2021 Big Ten Coach of the Year Tony Granato

The Big Ten regular season champion Wisconsin Badger men’s hockey team, set to play in Tuesday night’s Big Ten Tournament championship game, made a haul when the All-Big Ten honors were handed out today.

Eight different Badgers were named either All-Big Ten, All-Big Ten Freshman or a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.

The league’s scoring champion, Cole Caufield, was awarded the Big Ten Player of the Year.  He becomes the eighth Badger to win a conference player of the year award and the first since defenseman Jamie McBain took the WCHA Player of the Year honors in 2009.  The sophomore is the first Badger to be named Big Ten Player of the Year, an award that follows his title of Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2020.

Caufield tallied 24 goals and 43 points in 24 Big Ten games, outpacing the next closest skater by 10 goals and 10 points.  The 2019 Montreal Canadians first-round draft pick also set the Big Ten standard for goals in a conference season with the performance.

Other UW conference player of the year winners are: Mike Eaves (1978), Mark Johnson (1979), Curtis Joseph (1989), Gary [Read more…]