BTN.com staff, March 15, 2014

The Big Ten announced on Saturday the bracket for the 2014 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, presented by Polaris RZR®. No. 1 Minnesota collected the top seed after earning the outright Big Ten title with a 3-2 overtime win Friday at Michigan. The 2014 Big Ten Tournament will be played Thursday-Saturday at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn.

[ MORE: View the official Big Ten hockey tournament bracket (PDF) ]

Minnesota led the conference with 45 points this season and a conference record of 14-3-3-0. Wisconsin enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed, earning a first-round bye along with Minnesota. The Badgers finished the conference season with 40 points and a 13-6-1-0 record.

The tournament will open at 2 p.m. CT on Thursday, as third-seeded Michigan takes on sixth-seeded Penn State. Thursday's second game is set for 7 p.m. as fourth-seeded Ohio State challenges fifth-seeded Michigan State. The Wolverines finished third in the conference standings with 33 points and a record of 10-8-2-1. The Buckeyes placed fourth with 27 points (6-9-5-4), two points ahead of the fifth-place Spartans (5-9-6-4). The Nittany Lions finished sixth with 10 points and a record of 3-16-1-0.

Friday?s semifinals open with second-seeded Wisconsin battling the winner of Thursday's Michigan-Penn State game at 2 p.m. Friday's second semifinal will feature top-seeded Minnesota facing the victor of Thursday's Ohio State-Michigan State contest at 7 p.m.

The Big Ten Tournament championship game will take place at 7 p.m. on Saturday. All five games will be broadcast live by BTN.

— BigTen.org