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
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 recordColorado College 7 63–136–20 31–95–19Denver 3 45–21–11 22–19–8 Miami 2 8–21–5 5–16–3 Minnesota Duluth 21 391–321–89 94–60–15North Dakota 6 116–57–23 67–41–13Omaha 4 40–58–8 23–43–6 St. Cloud State 3 43–21–9 29–32–5 Western Michigan 10 157–144–40 70–83–15
Conference tournament
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.
West
Northeast
Regional finals
West
Northeast
Frozen Four
National Championship
Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st UMAAaron Bohlinger (1) – GWSullivan and Farmer 7:26 1–0 UMA UMAReed Lebster (2)Kiefiuk 18:56 2–0 UMA 2nd UMAPhilip Lagunov (6) – SHunassisted 25:10 3–0 UMA UMAMatthew Kessel (10) – PPChau and Gaudet 33:45 4–0 UMA 3rd UMABobby Trivigno (11)Lebster 46:00 5–0 UMA Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st UMAAnthony Del GaizoSlashing 15:27 2:00 2nd STCSeamus DonohueTripping 20:24 2:00 UMARyan SullivanTripping 23:57 2:00 UMAJake GaudetElbowing 30:31 2:00 STCBench (served by Zach Okabe)Too Many Men 32:35 2:00 3rd 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 Sophomore 23 15 13 28 2 Senior 24 13 14 27 10 Senior 23 7 20 27 24 Senior 24 9 15 24 8 Junior 24 10 13 23 4 Junior 24 9 14 23 2 Freshman 24 10 12 22 0 Sophomore 24 8 14 22 8 Junior 24 5 17 22 6 Freshman 22 12 8 20 23 Junior 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 Junior 21 1202 16 3 1 36 4 .928 1.80 Sophomore 17 1027 9 6 2 39 0 .906 2.28 Freshman 17 926 5 9 2 37 2 .930 2.40 Sophomore 16 915 6 10 0 37 1 .908 2.43 Senior 20 1161 12 8 0 51 2 .907 2.63
Ranking
USCHO 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 5Omaha 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 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 5Omaha 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 Lowes' Senior CLASS Award Jordan Kawaguchi, North DakotaAHCA All-American Teams West First Team Pos TeamRonnie Attard D Western MichiganShane Pinto F North Dakota West Second Team Pos TeamMatt Kiersted D North DakotaJordan Kawaguchi F North Dakota
NCHC Award RecipientPlayer of the Year Shane Pinto, North DakotaRookie of the Year Veeti Miettinen, St. Cloud StateGoaltender of the Year Adam Scheel, North DakotaForward of the Year Shane Pinto, North DakotaDefensive Defenseman of the Year Jacob Bernard-Docker, North DakotaOffensive Defenseman of the Year Ronnie Attard, Western MichiganDefensive Forward of the Year Shane Pinto, North DakotaScholar-Athlete of the Year Kale Bennett, Western MichiganThree Stars Award Ludvig Persson, MiamiSportsmanship Award Kevin Fitzgerald, St. Cloud StateHerb Brooks Coach of the Year Brad Berry, North DakotaAll-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 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
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
References
External links