Season previews for leagues
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
The inevitable chaos of this season seems like it will have the most impact in the WCHA, where several teams will be missing more than one or two players as part of the Olympics and pre-Olympic prep. The altered rosters also leave room for teams not in the top half of the standings to score … Read more
Last season was a fun one in Hockey East, at least for fans of unpredictability and chaos. It might not have been fun for the teams, but it truly felt like any team could win on any given weekend and the winner wasn’t decided until the final game. It seems unlikely that too much of … Read more
The top four finishers in the ECAC made the NCAA tournament last season, with Cornell advancing to the Frozen Four. I’d expect at least that many this year, with an outside chance for a fifth to also break through. Cornell comes in as the coaches’ preseason pick for the top spot. There was a decent … Read more
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
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
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
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 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
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
The MAC was largely played as a subset to the UCHC schedule in recent years with just a handful of teams competing in both conferences and all were dependent upon winning the UCHC for a shot on the national tournament stage. As we enter the 2024-25 season, the re-aligned MAC finds seven teams moving over … Read more
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
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
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