2026 Big Ten men's ice hockey tournament
| 2026 Big Ten Men's ice hockey tournament | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 11–21, 2026 |
| Teams | 7 |
| Finals site | Yost Ice Arena Ann Arbor, Michigan |
Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments 2027 → | |
The 2026 Big Ten Conference men's ice hockey tournament is the twelfth tournament in conference history. It is being played between March 11 and March 21, 2025, at on-campus locations. The tournament winner will earn the Big Ten's automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament.
Format
The tournament will feature a format with all games taking place on the campus of the higher-seeded teams. Unlike previous editions, the quarterfinals will be single-elimination, with the second, third and fourth-seeded teams each hosting a series.[1] The top-seeded team will have a bye to the single-elimination semifinals. The highest-seeded team remaining after the semifinals will host the championship game.[2]
Conference 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 | ||||||||||||||||||
Bracket
| 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.
Results
Quarterfinals
(2) Michigan vs. (7) Notre Dame
| March 11 | Notre Dame | 1 – 6 | Michigan | Yost Ice Arena | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 11:52 – Jayden Perron – (Michael Hage, Luca Fantilli) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 4:53 – Josh Eernisse – (Garrett Schifsky, Kienan Draper) 15:14 – pp – Jayden Perron – (Michael Hage, T. J. Hughes) | ||||||
| Evan Werner – (Danny Nelson) – 15:49 | Third period | 14:31 – pp – Will Horcoff – (Michael Hage, Malcolm Spence) 17:15 – en – Tyler Duke – (Luca Fantilli, Michael Hage) 19:13 – Kason Muscutt – (Asher Barnett, Aidan Park) | ||||||
| Nicholas Kempf (29 saves / 34 shots) | Goalie stats | Jack Ivankovic (23 saves / 24 shots) | ||||||
(3) Penn State vs. (6) Minnesota
| March 11 | Minnesota | 2 – 6 | Penn State | Pegula Ice Arena | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | 3:10 – Charlie Cerrato – (JJ Wiebusch, Matt DiMarsico) 13:18 – Mac Gadowsky – (Gavin McKenna, Aiden Fink) | ||||||
| Javon Moore – (Unassisted) – 16:34 | Second period | 7:56 – Matt DiMarsico – (Jarod Crespo, Jackson Smith) 9:40 – Reese Laubach – (Jarod Crespo, Aiden Fink) | ||||||
| Jacob Rombach – (Beckett Hendrickson, Erik Påhlsson) – 15:06 | Third period | 7:56 – Aiden Fink – (Gavin McKenna, Reese Laubach) 18:20 – en – Cade Christenson – (Nicholas Chin-DeGraves, Lev Katzin) | ||||||
| Luca Di Pasquo (34 saves / 39 shots) | Goalie stats | Joshua Fleming (27 saves / 29 shots) | ||||||
(4) Wisconsin vs. (5) Ohio State
| March 11 | Ohio State | 7 – 1 | Wisconsin | Kohl Center | Recap | |||
| Nathan Lewis – (Sam Deckhut, Ethan Straky) – 5:01 | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| Felix Caron – (Riley Thompson) – 2:06 Jake Karabela – (Davis Burnside) – 17:30 |
Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| Broten Sabo – (Jake Karabela, Riley Thompson) – pp – 0:25 Adam Eisele – (William Smith, Bryce Ingles) – 6:42 Max Montes – (Adam Eisele, William Smith) – pp – 9:38 Riley Thompson – (Broten Sabo, Davis Burnside) – pp – 10:23 |
Third period | 12:29 – sh – Finn Brink – (Gavin Morrissey, Joe Palodichuk) | ||||||
| Kristoffer Eberly (33 saves / 34 shots) | Goalie stats | Daniel Hauser (12 saves / 17 shots) Eli Pulver (1 save / 3 shots) | ||||||
Semifinals
(1) Michigan State vs. (5) Ohio State
| March 14 | Ohio State | 3 – 2 | OT | Michigan State | Munn Ice Arena | Recap | ||
| Riley Thompson – (Jake Karabela) – 9:03 | First period | 1:56 – Shane Vansaghi – (Gavin O'Connell) | ||||||
| Jake Karabela – (Broten Sabo, Davis Burnside) – pp – 1:33 | Second period | 17:29 – pp – Porter Martone – (Daniel Russell, Ryker Lee) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Felix Caron – (Jake Karabela, William Smith) – 2:36 | First overtime period | No scoring | ||||||
| Kristoffer Eberly (36 saves / 38 shots) | Goalie stats | Trey Augustine (28 saves / 31 shots) | ||||||
(2) Michigan vs. (3) Penn State
| March 14 | Penn State | 2 – 5 | Michigan | Yost Ice Arena | Recap | |||
| Gavin McKenna – (Luke Misa, Mac Gadowsky) – 18:59 | First period | 16:28 – Kienan Draper – (Garrett Schifsky, Josh Eernisse) | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | 6:57 – sh – Garrett Schifsky – (Nick Moldenhauer) 12:14 – Cole McKinney – (Nick Moldenhauer) | ||||||
| Lev Katzin – (Jackson Smith, Charlie Cerrato) – 6:09 | Third period | 12:02 – pp – Michael Hage – (Jayden Perron, T. J. Hughes) 19:30 – en – T. J. Hughes– (Cole McKinney) | ||||||
| Joshua Fleming (34 saves / 38 shots) | Goalie stats | Jack Ivankovic (27 saves / 29 shots) | ||||||
Championship
(2) Michigan vs. (5) Ohio State
| March 21 | Michigan | 8:00 pm | Ohio State | |||||
References
- ^ "Big Ten Hockey Tournament To Debut New Format in 2026". bigten.org. Big Ten Conference. September 30, 2025. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
- ^ "2026 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament". bigten.org. Big Ten Conference. March 6, 2026. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
- ^ "Bracket Announced for 2026 Big Ten Hockey Tournament". BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. March 6, 2026. Retrieved March 6, 2026.