The Big Ten officially announced on Wednesday that this year's men's hockey tournament will be compressed from three weeks to a two-week event, and the first round will now be single elimination instead of a best-of-three series.
Since Notre Dame joined the conference in 2018, the tournament has featured a best-of-three series on the home ice of the higher-seeded team in the first round. In the new format, it will return to single elimination, which they last did in the 2016-17 season.
The No. 1 seed will still receive a first-round bye to the semifinals, while the other six teams in the conference will be seeded accordingly in the quarterfinals. All seven teams in the Big Ten will automatically qualify for the tournament.
The first four iterations of the tournament were played at a neutral location from 2014 to 2017. For the eighth-straight time, the tournament will continue to be played at campus locations at the home of the higher-seeded team in each matchup.
The first round of the tournament will be played on the first Wednesday following the completion of the regular season. The semifinals will be played that Saturday and then the championship game will be played the following weekend.
Minnesota will aim for its third Big Ten tournament title in 2026 and first since 2021.
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