle
	(Power, Lambert) Nolan Moyle (6) – 00:33 1–0 (Hughes) Jimmy Lambert (5) – 14:36 2–0 (Brisson, Power) Thomas Bordeleau (11) – PP – 26:06 3–0 (Blankenburg) Garrett Van Wyhe (6) – SH – 38:54 4–0 4–1 44:12 – Jayden Lee (6) (Brind'Amour, van Nes) 4–2 49:01 – Wyatt Bongiovanni (16) (de Jong) 4–3 51:02 – Desi Burgart (8) (Smilanic, Quillan) (Bordeleau, Estapa) Michael Pastujov (11) – GW EN – 56:23 5–3 (Power) Nolan Moyle (7) – EN – 58:37 6–3 (Bordeleau, Power) Brendan Brisson (21) – PP – 59:25 7–3 7–4 59:38 – Zach Metsa (10) (Quillan, Leyh)
	6 min	Penalties	4 min
	30	Shots	34

Northeast

March 27, 2022 4:00 PM

(1) Western Michigan

0 – 3 (0–1, 0–0, 0–2)

(2) Minnesota

DCU Center Attendance: 2,848

Game reference
	Brandon Bussi	Goalies	Justen Close	Referees: Joe Carusone C.J. Hanfin Linesmen: Brian Oliver Ryan Knapp
	0–1 10:10 – GW – Matthew Knies (14) (Faber, Meyers) 0–2 40:33 – PP – Aaron Huglen (7) (Meyers, LaCombe) 0–3 58:03 – SH EN – Blake McLaughlin (13) (unassisted)
	2 min	Penalties	4 min
	24	Shots	26

East

March 26, 2022 6:30 PM

(1) Minnesota State

1 – 0 (1–0, 0–0, 0–0)

(3) Notre Dame

MVP Arena Attendance: 3,449

Game reference
	Dryden McKay	Goalies	Matthew Galajda	Referees: Geno Bindo Jeremy Tufts Linesmen: Kevin Briganti Bill Kingdon
	(Furry) Nathan Smith (19) – GW – 19:44 1–0
	6 min	Penalties	2 min
	33	Shots	23

National semifinal

April 7, 2022 5:00 PM

(MW1) Michigan

2 – 3 (OT) (0–1, 1–0, 1–1, 0–1)

(W1) Denver

TD Garden Attendance: 17,850

Game reference
	Erik Portillo	Goalies	Magnus Chrona	Referees: Joe Carusone CJ Hanafin Linesmen: Ryan Knapp Brian Oliver
	0–1 11:22 – Brett Stapley (17) (Barrow, Lee) (Moyle, Van Wyhe) Jimmy Lambert (6) – 24:03 1–1 1–2 45:36 – Cameron Wright (22) (Benning, Rizzo) (Pastujov, Estapa) Thomas Bordeleau (12) – 49:09 2–2 2–3 74:53 – GW – Carter Savoie (23) (Brink, Benning)
	6 min	Penalties	0 min
	21	Shots	33

April 7, 2022 8:30 PM

(E1) Minnesota State

5 – 1 (0–1, 2–0, 3–0)

(NE2) Minnesota

TD Garden Attendance: 17,850

Game reference
	Dryden McKay	Goalies	Justen Close	Referees: Ryan Sweeney Michael Schubert Linesmen: Anthony Valle Shane Kanaly
	0–1 09:00 – Matthew Knies (15) (Brodzinski) (Sowder, Pavel) Benton Maass (6) – 27:22 1–1 (Silye, Livingstone) Reggie Lutz (15) – GW – 33:31 2–1 (McNeely, Groll) Ondřej Pavel (12) – 41:57 3–1 (Morton) David Silye (8) – 53:17 4–1 (unassisted) Brendan Furry (13) – EN – 58:51 5–1
	0 min	Penalties	0 min
	32	Shots	17

Ranking

Main article: 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings

USCHO

Team	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	Final
Michigan	3	3	3	1	2	3	2	1	4	3	3	3	6	4	3	4	3	4	2	2	5	4	4	2	3
Michigan State	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Minnesota	4	4	4	4	7	5	6	7	11	11	10	11	9	8	11	10	8	7	5	4	2	2	2	5	4
Notre Dame	18	19	17	13	14	17	15	14	8	8	8	10	13	13	13	11	13	11	12	9	7	8	9	9	8
Ohio State	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	18	17	17	18	17	17	17	16	15	12	9	8	11	12	12	15	16	16	16
Penn State	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	16	19	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Wisconsin	11	13	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

^[5]

USA Today

Team	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Final
Michigan	2	3	3	1	3	4	2	1	3	2	3	3	7	5	4	4	4	4	2	2	4	4	4	2	2	3
Michigan State	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Minnesota	4	4	4	4	7	5	8	7	12	12	11	11	11	8	11	10	10	8	6	4	2	2	3	6	4	4
Notre Dame	NR	NR	NR	12	NR	NR	15	15	8	8	8	10	13	13	14	12	12	11	11	8	7	8	9	10	8	8
Ohio State	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	14	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	15	15	11	8	7	12	12	12	15	NR	NR	NR	NR
Penn State	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Wisconsin	12	14	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

^[6]

Pairwise

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	Final
Michigan	14	10	1	2	4	5	2	3	2	3	1	6	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	1
Michigan State	14	37	5	25	16	21	23	20	18	20	18	19	24	29	31	30	31	32	35	33	37	37	35
Minnesota	14	25	22	23	11	10	8	18	12	11	11	11	8	11	11	11	8	5	5	3	3	3	6
Notre Dame	14	14	2	7	15	20	9	7	5	8	10	16	15	15	12	12	12	12	11	5	8	6	8
Ohio State	14	30	16	19	21	11	12	16	20	17	16	15	13	14	9	10	10	12	13	13	15	15	15
Penn State	4	7	21	10	7	12	21	22	20	24	24	20	23	28	21	23	24	24	26	25	25	25	25
Wisconsin	14	49	9	37	23	23	31	36	41	40	38	37	38	33	37	39	35	34	36	38	34	35	37

Note: teams ranked in the top-10 automatically qualify for the NCAA tournament. Teams ranked 11-16 can qualify based upon conference tournament results.^[7]

Awards

NCAA

AHCA All-American Teams[8]
West First Team	Position	Team
Matty Beniers	F	Michigan
West Second Team	Position	Team
Luke Hughes	D	Michigan
Owen Power	D	Michigan
Ben Meyers	F	Minnesota

Big Ten

Award		Recipient [9]
Player of the Year		Ben Meyers, Minnesota
Defensive Player of the Year		Brock Faber, Minnesota
Goaltender of the Year		Jakub Dobeš, Ohio State
Freshman of the Year	Jakub Dobeš, Ohio State
	Luke Hughes, Michigan
Scoring Champion		Matty Beniers, Michigan
Coach of the Year		Bob Motzko, Minnesota
Tournament Most Outstanding Player		Erik Portillo, Michigan
All-Big Ten Teams[9]
First Team	Position	Second Team
Jakub Dobeš, Ohio State	G	Erik Portillo, Michigan
Owen Power, Michigan	D	Luke Hughes, Michigan
Brock Faber, Minnesota	D	Jackson LaCombe, Minnesota
Matty Beniers, Michigan	F	Brendan Brisson, Michigan
Ben Meyers, Minnesota	F	Matthew Knies, Minnesota
Georgii Merkulov, Ohio State	F	Max Ellis, Notre Dame
Freshman Team	Position
Jakub Dobeš, Ohio State	G
Luke Hughes, Michigan	D
Mason Lohrei, Ohio State	D
Matthew Knies, Minnesota	F
Georgii Merkulov, Ohio State	F
Mackie Samoskevich, Michigan	F

Big Ten tournament

Tournament MOP
Erik Portillo		Michigan
All-Tournament Team[9]
Player	Pos	Team
Erik Portillo	G	Michigan
Jackson LaCombe	D	Minnesota
Luke Hughes	D	Michigan
Mackie Samoskevich	F	Michigan
Brendan Brisson	F	Michigan
Matty Beniers	F	Michigan

2022 NHL Entry Draft

Main article: 2022 NHL Entry Draft

Round	Pick	Player	College	NHL team
1	3	Logan Cooley†	Minnesota	Arizona Coyotes
1	13	Frank Nazar†	Michigan	Chicago Blackhawks
1	14	Rutger McGroarty†	Michigan	Winnipeg Jets
1	23	Jimmy Snuggerud†	Minnesota	St. Louis Blues
1	25	Sam Rinzel†	Minnesota	Chicago Blackhawks
2	37	Ryan Chesley†	Minnesota	Washington Capitals
2	46	Seamus Casey†	Michigan	New Jersey Devils
3	78	Quinn Finley†	Wisconsin	New York Islanders
4	100	Tyson Jugnauth†	Wisconsin	Seattle Kraken
4	104	Stephen Halliday†	Ohio State	Ottawa Senators
4	124	Cruz Lucius†	Wisconsin	Carolina Hurricanes
6	180	Jack Sparkes†	Michigan State	Los Angeles Kings
6	192	Connor Kurth†	Minnesota	Tampa Bay Lightning
7	201	Owen Mehlenbacher†	Wisconsin	Detroit Red Wings
7	212	Brennan Ali†	Notre Dame	Detroit Red Wings
7	213	David Gucciardi	Michigan State	Washington Capitals

† incoming freshman ^[10]