NCAA Men's Hockey Regular Season Ends

The NCAA Division I men's hockey regular season has come to a close, with conference tournaments already underway or slated to begin soon.

American International College finished in first place in Atlantic Hockey, with the Yellowjackets going 13-3-0 overall. Holy Cross was forced to forfeit its Atlantic Hockey first-round tournament game at Sacred Heart due to COVID-19, a move that also ended the Crusaders' 2020-21 campaign. SHU subsequently receives a bye into the second round, and will now play at Army West Point.

Boston College defeated Northeastern on Friday to finish first in Hockey East, although the conference had previously announced it would not crown either men's or women's regular-season champions this year. BC won last year's Hockey East regular-season title before the entire postseason was canceled by COVID-19

North Dakota dropped its regular-season finale on Friday against Nebraska-Omaha, but still earned its second straight NCHC regular-season championship, and will host the NCHC championship at Ralph Engelstad Arena from March 12-16. The Fighting Hawks are also all but assured of earning a berth in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, and will host the the 2021 NCAA Regional at Scheels Arena in Fargo, N.D. later this month. The Denver and Colorado College home-and-home NCHC series scheduled for March 4-6 was canceled by COVID issues within the CC program. 

Quinnipiac finished as ECAC Hockey champion, aided by the fact that second-place Clarkson's last four games, all against rival St. Lawrence, were canceled due to coronavirus protocols at SLU. It marks the fifth time the Bobcats have won the Cleary Cup in the last nine seasons.

Minnesota State won its fourth consecutive McNaughton Cup as WCHA regular-season champion. The Mavericks are also two victories away from their ninth straight 20-win season.

Wisconsin used a two-step sweep of Michigan State over the weekend to capture this year's Big Ten title. It's the Badgers' first regular-season conference crown since they won the old WCHA back in 2000, and completes a "worst-to-first" scenario after they placed seventh in the conference in 2019-20. 

Concerning the two Division I men's independents, Arizona State finished at 7-16-3 overall, having played all 26 of its games on the road against Big Ten competition, while recording wins against five different opponents. First-year NCAA program Long Island University went 3-10-0 in its abbreviated inaugural campaign, and notched victories over Holy Cross, RIT and Army.

ADDENDUM: Merrimack's season was cut short last week by COVID-19. Clarkson's season has also ended, and now so has Bentley's.