Wisconsin Badgers
Penn State
Quick Six: Big Ten Tournament
March 14, 2021 | Men's Hockey
Badgers' regular season title leads to bye into semifinals
Here are six quick things to know before tuning in:
1 - BIG CHAMPIONS: The Badgers claimed the Big Ten regular-season title with a pair of wins over the Michigan State Spartans to edge out Minnesota. Wisconsin's first-place finish earned them a bye for the first round of the Big Ten tournament. The regular-season Big Ten title marked UW's first in the Big Ten and first since 2000. The Badgers own four conference regular-season titles all-time (1977, 1990, 2000, 2021).
A weekend to win the Big Ten Championship
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerMHockey) March 10, 2021
Wisconsin Hockey All-Access presented by @OdysseyBrands pic.twitter.com/UbCm0GfW2s
The Badgers own one Big Ten tournament crown from winning the inaugural Big Ten tournament in 2014.
2 - AWARD SZN: Three members of the Badgers are finalists for 2020-21 Big Ten Hockey Awards. Cole Caufield, the nation's leading scorer, is among the final three for the Player of the Year award. Badgers' captain Ty Emberson is up for Defensive Player of the year and head coach Tony Granato is a finalist for Coach of the Year.
The assists leader among defensemen, a Mike Richter Award finalist and a 25-goal scorer make up this season's #B1GHockey Player of the Year finalists:
— Big Ten Hockey (@B1GHockey) March 11, 2021
🏆 Cam York, @umichhockey
🏆 Jack LaFontaine, @GopherHockey
🏆 Cole Caufield, @BadgerMHockey
📰 ➡️ https://t.co/Ge4UWInIm5 pic.twitter.com/9XqLeoHi0r
3 - UN-BEY-LIEVABLE: Senior graduate transfer Robbie Beydoun recorded his third shutout of the season in the Badgers' 4-0 win over the Spartans last Friday. Beydoun previously shutout Michigan State by a 6-0 count in January, and Notre Dame 2-0 in his first game as a Badger back in November. Beydoun's three shutouts put him in a for eighth on UW's single-season shutout list. Combined with freshman Cameron Rowe's two shutouts, the five UW shutouts this season are the most for a Badger team in a season since the 2012–13 squad also blanked five opponents. The last time UW posted more than five shutouts in a season was 2006–07 when it had eight shutouts (Brian Elliott - 5; Shane Connelly - 3).
4 - UN-FOUR-GETABLE: The Badgers boosted their national ranking to fourth overall with a record of 19-8-1. This is their highest ranking in more than seven seasons (second overall in Oct. 2014).
Boston College has taken over the #1 spot in the USA Today/@USAHMagazine Men's Poll!
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) March 8, 2021
Details → https://t.co/yMZDnlhFqF pic.twitter.com/WMxWCpbmus
5 - FOURTH TIME'S THE CHARM: Cole Caufield received Big Ten First Star of the Week honors for the fourth time this season, fifth in his career, and the second week in a row after an outstanding performance against MSU. The Hobey Baker fan vote nominee notched a goal and an assist in the first game of the series to help the Badgers to a 4-0 win. He netted both goals in his team's 2-1 win the following day to help the Badgers clinch the Big Ten title.
▪️ Big Ten regular-season champ
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerMHockey) March 10, 2021
▪️ Big Ten scoring champ
▪️ National scoring leader
And now...
▪️ Four-time B1G First Star of the Week ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Congrats to @colecaufield pic.twitter.com/CH76gDGlZ5
6 - HOW TO WATCH: The Badgers will take on the No. 5 seed Penn State in the semi-final round of the Big Ten tournament on Monday, March 15 at 3:30 p.m. CT. The Badgers went 3-1-0 against PSU during the regular season, winning 6-3, 7-3 and 4-1, but falling 5-4. Watch live on Big Ten Network or follow along on Twitter at @BadgerMHockey and with live stats on UWBadgers.com.
