NCHC 2025-26 Men’s Hockey Season Preview: Conference looks wide-open with targets on defending national champion Western Michigan

Year-in and year-out, ever since their conference held its first games in 2013, coaches and players from NCHC member schools have talked about the meat-grinder that is their league. It might be even tougher now, and it’s certainly as difficult as ever to predict who will end up where. The conference boasts the defending national … Read more

Defending national champion Denver has ‘taken a real growth mindset’ during 2024-25 season as Pioneers look to repeat

This is the third of four previews for teams playing in the 2025 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four this week in St. Louis. Click here for all of USCHO’s Frozen Four coverage. Denver Pioneers Season record: 31-11-1 How they got to St. Louis: Won the Manchester Regional, defeating Providence 5-1 and Boston College 3-1 Top players: … Read more

Western Michigan’s plan for Frozen Four means Broncos ‘going to approach it like we do every other game – that our next game is our most important game’

This is the second of four previews for teams playing in the 2025 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four this week in St. Louis. Click here for all of USCHO’s Frozen Four coverage. Western Michigan Broncos Season record: 32-7-1 How they got to St. Louis: Won the Fargo Regional, defeating Minnesota State 2-1 and Massachusetts 2-1 Top … Read more

Hockey Humanitarian Award Finalist Feature: By spearheading organ donor awareness events, Fortin’s ‘desire to make an impact to help others is a really great legacy that she leaves here at Bemidji State’

Like innumerable kids, Kendra Fortin grew up with a list of ideas as to what she may want to do for a profession once she was out of school. What separates the Bemidji State senior defenseman in that regard is how her ultimately chosen career route tied into something that happened to her family when … Read more

Hockey Humanitarian Award Finalist Feature: A star on the ice at Merrimack, Szott, ‘she’s the type of person you hope to have in your life,’ finding greater calling with off-ice initiatives

As Merrimack defenseman and captain Raice Szott’s collegiate career draws to a close, it’s becoming clearer all the time that her legacy at the North Andover, Mass., college will last far beyond her playing days there. A native of Daysland, Alta., Szott is a finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award for the second year running. … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Arizona State has shot at NCAA tourney as Sun Devils ‘proving our followers right and proving the people who didn’t believe in us wrong’

It’s tough to predict how much further Arizona State’s first season as a conference member can go. The Sun Devils are 15th in the PairWise Rankings and will need to keep helping themselves as the NCHC playoffs progress. But regardless of which side of the NCAA tournament bubble the Sun Devils land on, they already … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Defending national champion Denver taking ‘killer instinct’ approach to upcoming conference postseason grind

The NCHC playoffs officially begin this Friday, but Denver coach David Carle and his Pioneers must feel like they’ve already been there for weeks. Despite being 26-9-1 tied with Boston College and Western Michigan for the most wins in the country, defending national champion Denver had plenty to do in order to secure a favorable … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Claiming its first Penrose Cup, Western Michigan finding success heading to playoffs with ‘a consistency of play and competitiveness of our players’

Winning its first-ever regular-season conference title in program history last Friday wasn’t just satisfying for Western Michigan on a surface level. The Broncos were already well aware of what the Penrose Cup looked like ahead of WMU’s 6-4 win Friday against North Dakota, which saw Western lock up the NCHC regular season title with three … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Colorado College planning for ‘a long run’ as Tigers need to ‘win a lot of games to get to where we ultimately want to be’

Sitting 32nd in the PairWise Rankings, Colorado College isn’t what you’d call a team on the bubble for a NCAA tournament berth this season. But with two regular-season games left, plus however far into the postseason the Tigers get, coach Kris Mayotte wants his squad to look the part. CC’s series split last weekend at … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Arizona State on mission to make NCAA tournament as Sun Devils ‘want to be a top-10 perennial program’

It’s these days, at the business end of the college hockey season, when coaches really bang the drum to get their players geed up for what’s left. On Tuesday, Arizona State coach Greg Powers used his weekly press conference as a soapbox. The Sun Devils are now firmly on the NCAA tournament bubble, 15th in … Read more

Monday 10: Beanpot title game on tap tonight; Michigan, Michigan State split rivalry series; Sacred Heart, Holy Cross tied for top spot in Atlantic Hockey America

Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature. 1. BC, BU to meet in Beanpot final We most often focus in this space on what happened last weekend. But this time, it’s hard to avoid what happened earlier last week, as well as what’s going … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Arizona State taking lessons from each game even though Sun Devils ‘know we’re really good’ this season

You’ll often hear coaches and athletes say they learn more from losses than they do from wins. To hear Arizona State coach Greg Powers say it during his team’s press conference Tuesday, the Sun Devils took important lessons from the back end of a split last weekend. ASU had won five of its last six … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Well-conditioned Miami squad aiming for late-January push, looking to ‘build on the good’

Miami may be mired in a 14-game losing streak, but first-year RedHawks coach Anthony Noreen is keen to make his team one that nobody will want to face down the stretch. Better conditioning was evident both of the last two weekends for Miami, even if it didn’t show up on the scoreboard as the RedHawks … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Sweep of then-No. 13 Colorado College has Omaha showing ‘a great example of sticking with it’

If you’re an Omaha fan, there was a lot to like about the Mavericks’ home sweep last weekend over 13th-ranked Colorado College. It was especially rewarding for some of UNO’s veteran players. That includes graduate student forwards Brady Risk and Harrison Israels, a pair of Alaska transfers who, on a line with Myles Hilman, combined … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Western Michigan veteran goalie Rowe putting up solid numbers while being challenged by freshman teammate Slukynsky

Much of fourth-ranked Western Michigan’s success through the first half of the season had to do with a changed operating dynamic between the pipes. Over the past two seasons, current WMU graduate student Cameron Rowe was the Broncos’ unquestioned starting goaltender. After playing his first two years of college hockey at Wisconsin, he played 38 … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: North Dakota ‘did a good job of getting through the first half with some adversity,’ looking for second-half surge to make NCAA tournament

It’s no secret that North Dakota has some work to do if the Fighting Hawks are to make their fourth NCAA tournament appearance in five years. Sitting 22nd in the PairWise Rankings after an 11-7-1 start, more things will have to start going the right way. Kind of like they have in the last couple … Read more