Each week during the season, we look at the big events and big games around Division I men’s college hockey in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Paula: Dan, the weekend of hockey was a wild ride, resulting in a relatively predictable poll and some eye-opening truths.
First truth: Wisconsin is for real. After sweeping Michigan State at home, the Badgers are proving that last season was a genuine anomaly. Wisconsin put up seven goals on the road — albeit in two very close games — but that performance is consistent with an offense that averages nearly four goals per game.
Wisconsin’s 5-4 win Friday snapped Michigan State’s nine-game win streak, which was the longest active win streak in DI hockey. I don’t know what this will mean down the road for the Spartans, but I know it will have everyone in the Big Ten taking notice of the Badgers.
Second truth: Michigan can score at time, from any place on the ice, and get that production from any line. The Wolverine offense this season is something else that isn’t anomalous. Michigan averages over five goals per game and is allowing just 2.12, so this is a team to reckon with. They beat Ohio State 5-2 and 8-1. Crazy.
Third truth: We should expect a lot of splits among top teams, as this is what we’re seeing week after week. This past week, Denver, Duluth, Penn State and Maine split. Last week it was Michigan, Duluth, Denver, Penn State and Maine. The week before? Michigan, Quinnipiac, Maine, Wisconsin.
Fourth truth: I don’t completely understand how the NPI work, but I do know that early looks have Western Michigan, Michigan State and Quinnipiac keeping bubble company with Princeton, Lindenwood and St. Cloud.
Dan, just what the heck is going on in this first half in college hockey?
Dan: What’s happening in college hockey is the development of some really, really good teams and an unprecedented depth that’s revolutionizing the NCAA game. It’s actually the inverse of a conversation that took place ahead of a USCHO Edge recording a couple of weeks ago, in which Ed asked Jimmy and I if we were in the middle of a situation where no good college hockey teams existed. Jimmy replied in the antonym, and we came to the conclusion that we’re just in the middle of a boon period of good hockey teams. Also, I’m not sure if that’s correct grammar, so apologies to everyone rendered less intelligent by my mishandling of the English language.
With respect to the number of splits, here’s a hearsay type of number. In two months, I’m not sure we’ve had more than a handful of six-point sweeps between conference opponents, and we’re in a situation where one weekend’s worth of work separates first from seventh in a league that cuts its byes at the No. 6 seed spot. The difference between a home game and traveling on the road is an overtime loss, so we’re finally seeing situations where shootouts and missed points in November could haunt a team by the end of the season. And while I’d like to think that we’ll eventually thin out the conversation, I’m not sure the numbers support a massive separation between any of the teams.
Take the fact that there have been 2,379 goals scored to this point of the 2025-2026 season. Nearly 1,000 of them occurred in close game situations, as per College Hockey, Inc., and 1,567 of them have been scored in even strength situations. From a percentages standpoint, during the 802 games that have been played, we’re seeing the average college hockey team score just under three goals per game with just more than 67 percent occurring during even strength situations and a separate 40 percent occurring during close games.
Compared to last year, that means scoring is up, and we’re accounting for the same number of even strength goals per game as we were entirely over the course of the year. Yet save percentages for goalies are still hovering around .910, which means that less than one out of every 10 shots per game is sneaking by a goalie. Considering that the average college hockey team is hitting 30 shots on a per-game basis, we’re seeing some really, really, really talented hockey players and games.
Where does that leave everything? Honestly, I don’t know. I’d like to think that we’re going to see all of this filter out and the same powerhouses are going to make the tournament, but maybe this year is looking a little bit differently.
I guess I don’t know where I’m going with all of this. I don’t know what the causation is, so I guess I’ll ask you about the coaches. Even in your conversation, we’ve talked A LOT about how coaches needed to adjust to a new type of college game. What have you seen about the new coaches and have you witnessed a change in the behind-the-bench tendencies of the coaches that you’ve been watching for years?
Paula: I can’t speak to anything specific about the behind-the-bench strategies of coaches because I haven’t really perceived a huge difference this season, but I do think that on top of the influx of talent we’ve seen just this season and the changes that the portal has brought to college hockey for the last several seasons, we are seeing coaches having to figure a few things out as they go along.
Add to that some newer coaches who come from player development backgrounds, and that may be having some impact on the game.
It’s difficult to quantify those impacts, especially since the stats you reference aren’t limited to programs with newer coaches with some newer approaches to hockey. I mean, everyone wants to score, and scoring is up in part because shots are up, as you’ve said. Everyone wants to have a solid locker room, too, and I haven’t seen any evidence of real discord anywhere this season, across DI.
The one observable thing that I can say in the Big Ten is that teams that actively recruited CHL players – for one or two key positions or as just a general recruiting strategy – are faring better this season than those who did not. That’s an adjustment that needs to be made, if coaches haven’t made it. In the case of Minnesota – a team that has no CHL players this season – I’d make the argument that the very smart coaching staff there has had to adjust to playing against teams with those specific, new, and very talented young players.
One of the things that I am seeing across DI hockey is an increase in speed among the better teams. That may be a differentiating factor this season. The game is faster, and teams that can adjust to that without leaving their own defensive zone vulnerable will see a lot of success.
Pivoting here because we’re unlikely to get to the root of this weird new college hockey landscape, it’s Thanksgiving week, and that means a couple of tournaments and a lot of nonconference play. There’s the Friendship Four in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the Adirondack Winter Invitational. Among the nonconference series, I’m really looking forward to the Bemidji-North Dakota tilt, plus both the Ohio State-Arizona State and Boston University-Cornell series as parity barometers across DI.
What series or games – including tonight’s Bentley-Army game – during this great in-season week of nonconference play?
Dan: I find this year’s Friendship Four fascinating for a number of reasons. For starters, Atlantic Hockey America gets so few opportunities to shine on the national stage compared to its larger and more publicized brethren, so the idea of sending two of its better and more recognizable programs to Belfast for a tournament that’s become one of the year’s best traditions is a golden opportunity. RIT, in particular, has a great fan base that travels exceptionally well, so there’s an idea that the Tigers could become this year’s darling team of the Irish isle. With a resurgent Miami and a sneaky good Union in the field, there’s a real chance for the league to pick up two major out-of-conference wins, too.
Had RIT won its game against Bentley on Friday, I’d likely dial into the Tigers as the hottest team in the nation, but my Falcons scored one of their biggest victories of the season by coming from behind to beat a team that punched them in the mouth in the early stages of the first period. Add into that that Bentley is the only non-Ivy team that’s currently unbeaten in conference play, and there’s a chance that the season could be warming up to something special for the defending AHA champions. Tuesday’s game against West Point – I’ve joked several times that Bentley needs to leave on Monday morning to make the game on time with Boston-area Thanksgiving week traffic – is a second opportunity to wipe the one blemish from a shootout loss away from its record. Having already won once at Army doesn’t hurt that situation, but three games in less than a month is obviously a tall order for anyone.
Aside from all of that, I’m very excited to kick back and watch Dartmouth host a couple of non-conference games against Hockey East teams because the Big Green are the only undefeated team remaining in college hockey, and wins over Vermont and Merrimack could travel a bit of distance for a team that’s collected a couple of show-me wins over Cornell and Colgate. I use that term a lot because the games essentially turn into a proving ground for taking the next step. From a “show me” perspective, I’m hoping that the favored team is capable of showing me exactly why they’re worthy of earning the next seed.
Vermont and Merrimack, to that argument, aren’t necessarily the biggest and baddest dogs in the yard, but stepping outside of ECAC play is a good chance for Dartmouth to show us all what’s under its hood.
All of that’s a casual summary devoid of the upper analysis that I gave on the numbers, but I hope the excitement level conveys a bit of east coast flavor.
Now, all of that said, I suppose we need to hit the biggest main event of the week … what’s the one thing that you’re doing on Thursday for the holiday, and with a bit of cliche, what about this year’s making you thankful for college hockey?
Paula: The fact that you reminded me of the Dartmouth games this weekend makes me grateful – and I am not kidding in any way. That’s another great barometer for the first half of the season.
And I’m going to lapse into cliché myself: I’m really grateful for Big Ten hockey. I will forever miss he way things once were, with three B1G teams playing in the previous incarnation of the CCHA and two B1G teams playing in the WCHA, because that combination was magical in both of those conferences. The sport felt a lot more intimate then, smaller, more personal. I do miss that.
But, boy, Big Ten Hockey is really beginning to come into its own now and that is exciting for me personally, having covered the conference from the start. I think it’s also exciting for college hockey as a whole because of the product that is being marketed right now.
Confession time: I detest the corporate speak that has crept into college sports – especially our once-cozy sport of men’s DI college hockey – but it’s apt when it comes to the Big Ten. And like it or loathe it, Big Ten hockey shines a spotlight now on the collegiate sport as a whole, which can only be good for the game. If a couple of B1G schools could find a way to step up with new programs, I’d be even more grateful.
If Michigan and Michigan State could see their way to DI women’s teams, I’d be over the moon – but that’s a discussion for another time and perhaps in another forum.
What about you, my friend? What is there in college hockey this year that is inspiring your gratitude?
Dan: I am admittedly jaded towards the current climate in college sports because people are inherently treated like they’re stocks on the New York Stock Exchange. If someone’s starting to soar, they need to force a merger with another program or move themselves into a different position so they can sell and maybe other programs can buy the dip. We’re talking about risers and fallers when it comes to teams like we’re trying to hit the buy at the right time to hit a windfall.
That said, I’m reminded on a regular basis about how college hockey is a family affair. It’s literally family for me with my brother broadcasting at Brown – and the fact that I started in college hockey by riding shotgun for road trips throughout ECAC. I wasn’t even broadcasting in those days, but I eventually jumped into the family business at Brown, which led to Bentley, which led to USCHO.
It’s always been about the people. Coaches, players, equipment managers, public address announcers, other staff members, cameramen and camerawomen, producers, audio engineers, stats crews, even the guys that I’m texting on any given Friday or Saturday night…we’re all thrust into this corporate-based feel, but we’re all in it together. We all still love the game, and I love it for that reason. I’m especially lucky to have an incredible crew at both Bentley and Boston College that’s retained that family feel.
Maybe I’m still wide-eyed about it at 40, but standing by the tunnel when the players walk out for their warmies still gets the creative and hockey juices flowing. I love this game, I love the people, and I’m so grateful for all of it.
Here’s to hoping all of you have a great week with whatever makes you happy.