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.
DAN: It’s finally February, and that means that college hockey is heading into its home stretch. Strange as it sounds, a year beginning in early October is down to its final three or four weeks before playoffs begin, and we’re officially starting to see some areas fall into full focus. Out here in Boston, I’m admittedly still digging out from last week’s storm by climbing onto my roof with a trusty shovel (shoutout ice dams and frost heaves), and the Beanpot is underway for the city championship.
Oh, and the Patriots are in the Super Bowl, so we’re basically back to our normal February routines.
Now that I’ve taken the requisite potshot at the rest of the country, I think it’s time to dive into the college hockey. We’re in the process of chugging through the season, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not prone to surprises. For me, that meant being blown away by the 74,575 people who crammed into Penn State’s football stadium for Saturday’s game against Michigan State. In an era where the outdoor game is starting to run its course — or already jumped the shark — Penn State offered a throwback performance akin to the Big House.
I’m prone to hyperbole, and I know Penn State long established itself as a hockey power after jumping into things over a decade ago. I was still blown away by the turnout and the passion for the Penn State hockey team.
Paula — as I turn to you, how big of a watershed moment was this for the program that upturned the entire college hockey apple cart when it arrived on the Division I scene in 2012?
PAULA: Dan, you’ve tossed more at me to unpack than you know — aside from that redundant reminder to root for the Seahawks on Sunday.
Before I get to the outdoor game itself, I want to address something you say in your question at the end there. It is utterly unfair to say that Penn State is the “program that upturned the entire college hockey apple cart” with its inception. Utterly and completely.
Every longtime reader knows how much I mourned the previous iteration of the CCHA and the breakup of the WCHA when Penn State added hockey, but that program is hardly responsible for the way college hockey changed over a decade ago. The Penn State program didn’t dictate the terms of realignment, nor does Penn State itself solely control the way the Big Ten does business.
Also, most people who cover college hockey talk about the desire to see the game’s membership and footprint expanded — both very difficult things to achieve, given the economics of it — and ever since Penn State declared that it was creating a program, a big number of people who claim to want to see hockey expand have done nothing but complain about what happened when college hockey did, in fact, expand.
OK, I’ll step down from that specific soapbox, but all of that helps me transition into this — I am delighted at the success of Saturday’s game at Beaver Stadium. Nearly 75,000 fans braving single-digit temperatures to watch a competitive game that means something in both Big Ten conference play and the NPI, hosted by a team that made its first Frozen Four trip a year ago — I mean, the only thing that could have made Nittany Lions fans happier would have been an overtime game-winning goal.
Everywhere that Guy Gadowsky has coached, he’s built a loyal fanbase for his teams. No one who knows him is surprised by how quickly he and his staff created the fan culture in Pegula Arena. It’s no surprise, then, that the Spartans and Nittany Lions played to a packed stadium Saturday.
The real watershed moment for Penn State hockey was the Nittany Lions’ first trip to the Frozen Four last year. That they’re contending again this season tells you that they’ve arrived as a program. Penn State is third in the B1G standings, fourth in the NPI and the Nittany Lions have only themselves to answer to for proof of anything.
There are a couple of takeaways from the Michigan State-Penn State series that are interesting in the here-and-now. The Spartans scored 11 goals in their road sweep to Penn State’s seven. Given that the Spartans and Nittany Lions are two of the highest-scoring teams in the country, that seems fitting, but Michigan State outscored Penn State 18-8 on the season, sweeping all four meetings — the only team to deliver to the Nittany Lions consecutive losses to the same opponent all season, and the Spartans did it twice.
Spartans Charlie Stramel and Anthony Romani registered their first career hat tricks in the series, with Stramel completing his Saturday with the OT game-winner. With the wins, Michigan State becomes one of four D-I teams to hit the 20-win plateau and the Spartans are now one point behind first-place Michigan in B1G standings heading into a series this weekend that sees Michigan State hosting the Wolverines at Munn Friday and the teams completing the weekend at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena Saturday.
Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State are among the top four NPI teams. The Big Ten, as the kids used to say, is lit.
That is until the Frozen Four, as our buddy Jimmy Connelly reminded us, where all it would take is one NCHC team in the field to guarantee another year without a B1G title. That’s the conventional wisdom, right?
DAN: Oh, Paula. The only thing lit around the Rubin household is the book that I’m reading on my kindle. Maybe we can make something phat for those of us who are pending their 20th college reunion.
You know, you mentioned Charlie Stramel, and I immediately lit up at the mention of his name. Ninth in the country in goal scoring, he’s closing on 40 points in a league where that might not come even remotely close to the top of the chart. Players like TJ Hughes and Michael Hage, Stramel and Porter Martone, Matt DiMarsico and Will Horcoff or Brodie Ziemer — every single team has a college superstar that requires some type of attention.
I can’t think of a conference capable of boasting the sheer volume of front-end talent. We’re in the midst of a college hockey explosion, but I’m accustomed to talking to coaches about how talent is gelling and turning out performances at the team level. Even in a world where no player is at the top of the chart without help, the Big Ten seems more loaded than usual, and I didn’t even touch on Gavin McKenna.
It’s entirely possible that we’re going to see an entire Hobey Hat Trick emerge from the Big Ten for the second time in four years, and to contextualize the insanity of that, you’d have to go back to Matt Gilroy’s win in 2009 to find the last year of three finalists all from the same conference (Gilroy bested Northeastern’s Brad Thiessen and BU teammate Colin Wilson for the award).
Twice in four years, though, that’s amazing.
Maybe a Big Ten team could even beat an AHL team at this point? Kidding.
Kind of.
Not really.
PAULA: I’ve been saying for years now that it’s past time for the Big Ten to win a title, given the conference’s considerable resources even before we hit revenue sharing and the influx of OHL talent. At the very least, the conference has established itself as elite in many ways — Wisconsin’s second-half plunge notwithstanding. Ohio State took Michigan to overtime last weekend and Notre Dame, in rebuild mode, looks improved weekly.
As you said at the top of this column, February brings with it the home stretch of regular-season play. Things are tight in several conferences. The top of the Big Ten season may be riding on this weekend’s series between Michigan and Michigan State. In the CCHA, second-place Augustana has some work to do with series remaining against first-place St. Thomas and third-place Michigan Tech.
The ECAC is insane at the top of the standings, with only Quinnipiac and Cornell — tied for second place with 32 points apiece — the only two teams capable of winning it all by winning out, as they each have two games in hand on first-place Dartmouth (33 points) and fourth-place Harvard (30 points).
Only first-place Providence is in control of its own destiny in Hockey East, and the Friars have a favorable schedule remaining. In the NCHC, I thought no one had a chance of catching North Dakota until Denver swept Minnesota Duluth, putting together three straight wins after a rough start to 2026. North Dakota is three points ahead of Denver, but the Pioneers would need some help to catch the Fighting Hawks.
Looking toward the coming weeks, Dan, what are you seeing down the stretch? Anything specific you’re looking at – and are you ready to make some regular season predictions?
DAN: Bentley wins the Atlantic Hockey title! A story so nice I’ll write it twice!
All kidding aside, I think we’re in for a wild finish. I think teams understand how to play with the right kind of desperation down the stretch, and it’s going to contribute to some unseen finishes. I do think that my beloved Falcons are headed for their first-ever regular season championship in the AHA, but I think there’s a trial-by-fire that’ll happen with games against Holy Cross and RIT still on the horizon.
Aside from that, I’m readying myself for Hockey East to barrel down to its final week. Providence is one of the best teams in the country right now, but BC is gelling at a rate that’ll include yet another Beanpot championship game appearance. UMass is lurking, and UConn is the team that nobody’s talking about right now.
BU is running into problems, and Northeastern is a team without a home. Does that mean Merrimack charges to the front and sneaks into the conversation? I sure hope so.
Also, before we go, one last point from me — Brown coach Brendan Whittet announced he will step away after 17 years behind the bench later this season to tend to a family medical issue, and upon return will transition to a new role as an administrator within the department.
I’ve known Coach Whittet since I was basically out of college. He’s a phenomenal human being and a throwback in all the right ways. What he’s done to keep Brown in postseason contention for championship games despite not finishing in the top-4 is Herculean, and he’s done it without ever compromising values.
I love Brown. It’s my brother’s alma mater and the place where I started much of my college hockey journey. He still calls games there, and this year especially reminded us why we love Brown.
I hope for nothing but the best for Brendan and his family. On behalf of all of college hockey, may everyone in Providence always remain Ever True.
PAULA: Certainly wishing the best for Coach Whittet and his family. What a remarkable career. He’s been associated with ECAC hockey since 1996, and all but two of those years either as player or coach at Brown.
Assistant Jason Smith will handle things as interim head coach for Brown until the end of the season, after which Brown will conduct a national search. It will be interesting to see where such a search takes Brown, which hasn’t secured a regular season title since 1951. The Bears’ last NCAA tournament appearance was in 1993.
We haven’t talked a lot about the ways in which coaching is changing in college hockey, but locally — and by that I mean in the Big Ten — I’ve seen new approaches with Michigan’s hiring of Brandon Naurato, Michigan State bringing in Adam Nightingale and now Notre Dame with Brock Sheahan in his first year. Each of those gents is an alum of the program he now coaches. Each has an approach to coaching that differs significantly from that of his predecessor, especially when it comes to player development.
With the changes in revenue and overall talent pool that college hockey has experienced in just the past two years, I wonder about coaching Darwinism. We may be seeing an era of “adapt or die” behind the bench.
Bringing our discussion full circle, that may be what makes Penn State’s program even more remarkable. Guy Gadowsky is now the longest-tenured Big Ten hockey coach. Maybe what it will take for success moving forward in college hockey is a way to navigate the new while retaining what works — and the kind of alacrity that makes it all seamless. I don’t know who’s going to embody that in the long term, but it will be interesting to see in February which teams took to heart the lessons they learned in November.