# 2020–21 NCHC season

The 2020–21 NCHC season was the 8th season of play for National Collegiate Hockey Conference and took place during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. The start of the season was delayed until December 1, 2020 and concluded on April 10, 2021. St. Cloud State made its first championship appearance, finishing as the national runner-up.

## Season

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, all NCHC teams scrapped their non-conference schedules. The league ended up delaying the start to the season until the beginning of December, 2 months later than usual. All eight member teams began the year playing at the Baxter Arena in Omaha, Nebraska. All games in the month of December were set at the Mavericks' home arena and the pattern for the remainder of the season was set. North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth lived up to their preseason billing while Denver and Western Michigan both eventually fell from the rankings. The later two were quickly replaced by St. Cloud State and Omaha. From the time the clubs returned home in January to the end of the season, very little movement was seen as far as their national rankings.
By the time the conference tournament began, the NCHC was all but guaranteed to receive 4 bids to the NCAA tournament. Even after Omaha was upset in the quarterfinals by Denver, they only fell from 12 to 14 and did end up with one of the final at-large bids. North Dakota, the #1 team for much of the season, received the top overall seed after winning the conference title and opened NCAA play against #16 American International. They did not, however, have the easiest path into the quarterfinals as Duluth ended up getting advanced due to a withdrawal by Michigan.
The NCHC proved to be the strongest conference by having the most teams in every round of the NCAA tournament. One of the biggest games, outside of the championship, was the quarterfinal match between North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth that set a new NCAA record for the longest game in tournament history. The match required 5 extra periods and went on so long that UMD starting goaltender Zach Stejskal had to be replaced due to cramping. The Bulldogs did eventually win the game on a goal by Freshman Luke Mylymok and make their 4th consecutive Frozen Four. While St. Cloud State had a chance to extend the conference's championship run to five, they were defeated in the final by Massachusetts.

## Standings

2020–21 National Collegiate Hockey Conference Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | 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 | PT% | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #5 North Dakota †* | 24 | 18 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 54 | .750 | 94 | 47 | 29 | 22 | 6 | 1 | 114 | 57 |
| #2 St. Cloud State | 24 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 45 | .625 | 78 | 64 | 31 | 20 | 11 | 0 | 101 | 84 |
| #3 Minnesota Duluth | 24 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 43 | .597 | 72 | 54 | 28 | 15 | 11 | 2 | 84 | 66 |
| #13 Omaha | 24 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 40 | .556 | 79 | 69 | 26 | 14 | 11 | 1 | 85 | 81 |
| Denver | 22 | 9 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 31 | .470 | 61 | 60 | 24 | 11 | 13 | 1 | 67 | 66 |
| Western Michigan | 24 | 10 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 33 | .458 | 73 | 84 | 25 | 10 | 12 | 3 | 77 | 89 |
| Colorado College | 22 | 4 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 18 | .273 | 35 | 77 | 23 | 4 | 17 | 2 | 36 | 79 |
| Miami | 24 | 5 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | .250 | 46 | 83 | 25 | 5 | 18 | 2 | 48 | 89 |
| Championship: March 16, 2021 † indicates conference regular season champion (Penrose Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Frozen Faceoff Championship Trophy) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |||||||||||||||||||

## Coaches

Entering the season, Scott Sandelin needed 9 more wins to become 45th coach in NCAA history to record 400 victories for a career.

### Records

| Team | Head coach | Season at school | Record at school | NCHC record |
| Colorado College | Mike Haviland | 7 | 63–136–20 | 31–95–19 |
| Denver | David Carle | 3 | 45–21–11 | 22–19–8 |
| Miami | Chris Bergeron | 2 | 8–21–5 | 5–16–3 |
| Minnesota Duluth | Scott Sandelin | 21 | 391–321–89 | 94–60–15 |
| North Dakota | Brad Berry | 6 | 116–57–23 | 67–41–13 |
| Omaha | Mike Gabinet | 4 | 40–58–8 | 23–43–6 |
| St. Cloud State | Brett Larson | 3 | 43–21–9 | 29–32–5 |
| Western Michigan | Andy Murray | 10 | 157–144–40 | 70–83–15 |

## Conference tournament

| Quarterfinals March 12–13 | Quarterfinals March 12–13 | Quarterfinals March 12–13 | Semifinals March 15 | Semifinals March 15 | Semifinals March 15 | Championship March 16 | Championship March 16 | Championship March 16 |
| 1 | North Dakota | 6 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Miami | 2 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Miami | 2 | 1 | North Dakota | 2* | | | |
| | | | 5 | Denver | 1 | | | |
| 2 | St. Cloud State | 2 | 5 | Denver | 1 | | | |
| 7 | Colorado College | 1 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Colorado College | 1 | | | | 1 | North Dakota | 5 |
| | | | | | | 2 | St. Cloud State | 3 |
| 3 | Minnesota-Duluth | 5* | | | | | | | 2 | St. Cloud State | 3 |
| 6 | Western Michigan | 4 | | | | | | |
| 6 | Western Michigan | 4 | 2 | St. Cloud State | 3 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Minnesota-Duluth | 2 | | | |
| 4 | Omaha | 4 | 3 | Minnesota-Duluth | 2 | | | |
| 5 | Denver | 5 | | | | | | |
* denotes overtime periods

## NCAA tournament
### Regional semifinals
#### Midwest

After seeding, Michigan, Minnesota Duluth's opponent in the first round, was forced to withdraw due to COVID-19 positive tests. UMD was automatically advanced to the second round by a no-contest decision.

#### Northeast
### Regional finals
#### Northeast
### Frozen Four
### National Championship

Scoring summary :
| Period | Team | Goal | Assist(s) | Time | Score |
| 1st | UMA | Aaron Bohlinger (1) – GW | Sullivan and Farmer | 7:26 | 1–0 UMA |
| 1st | UMA | Reed Lebster (2) | Kiefiuk | 18:56 | 2–0 UMA |
| 2nd | UMA | Philip Lagunov (6) – SH | unassisted | 25:10 | 3–0 UMA |
| 2nd | UMA | Matthew Kessel (10) – PP | Chau and Gaudet | 33:45 | 4–0 UMA |
| 3rd | UMA | Bobby Trivigno (11) | Lebster | 46:00 | 5–0 UMA |
| Penalty summary ||||||
| Period | Team | Player | Penalty | Time | PIM |
| 1st | UMA | Anthony Del Gaizo | Slashing | 15:27 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | STC | Seamus Donohue | Tripping | 20:24 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | UMA | Ryan Sullivan | Tripping | 23:57 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | UMA | Jake Gaudet | Elbowing | 30:31 | 2:00 |
| 2nd | STC | Bench (served by Zach Okabe) | Too Many Men | 32:35 | 2:00 |
| 3rd | None | None | None | None | None |
Shots by period :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
| St. Cloud State | 3 | 12 | 10 | 25 |
| Massachusetts | 7 | 6 | 9 | 22 |
Goaltenders :
| Team | Name | Saves | Goals against | Time on ice |
| STC | Dávid Hrenák | 17 | 5 | 60:00 |
| UMA | Filip Lindberg | 25 | 0 | 60:00 |

## Statistics
### Leading scorers

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes
| Player | Class | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Shane Pinto | Sophomore | North Dakota | 23 | 15 | 13 | 28 | 2 |
| Nick Swaney | Senior | Minnesota Duluth | 24 | 13 | 14 | 27 | 10 |
| Jordan Kawaguchi | Senior | North Dakota | 23 | 7 | 20 | 27 | 24 |
| Collin Adams | Senior | North Dakota | 24 | 9 | 15 | 24 | 8 |
| Jackson Cates | Junior | Minnesota Duluth | 24 | 10 | 13 | 23 | 4 |
| Chayse Primeau | Junior | Omaha | 24 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 2 |
| Veeti Miettinen | Freshman | St. Cloud State | 24 | 10 | 12 | 22 | 0 |
| Ronnie Attard | Sophomore | Western Michigan | 24 | 8 | 14 | 22 | 8 |
| Drew Worrad | Junior | Western Michigan | 24 | 5 | 17 | 22 | 6 |
| Carter Savoie | Freshman | Denver | 22 | 12 | 8 | 20 | 23 |
| Tyler Weiss | Junior | Omaha | 24 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 34 |

### 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 |
| Adam Scheel | Junior | North Dakota | 21 | 1202 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 36 | 4 | .928 | 1.80 |
| Ryan Fanti | Sophomore | Minnesota Duluth | 17 | 1027 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 39 | 0 | .906 | 2.28 |
| Ludvig Persson | Freshman | Miami | 17 | 926 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 37 | 2 | .930 | 2.40 |
| Magnus Chrona | Sophomore | Denver | 16 | 915 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 37 | 1 | .908 | 2.43 |
| Dávid Hrenák | Senior | St. Cloud State | 20 | 1161 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 51 | 2 | .907 | 2.63 |

## Ranking
### USCHO

| Team | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Final |
| Colorado College | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
| Denver | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
| Miami | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
| Minnesota Duluth | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | N/A | 3 |
| North Dakota | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | N/A | 5 |
| Omaha | NR | NR | NR | NR | 18 | 17 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | N/A | 13 |
| St. Cloud State | NR | NR | NR | NR | 13 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | N/A | 2 |
| Western Michigan | 18 | 17 | 17 | 17 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A | NR |
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.

### USA Today

| Team | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Final |
| Colorado College | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Denver | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 14 | NR | NR | 15 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Miami | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Minnesota Duluth | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 3 |
| North Dakota | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Omaha | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | 14 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 14 |
| St. Cloud State | NR | NR | NR | NR | 11 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| Western Michigan | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |

## Awards
### NCAA

| Award | Recipient | Recipient |
| Lowes' Senior CLASS Award | Jordan Kawaguchi, North Dakota | Jordan Kawaguchi, North Dakota |
| AHCA All-American Teams |||
| West First Team | Pos | Team |
| Ronnie Attard | D | Western Michigan |
| Shane Pinto | F | North Dakota |
| West Second Team | Pos | Team |
| Matt Kiersted | D | North Dakota |
| Jordan Kawaguchi | F | North Dakota |

### NCHC

| Award | Award | Recipient |
| Player of the Year | Player of the Year | Shane Pinto, North Dakota |
| Rookie of the Year | Rookie of the Year | Veeti Miettinen, St. Cloud State |
| Goaltender of the Year | Goaltender of the Year | Adam Scheel, North Dakota |
| Forward of the Year | Forward of the Year | Shane Pinto, North Dakota |
| Defensive Defenseman of the Year | Defensive Defenseman of the Year | Jacob Bernard-Docker, North Dakota |
| Offensive Defenseman of the Year | Offensive Defenseman of the Year | Ronnie Attard, Western Michigan |
| Defensive Forward of the Year | Defensive Forward of the Year | Shane Pinto, North Dakota |
| Scholar-Athlete of the Year | Scholar-Athlete of the Year | Kale Bennett, Western Michigan |
| Three Stars Award | Three Stars Award | Ludvig Persson, Miami |
| Sportsmanship Award | Sportsmanship Award | Kevin Fitzgerald, St. Cloud State |
| Herb Brooks Coach of the Year | Herb Brooks Coach of the Year | Brad Berry, North Dakota |
| All-NCHC Teams |||
| First Team | Position | Second Team |
| Adam Scheel, North Dakota | G | Ludvig Persson, Miami |
| Matt Kiersted, North Dakota | D | Nick Perbix, St. Cloud State |
| Ronnie Attard, Western Michigan | D | Jacob Bernard-Docker, North Dakota |
| Shane Pinto, North Dakota | F | Veeti Miettinen, St. Cloud State |
| Jordan Kawaguchi, North Dakota | F | Chayse Primeau, Omaha |
| Nick Swaney, Minnesota Duluth | F | Noah Cates, Minnesota Duluth |
| Honorable Mention | Position | Rookie Team |
| Isaiah Saville, Omaha | G | Ludvig Persson, Miami |
| Brandon Scanlin, Omaha | D | Jake Sanderson, North Dakota |
| Wyatt Kaiser, Minnesota Duluth | D | Wyatt Kaiser, Minnesota Duluth |
| Collin Adams, North Dakota | F | Veeti Miettinen, St. Cloud State |
| Cole Koepke, Minnesota Duluth | F | Carter Savoie, Denver |
| Grant Cruikshank, Colorado College | F | Riese Gaber, North Dakota |
| Ethen Frank, Western Michigan | F | |

### Conference tournament

Frozen Faceoff MVP :
| Riese Gaber | Riese Gaber | North Dakota |
| Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team |||
| Player | Pos | Team |
| Adam Scheel | G | North Dakota |
| Nick Perbix | D | St. Cloud State |
| Jake Sanderson | D | North Dakota |
| Collin Adams | F | North Dakota |
| Gavin Hain | F | North Dakota |
| Riese Gaber | F | North Dakota |

### NCAA tournament

All-Tournament Team :
| Player | Pos | Team |
| Nolan Walker | F | St. Cloud State |

## 2021 NHL Entry Draft

| Round | Pick | Player | College | NHL team |
| 2 | 36 | Shai Buium$^†$ | Denver | Detroit Red Wings |
| 2 | 54 | Jack Peart$^†$ | St. Cloud State | Minnesota Wild |
| 2 | 61 | Sean Behrens$^†$ | Denver | Colorado Avalanche |
| 3 | 70 | Carter Mazur$^†$ | Denver | Detroit Red Wings |
| 3 | 80 | Brent Johnson$^†$ | North Dakota | Washington Capitals |
| 4 | 109 | Jackson Blake$^†$ | North Dakota | Carolina Hurricanes |
| 4 | 114 | Redmond Savage$^†$ | Miami | Detroit Red Wings |
| 4 | 119 | Joaquim Lemay$^†$ | Omaha | Washington Capitals |
| 4 | 125 | Cameron Berg$^†$ | Omaha | New York Islanders |
| 6 | 182 | Nate Benoit$^†$ | North Dakota | Minnesota Wild |
| 7 | 204 | Connor Kelley | Minnesota Duluth | Chicago Blackhawks |
† incoming freshman