# 2022–23 Big Ten Conference ice hockey season

The 2022–23 Big Ten Conference ice hockey season was the 33rd season of play for the Big Ten Conference's men's ice hockey division and took place during the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. The season began on October 1, 2022, and concluded on April 8, 2023.

## Head coaches
### Coaching changes
#### Michigan State

On April 12, 2022, former Michigan State head coach Danton Cole was fired. On May 23, 2022, Adam Nightingale was named head coach for the Spartans.

#### Michigan

During the 2022 offseason, Michigan's head coach, Mel Pearson, was accused of mistreating both players and staff during his tenure with the Wolverines. On August 5, 2022, Pearson was fired. Because the vacancy happened so close to the start of the next season, the Wolverines were not able to perform a typical hiring search. On August 7, 2022, Michigan promoted assistant coach Brandon Naurato to interim head coach for the 2022–23 season.

### Records

| Team | Head coach | Season at school | Record at school | Big Ten record |
| Michigan | Brandon Naurato | 1 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Michigan State | Adam Nightingale | 1 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Minnesota | Bob Motzko | 5 | 84–50–11 | 54–30–10 |
| Notre Dame | Jeff Jackson | 18 | 376–231–66 | 66–43–9 |
| Ohio State | Steve Rohlik | 10 | 162–127–36 | 79–76–19 |
| Penn State | Guy Gadowsky | 12 | 159–138–24 | 78–90–15 |
| Wisconsin | Tony Granato | 7 | 92–106–16 | 59–69–12 |

## Standings

2022–23 Big Ten ice hockey Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record |
| | GP | W | L | T | OTW | OTL | 3/SW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #2 Minnesota † | 24 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 57 | 106 | 50 | 40 | 29 | 10 | 1 | 168 | 90 |
| #3 Michigan * | 24 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 82 | 79 | 41 | 26 | 12 | 3 | 171 | 128 |
| #7 Ohio State | 24 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 36 | 69 | 63 | 40 | 21 | 16 | 3 | 131 | 101 |
| Notre Dame | 24 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 35 | 52 | 60 | 37 | 16 | 16 | 5 | 85 | 97 |
| #19 Michigan State | 24 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 34 | 65 | 80 | 38 | 18 | 18 | 2 | 107 | 115 |
| #8 Penn State | 24 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 34 | 71 | 75 | 39 | 22 | 16 | 1 | 129 | 106 |
| Wisconsin | 24 | 6 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 54 | 92 | 36 | 13 | 23 | 0 | 94 | 126 |
| Championship: March 18, 2023 † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |||||||||||||||||||

## 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.
The Big Ten performed tremendously well in non-conference games. All seven league members had winning records against other conferences and more than half were at or better than .700. On aggregate, only Hockey East had a winning record against the Big Ten but that was only by 1 game. The overwhelming win/loss totals enabled the Big Ten to have as many as 6 of its member teams ranked in the top 16 during the season.

### Regular season record

| Team | Atlantic Hockey | CCHA | ECAC Hockey | Hockey East | Independent | NCHC | Total |
| Michigan | 0–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 1–0–1 | 1–1–0 | 2–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 8–1–1 |
| Michigan State | 0–0–0 | 1–3–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 2–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 6–4–0 |
| Minnesota | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 3–1–0 | 2–2–0 | 6–4–0 |
| Notre Dame | 0–0–1 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–2–0 | 5–4–1 |
| Ohio State | 4–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–1 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 7–2–1 |
| Penn State | 6–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 10–0–0 |
| Wisconsin | 0–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 4–0–0 | 2–2–0 | 7–3–0 |
| Overall | 10–0–1 | 11–4–0 | 1–1–1 | 3–4–1 | 15–3–0 | 9–6–0 | 49–18–3 |

## Statistics
### Leading scorers

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | Class | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Jimmy Snuggerud | Freshman | Minnesota | 24 | 14 | 22 | 36 | 30 |
| Logan Cooley | Freshman | Minnesota | 23 | 12 | 24 | 36 | 17 |
| Matthew Knies | Sophomore | Minnesota | 24 | 15 | 15 | 30 | 19 |
| Adam Fantilli | Freshman | Michigan | 19 | 11 | 19 | 30 | 45 |
| Luke Hughes | Sophomore | Michigan | 22 | 7 | 21 | 28 | 14 |
| Jackson LaCombe | Senior | Minnesota | 22 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 11 |
| Stephen Halliday | Senior | Ohio State | 24 | 5 | 18 | 23 | 7 |
| Bryce Brodzinski | Senior | Minnesota | 24 | 13 | 9 | 22 | 6 |
| Mackie Samoskevich | Sophomore | Michigan | 22 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 4 |
| T. J. Hughes | Freshman | Michigan | 22 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 8 |

### 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
| Player | Class | Team | GP | Min | W | L | T | GA | SO | SV% | GAA |
| Justen Close | Senior | Minnesota | 22 | 1300:07 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 42 | 5 | .935 | 1.94 |
| Ryan Bischel | Senior | Notre Dame | 24 | 1443:18 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 55 | 2 | .938 | 2.29 |
| Jakub Dobeš | Sophomore | Ohio State | 24 | 1432:45 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 61 | 2 | .912 | 2.57 |
| Liam Souliere | Junior | Penn State | 23 | 1259:07 | 9 | 12 | 1 | 60 | 2 | .900 | 2.86 |
| Dylan St. Cyr | Graduate | Michigan State | 24 | 1391:06 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 71 | 2 | .913 | 3.06 |

## Ranking
### 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 | 24 | 25 | 26 | Final |
| Michigan | 6 | - | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | - | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | - | 3 |
| Michigan State | NR | - | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 17 | 16 | 13 | 12 | 11 | - | 14 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 18 | 19 | 18 | - | 19 |
| Minnesota | 2 | - | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | - | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 2 |
| Notre Dame | 9 | - | 11 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 19 | - | 20 | NR | NR | NR | 20 | NR | 19 | 20 | 19 | NR | NR | NR | - | NR |
| Ohio State | 16 | - | 14 | 11 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 17 | 15 | 14 | - | 12 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | - | 7 |
| Penn State | NR | - | NR | 20 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | - | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | - | 8 |
| Wisconsin | 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 |
USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1 and 13.

### 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 | 25 | 26 | Final |
| Michigan | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Michigan State | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 18 | 16 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 19 | 15 | 14 | 18 | 20 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 17 |
| Minnesota | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Notre Dame | 8 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 18 | NR | NR | 20 | 17 | NR | 18 | 19 | 17 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 19 |
| Ohio State | 18 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7 |
| Penn State | NR | NR | NR | NR | 18 | 15 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 |
| Wisconsin | 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 | NR | NR |

### Pairwise

| Team | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Final |
| Michigan | 22 | 28 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Michigan State | 22 | 12 | 26 | 12 | 21 | 16 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 18 | 19 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Minnesota | 3 | 7 | 1 | 15 | 17 | 9 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Notre Dame | 22 | 30 | 36 | 16 | 19 | 24 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 15 | 18 | 15 | 14 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 18 | 17 | 17 |
| Ohio State | 3 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 16 | 18 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 8 |
| Penn State | 22 | 39 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Wisconsin | 22 | 36 | 49 | 34 | 43 | 45 | 37 | 33 | 30 | 29 | 37 | 33 | 32 | 34 | 32 | 33 | 39 | 36 | 32 | 32 | 35 | 37 | 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.

## Conference tournament

Teams were reseeded for the semifinals
| Quarterfinals March 3–5 | Quarterfinals March 3–5 | Quarterfinals March 3–5 | Quarterfinals March 3–5 | Quarterfinals March 3–5 | Semifinals March 11 | Semifinals March 11 | Semifinals March 11 | Championship March 18 | Championship March 18 | Championship March 18 |
| | | | | | 1 | Minnesota | 5 | | | |
| | | | | | 5 | Michigan State | 1 | | | |
| 2 | Michigan | 6* | 7 | — | 5 | Michigan State | 1 | | | |
| 7 | Wisconsin | 5 | 4 | — | | | | | | |
| 7 | Wisconsin | 5 | 4 | — | | | | 1 | Minnesota | 3 |
| | | | | | | | | 2 | Michigan | 4 |
| 3 | Ohio State | 5 | 1 | 3 | | | | | | | 2 | Michigan | 4 |
| 6 | Penn State | 1 | 2* | 1 | | | | | | |
| 6 | Penn State | 1 | 2* | 1 | 2 | Michigan | 7 | | | |
| | | | | | 3 | Ohio State | 3 | | | |
| 4 | Notre Dame | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Ohio State | 3 | | | |
| 5 | Michigan State | 0 | 4 | 4 | | | | | | |
Note: * denotes overtime periods.

## Awards
### NCAA

| Award | Award | Recipient |
| Hobey Baker Award | Hobey Baker Award | Adam Fantilli, Michigan |
| Spencer Penrose Award | Spencer Penrose Award | Bob Motzko, Minnesota |
| Tim Taylor Award | Tim Taylor Award | Adam Fantilli, Michigan |
| AHCA West All-American First Team |||
| Player | Position | Team |
| Brock Faber | D | Minnesota |
| Luke Hughes | D | Michigan |
| Logan Cooley | F | Minnesota |
| Adam Fantilli | F | Michigan |
| Matthew Knies | F | Minnesota |
| AHCA West All-American Second Team |||
| Ryan Bischel | G | Notre Dame |

#### NCAA tournament

NCAA All-Tournament Team :
| Player | Pos | Team |
| Luke Mittelstadt | D | Minnesota |
| Logan Cooley | F | Minnesota |

### Big Ten

| Award | Award | Recipient |
| Player of the Year | Player of the Year | Matthew Knies, Minnesota |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Defensive Player of the Year | Brock Faber, Minnesota |
| Goaltender of the Year | Goaltender of the Year | Ryan Bischel, Notre Dame |
| Freshman of the Year | Freshman of the Year | Adam Fantilli, Michigan |
| Scoring Champion | Logan Cooley, Minnesota |
| Scoring Champion | Jimmy Snuggerud, Minnesota |
| Coach of the Year | Coach of the Year | Bob Motzko, Minnesota |
| Tournament Most Outstanding Player | Tournament Most Outstanding Player | Adam Fantilli, Michigan |
| All-Big Ten Teams |||
| First Team | Position | Second Team |
| Ryan Bischel, Notre Dame | G | Justen Close, Minnesota |
| Brock Faber, Minnesota | D | Jackson LaCombe, Minnesota |
| Luke Hughes, Michigan | D | Mason Lohrei, Ohio State |
| Logan Cooley, Minnesota | F | Mackie Samoskevich, Michigan |
| Adam Fantilli, Michigan | F | Jimmy Snuggerud, Minnesota |
| Matthew Knies, Minnesota | F | Jake Wise, Ohio State |
| Freshman Team | Position | |
| Seamus Casey, Michigan | D | |
| Luke Mittelstadt, Minnesota | D | |
| Logan Cooley, Minnesota | F | |
| Adam Fantilli, Michigan | F | |
| Jimmy Snuggerud, Minnesota | F | |

#### Conference tournament

Tournament MOP :
| Adam Fantilli | Adam Fantilli | Michigan |
| All-Tournament Team |||
| Player | Pos | Team |
| Justen Close | G | Minnesota |
| Seamus Casey | D | Michigan |
| Luke Hughes | D | Michigan |
| Logan Cooley | F | Minnesota |
| Adam Fantilli | F | Michigan |
| Rutger McGroarty | F | Michigan |

## 2023 NHL Entry Draft

| Round | Pick | Player | College | NHL team |
| 1 | 3 | Adam Fantilli | Michigan | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 1 | 19 | Oliver Moore $^†$ | Minnesota | Chicago Blackhawks |
| 1 | 21 | Charlie Stramel | Wisconsin | Minnesota Wild |
| 2 | 34 | Gavin Brindley | Michigan | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 2 | 41 | Trey Augustine $^†$ | Michigan State | Detroit Red Wings |
| 2 | 45 | Maxim Strbak $^†$ | Michigan State | Buffalo Sabres |
| 2 | 47 | Brady Cleveland $^†$ | Wisconsin | Detroit Red Wings |
| 2 | 49 | Danny Nelson $^†$ | Notre Dame | New York Islanders |
| 3 | 66 | William Whitelaw $^†$ | Wisconsin | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 4 | 103 | Cole Knuble $^†$ | Notre Dame | Philadelphia Flyers |
| 5 | 137 | Jack Phelan $^†$ | Wisconsin | Detroit Red Wings |
| 5 | 138 | Paul Fischer $^†$ | Notre Dame | St. Louis Blues |
| 6 | 177 | Zach Schulz $^†$ | Wisconsin | New York Islanders |
| 7 | 197 | Luke Mittelstadt | Minnesota | Montreal Canadiens |
| 7 | 213 | James Clark $^†$ | Minnesota | Minnesota Wild |
| 7 | 218 | Aiden Fink $^†$ | Penn State | Nashville Predators |
† incoming freshman