Steve Metcalf and Sean Hogan went to the 2024 Spengler Cup in Switzerland, hoping to land an invitation to bring a group of NCAA men’s hockey players to the annual event a year later.
They had a little bit of selling to do first.
Metcalf, the Hockey East commissioner, and Hogan, the College Hockey Inc. executive director, got questions from officials with the tournament about whether college hockey players would be able to compete with pro opponents.
“I think they maybe had the misimpression that we were just a bunch of 18-year-old kids,” Metcalf said.
Metcalf told the tournament officials to check out a January game between Boston College and Providence, teams that combined for 24 NHL draft picks and five first-rounders.
“Right after that, the guy calls me and said, ‘Yeah, you guys are going to be just fine,'” Metcalf said.
Now, it’s up to them to deliver a team that’ll represent college hockey on an international stage. Metcalf and Hogan, serving as general manager and assistant GM, respectively, for the U.S. Collegiate Select Team put together what they consider to be an all-star staff to lead an all-star roster assembled from all areas of Division I men’s hockey.
The coaching staff is from three conferences: Head coach Guy Gadowsky of the Big Ten’s Penn State, assistant Mike Souza from Hockey East’s New Hampshire and Jason Lammers from Atlantic Hockey’s Niagara. CCHA commissioner Don Lucia is the senior adviser.
Team organizers committed to pulling from all six conferences for the 25-player roster, and they started by offering spots to the nine 2024-25 All-Americans who are back in college this season. Acceptance wasn’t universal — four turned down the first round of invitations because of team commitments with holiday tournaments or other reasons — but Metcalf said there was a good response from around college hockey.
“We got a lot of wide support from the coaches because it’s such a special opportunity that I don’t think you’d really want to get in the way of a player being able to go,” he said. “Never mind the great experience for the player and all that kind of stuff — and how fun is it for a player to go play with a college hockey all-star team? But you think about those players, individually, they’re being able to showcase their game.
“Let’s face it: Every single kid on that team will want to be playing pro hockey. So you’re putting yourself out there and getting some exposure, I think it’s great for the individuals as well.”
Forwards Aiden Fink of Penn State and Joey Muldowney of UConn, defensemen Mac Gadowsky of Penn State and Jake Livanavage of North Dakota and goalie Alex Tracy of Minnesota State were the five returning All-Americans who accepted invitations and were named the first five members of the team in early October.
Tracy got a phone call from an unknown number in September and was tempted to ignore it but decided to pick it up. He had heard about the college select team going to the Spengler Cup after it was announced in June but didn’t give it much thought for himself after doing some quick research on the event.
That call was from Lammers, who delivered an invitation to be part of the team. Tracy doesn’t remember being able to say much more than thank you and yes.
“It was a no-brainer,” Tracy said.
He said the quality of the product in NCAA hockey has been growing with more talent on team rosters. He and his teammates will have a chance to show that off on an international stage.
“To have this opportunity now to represent college hockey as a whole and hopefully show out for the people out there who have no idea what college hockey is all about, just to see the type of players that are involved in all the different conferences and then the NCAA as a whole, I think is going to be something that’s really fun and something that I think is going to continue to grow for years to come,” Tracy said.
NHL scouts have offered input on selecting the other 20 players after the first five returning All-Americans. The roster is expected to be finished by the middle of November so travel arrangements can be made and jerseys can be created. Players’ resumes from previous seasons factored into some invitations but how they started this season was part of the consideration.
“We have the luxury of being able to watch them play a little bit this year so we can see how they’re going right now, which I think has been a real benefit to us,” Metcalf said.
The Spengler Cup takes place every year in Davos, Switzerland, with host team HC Davos one of the six teams in the field. The event has taken place since 1923, making it the world’s oldest international hockey tournament.
Team Canada fields a group typically made up of players from North American minor leagues and European pro leagues. Defending champion HC Fribourg-Gottéron of Switzerland is returning to the 2025 tournament along with HC Sparta Praha of Czechia and IFK Helsinki from Finland.
The tournament, which takes place Dec. 26-31 each year, includes 11 games over six days, and the recent format has guaranteed each team at least three games.
There are two three-team pools, with round-robin play in each over the first three days. The top finisher in each pool advances to the Dec. 30 semifinals to face the winners of Dec. 29 games between the second-place team from one pool and the third-place team in the other. The New Year’s Eve championship game wraps up the event.
Interest from NCAA hockey goes back a few years, and former College Hockey Inc. executive director Mike Snee was influential in launching the effort. It took a change to NCAA bylaws that prevented college players from competing for other teams during the academic year. An exception for the Spengler Cup passed in 2024.
Getting the team off the ground has been laborious but the effort is repeatable, Metcalf said.
“But we’re also hoping we’re going to go over there and have some success,” he said. “That’s always fun. And if we’re able to have a little success this year and keep going over there and doing the same, that’s certainly going to add to the experience, I think, for the players and the staff.”
The players have something to prove, Tracy said.
“At the end of the day, we are going over there to compete,” he said. “That’s going to be our goal: To go over there and come back with some hardware.”
U.S. Collegiate Select Team roster for 2025 Spengler Cup
As of Nov. 6, 2025
Goalies: Alex Tracy, Minnesota State; Adam Gajan, Minnesota Duluth
Defensemen: Mac Gadowsky, Penn State; Jake Livanavage, North Dakota; Eric Pohlkamp, Denver; Vinny Borgesi, Northeastern
Forwards: Aiden Fink, Penn State; Joey Muldowney, UConn; Charlie Cerrato, Penn State; T.J. Hughes, Michigan; Cole Knuble, Notre Dame; Danny Nelson, Notre Dame; Jack Musa, UMass; Zam Plante, Minnesota Duluth; Matt DiMarsico, Penn State; Quinn Finley, Wisconsin; Ryan Walsh, Cornell; JJ Wiebusch, Penn State
Head coach: Guy Gadowsky, Penn State
Assistant coaches: Mike Souza, New Hampshire; Jason Lammers, Niagara
General manager: Steve Metcalf, Hockey East commissioner
Assistant general manager: Sean Hogan, College Hockey Inc. executive director
Director of team operations: Chris Meriney, College Hockey Inc. director of men’s hockey athlete relations
Senior adviser: Don Lucia, CCHA commissioner
Equipment manager: Josh Penn, UMass director of equipment operations
Athletic trainer: Aaron Leu, Denver
Communications: Perry Laskaris, CCHA
Social media manager: Cameron Boon, Quinnipiac
NHL club representatives: Chris Bourque, Toronto Maple Leafs director of college scouting; Jamie Herrington, New York Rangers director of NCAA scouting; Billy Ryan, Montreal Canadiens director of player evaluation and amateur scout; Mark White, Winnipeg Jets director of college free agents and pro scout