ECAC Hockey 2025-26 Men’s Hockey Season Preview: According to commish, ‘the magic of our league is that anybody, on any given night, can win’

Much of the attention at the start of a college hockey season is rightly on the teams from the previous year’s Frozen Four. Conversations about the powerhouses and blue bloods, the traditional powers and new banner holders, all center on a team’s ability to produce the proverbial “next one” to an insatiable group of fans … Read more

Atlantic Hockey America 2025-26 Men’s Hockey Season Preview: New playoff format, new coaches, same talent drain big talking points on eve of new season

We remain in a period of intense change in college hockey, and Atlantic Hockey America is no exception. Besides the changing landscape of college athletics in general and college hockey in particular, the AHA also has some new faces and a new(ish) playoff format. Last things first With the departure of American International, Atlantic Hockey … Read more

Hockey East 2025-26 Men’s Hockey Season Preview: Expect the regular contenders to contend again; Also, expansion isn’t happening

It’s a pattern that seems to repeat itself every winter — Hockey East and the NCHC battle all year for the proverbial “best conference” label, both leagues making their case with numerous teams hogging the top spots in the USCHO men’s D-I poll. Then the NCAA tournament plays out and the NCHC is the one … Read more

CCHA 2025-26 Men’s Hockey Season Preview: Potential there for conference ‘to be the tightest the CCHA has ever been’

It’s almost a cliche at this point to point out the parity that exists in the CCHA. Sure, Minnesota State last season won their third MacNaughton Cup in the four seasons since the league was re-formed in 2022, but every year we’ve seen close races for the league title and for home ice in the … Read more

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

Big Ten 2025-26 Men’s Hockey Season Preview: Are odds in conference’s favor of finally bringing home a national championship?

Let’s go to Vegas, baby. The 2026 Frozen Four will be played in T-Mobile Arena, home of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, and wouldn’t any team from the Big Ten love to ride a streak all the way to the final buzzer of the national championship game next April? Because, of course, not one of … Read more

Women’s Division I College Hockey: 2025-26 NEWHA season preview

This feels like the most wide-open this conference has been in several seasons. While I’m really high on the returning rosters of Sacred Heart and Stonehill, I know better than to count out LIU, and Franklin Pierce has shown themselves to be incredibly resilient and pesky the past few seasons. And while LIU has dominated … Read more

Women’s Division I College Hockey: 2025-26 AHA season preview

As this is the first preview of the season, let’s take a moment to look at the bigger picture of the sport as a whole. One topic is going to dominate conversations this season – with USA and Canada no longer centralizing their players prior to the Olympics in February in Italy, collegiate players from … Read more

NESCAC Men’s Hockey Season Preview – Bantams front runners for another conference title

Last year, Hobart won the national title game against an incredibly good Trinity team backstopped by goaltender Devon Bobak who returns to the Bantam crease. Key losses among the senior defense and forward groups along with the departure of assistant coach Kim Weiss to the Colorado Eagles (AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche) will mean … Read more

MIAC Men’s Hockey Preview: Oles, Royals, Auggies top contenders for title

The MIAC never seems to disappoint when it comes to being competitive. The race for the regular-season championship and the five conference tourney spots up for grabs always seems to be a fight to the finish. Last year, Augsburg held a two-point edge over Bethel for the regular-season title, but the Oles, who finished fifth … Read more

MASCAC Men’s Hockey Season Preview – Panthers face new challengers in expanded MASCAC league

Plymouth State has ruled the roost in MASCAC hockey for several years in a row and in their final season in the conference face new challengers in Anna Maria and Rivier who now make the conference a 10-team league for the upcoming season. The former Independents will bring a lot of enthusiasm to their first … Read more

SUNYAC Men’s Hockey Season Preview – Cardinals, Lakers, Red Dragons expected to battle for the league title

SUNYAC has also been impacted by conference re-alignment as the long-expected adoption of SUNY-Canton to the league was offset by the departures of Brockport and Geneseo to the UCHC for the 2024-25 season. So, the former nine-team league will play as an eight-team conference moving ahead with travel partners that will better facilitate travel and … Read more

NCHA Men’s Hockey Preview: Bulldogs, Green Knights headline contender list

By Brian Lester No question the NCHA is a pretty strong hockey conference, especially with two of the nation’s best teams in it. Reigning league champion Adrian leads starts the year at No. 3 nationally in the USCHO.com poll while St. Norbert is ranked fifth and projected to be the Bulldogs’ biggest challenger to a … Read more

UCHC Men’s Hockey Season Preview – Pioneers face-off with new challengers in re-vamped UCHC

The UCHC was among the most impacted D-III hockey conferences moving from an       11-team league in 2023-24 to just a six-team conference in 2024-25 before further planned re-alignment for the 2025-26 campaign. Misericordia, with head coach Kevin Cole, will field its inaugural D-III hockey squad this season that enables an eight-team MAC league … Read more

CNE Men’s Hockey Season Preview – Colonels, Gulls, Nor’easters expected to battle for CNE crown

Gone is the Commonwealth Coast Conference as this season a re-brand re-names the 40-year old league to the Conference of New England or the CNE. While the eight-team league for hockey maintains the same number of competitors, two Rhode Island schools have swapped leagues for the 2024-25 season with Salve Regina moving to the NEHC … Read more

NEHC Men’s Hockey Season Preview – Statesmen looking for ‘three-peat’ in final season of NEHC alignment

The 2024-25 season already brings us several conference re-alignments and a new playing league to the D-III mix that will impact conference races and national tournament bid opportunities next spring. In what will be the final season of the NEHC as we have seen it in recent years, the conference adds Albertus Magnus from the … Read more