2025–26 Big Ten Conference ice hockey season
| 2025–26 Big Ten Conference ice hockey season | |
|---|---|
| Season | 2025–26 |
| Conference | Big Ten Conference |
| Division | Division I |
| Sport | ice hockey |
| Duration | October 3, 2025– March 21, 2026 |
| Number of teams | 7 |
| TV partner(s) | Big Ten Network |
| NHL Entry Draft | |
| Regular Season | |
| Season champions | Michigan State |
| Top scorer | Gavin McKenna |
| Big Ten Tournament | |
| NCAA Tournament | |
| Big Ten Conference ice hockey seasons « 2024–25 2026–27 » | |
The 2025–26 Big Ten men's ice hockey season will be the 36th season of play for the Big Ten Conference's men's ice hockey division and will take place during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. The season will begin on October 3, 2025, and the conference tournament is set to concluded on March 21, 2026.
Head coaches
- After Jeff Jackson retired, Notre Dame promoted Brock Sheahan to fill the post.[1]
Records
| Team | Head coach | Season at school | Record at school | Big Ten record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | Brandon Naurato | 4 | 67–42–9 | 35–31–6 |
| Michigan State | Adam Nightingale | 4 | 69–35–9 | 41–23–8 |
| Minnesota | Bob Motzko | 8 | 161–82–21 | 101–47–18 |
| Notre Dame | Brock Sheahan | 1 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Ohio State | Steve Rohlik | 13 | 221–177–45 | 108–114–23 |
| Penn State | Guy Gadowsky | 15 | 231–200–32 | 104–128–23 |
| Wisconsin | Mike Hastings | 3 | 39–33–5 | 23–23–2 |
Preseason
Head coaches were polled prior to the season and asked to both rank member programs as well as vote for all-conference teams.[2]
Preseason Big Ten poll
|
Preseason All-Big Ten
|
Standings
| Conference record | Overall record | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | T | OTW | OTL | 3/SW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | |||
| #3 Michigan State † | 24 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 51 | 88 | 54 | 35 | 25 | 8 | 2 | 131 | 74 | ||
| #1 Michigan | 24 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 49 | 96 | 66 | 36 | 28 | 7 | 1 | 162 | 85 | ||
| #10т Penn State | 24 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 41 | 86 | 82 | 36 | 21 | 13 | 2 | 135 | 114 | ||
| #12 Wisconsin | 24 | 14 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 95 | 84 | 35 | 21 | 12 | 2 | 130 | 108 | ||
| #19 Ohio State | 24 | 8 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 29 | 78 | 100 | 36 | 14 | 20 | 2 | 116 | 127 | ||
| Minnesota | 24 | 7 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 27 | 61 | 79 | 36 | 11 | 22 | 3 | 97 | 125 | ||
| Notre Dame | 24 | 5 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 65 | 104 | 37 | 9 | 23 | 5 | 103 | 151 | ||
| Championship: March 21, 2026 † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 14, 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||
Non-Conference record
The Big Ten finished the year with an outstanding non-conference record. Not only did each of the member teams finish with a winning record in out of conference games, the Big Ten as a whole had winning records against every other conference except the NCHC.
Regular season record
| Team | AHA | CCHA | ECAC Hockey | Hockey East | Independent | NCHC | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 4–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 7–1–0 |
| Michigan State | 0–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 3–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 5–1–0 |
| Minnesota | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–1 | 0–0–0 | 1–3–0 | 2–5–1 |
| Notre Dame | 1–0–1 | 0–0–0 | 2–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 3–2–1 |
| Ohio State | 1–1–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 4–2–0 |
| Penn State | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 4–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 7–1–0 |
| Wisconsin | 0–0–0 | 0–0–2 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 4–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 4–0–2 |
| Overall | 6–1–1 | 5–1–2 | 3–2–0 | 6–3–1 | 8–0–0 | 4–5–0 | 32–12–4 |
Conference tournament
| Quarterfinals March 11[3] | Semifinals March 14 | Championship March 21 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Michigan State | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Ohio State | 3* | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Michigan | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Notre Dame | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Ohio State | |||||||||||||
| (Teams are reseeded after the Quarterfinal round) | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Michigan | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Penn State | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Minnesota | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Michigan | 5 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Penn State | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Wisconsin | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Ohio State | 7 | ||||||||||||
Note: * denotes overtime periods.
NCAA tournament
Ranking
USCHO
| Team | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 12 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| Michigan State | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| Minnesota | 8 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 19 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | – | – |
| Notre Dame | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | – | – |
| Ohio State | 16 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 17 | 19 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 19 | – | – |
| Penn State | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 10 | – | – |
| Wisconsin | 20 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 12 | – | – |
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 12.[4]
USA Hockey
| Team | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 12 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – |
| Michigan State | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – |
| Minnesota | 7 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 18 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | – | – | – |
| Notre Dame | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | – | – | – |
| Ohio State | 17 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 17 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 19 | – | – | – |
| Penn State | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 11 | – | – | – |
| Wisconsin | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 12 | – | – | – |
Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.[5]
NPI
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | – | – | 5 | – | – | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| Michigan State | – | – | 10 | – | – | 11 | 8 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | – | – |
| Minnesota | – | – | 31 | – | – | 40 | 41 | 42 | 36 | 27 | 28 | 32 | 36 | 37 | 41 | 32 | 38 | 41 | 34 | 37 | 38 | 39 | – | – |
| Notre Dame | – | – | 42 | – | – | 54 | 55 | 56 | 54 | 52 | 53 | 53 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 52 | 53 | 52 | 53 | 53 | 52 | 51 | – | – |
| Ohio State | – | – | 12 | – | – | 41 | 14 | 25 | 24 | 30 | 30 | 33 | 31 | 33 | 32 | 34 | 29 | 27 | 29 | 23 | 23 | 19 | – | – |
| Penn State | – | – | 13 | – | – | 8 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 10 | – | – |
| Wisconsin | – | – | 1 | – | – | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 | – | – |
Note: Teams ranked in the top-10 automatically qualify for the NCAA tournament. Teams ranked 11-16 can qualify based upon conference tournament results.[6]
References
- ^ "Hockey Welcomes Brock Sheahan As Catalino Family Head Hockey Coach". fightingirish.com. March 17, 2025. Retrieved March 19, 2025.
- ^ "Michigan State chosen top team in 2025 Big Ten preseason coaches poll; preseason all-conference teams also unveiled". USCHO. September 26, 2025. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ "Bracket Announced for 2026 Big Ten Hockey Tournament". BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. March 6, 2026. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
- ^ "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- ^ "USA Hockey Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
- ^ "Men's Division I National Collegiate Percentage (NPI) Index". USCHO.com. Retrieved March 16, 2026.