Season previews for leagues
Speaking recently as part of her State of the Conference address, NCHC commissioner Heather Weems rolled out the red carpet for the league’s 14th season. Weems also noted that 14 is her lucky number. She runs a conference that’s had plenty of luck. Eight of the last 10 NCAA Division I men’s hockey national champions … Read more
The Big Ten Conference has big budgets, big atmosphere and big recruits. The conference boasts seven of the top 14 programs in college hockey for total expenses. All seven institutions are in the top twenty for average attendance and this year the league will host an outdoor game at Lambeau Field where the Ohio State … Read more
These are dark days indeed for Hockey East. Sort of. It’s all relative, of course, perhaps with a little hyperbole thrown in. Hockey East obviously remains one of the premier conferences in Division I men’s college hockey, but the specter of qualifying only two at-large teams for the 2026 NCAA tournament looms large entering this … Read more
Last season continued to prove that ECAC is rarely as straightforward as the broken record surrounding its paper preview. Yes, Quinnipiac is the defending regular season champion for the sixth consecutive year, and yes, the Bobcats failed to win a postseason’s Whitelaw Cup for the sixth time over those six years. And yes again, they … Read more
Another busy offseason brought more change to college hockey and the NCAA landscape in general. Atlantic Hockey saw more upheaval at the end of last season with the end of the Mercyhurst’s men’s program, leaving the conference with nine members. That means a change to the number of conference games (from 26 to 24) as … Read more
There’s been five seasons of the re-formed Central College Hockey Association, and in many ways, the league is going back to basics as it embarks on its sixth. Instead of the relative uncertainty that has been a feature of the conference — changes in coaches, conference membership and the big change in what kind of … Read more
And finally, the last of the conference previews… For some reason the gap from the start of the regular season to NESCAC initiating play seems shorter this year with play commencing on Friday, November 14 – I am sure that is just me but it will be great to have all the conferences in … Read more
Last season, Gustavus Adolphus won the regular season title and then battled a determined St Olaf squad to win the MIAC championship and NCAA berth before losing a one-goal game to St Norbert in the national tournament. No surprise, the Gusties appear to be a contender again this year in the typically unpredictable and … Read more
The CNE will have something old and something new as part of the conference for the 2025-2026 season. Former member of the CCC, Johnson & Wales returns to the league along with the new NCAA program started by Roger Williams College in Rhode Island. That brings the total to nine teams for this season … Read more
Last season saw the Stevenson Mustangs earn the first ever MAC hockey championship and auto-bid to the NCAA tournament. Following the season, the only coach the program had known, Dominick Dawes made the decision to return to his alma mater at Norwich leaving an opportunity for a new bench boss in Maryland. Matt … Read more
MASCAC will change from a ten-team league this season to the traditional and more familiar eight-team conference following the departure of Plymouth State and Massachusetts-Dartmouth to the new Little East conference (LEC). That does change the landscape somewhat based upon PSU’s recent dominance in the league, but many see the conference as wide open … Read more
The newest conference starting in 2025-2026 is the Little East which adds a deep ten-team conference that merges the Little East athletic conference schools with some associate members from the former NEHC. The league also features Keene State in first season affiliated with a conference as well as the introduction of Western Connecticut State … Read more
If only the hockey gods and maybe a friendly bounce or two had gone the right way for three teams from the west in last year’s NCAA tournament, the Frozen Four would have looked very different. All of those teams from the NCHA (Aurora, St. Norbert & Trine) are back and looking forward to … Read more
The NE-10 never lacks for excitement as very few teams have been successful in translating regular season success into the D-II conference championship. Assumption is one of the few teams in recent years to do so. St Anselm and St. Michael’s seem to find themselves playing for the big prize frequently and often against … Read more
SUNYAC has seen its own fair share of changes over the past couple of seasons. First, Brockport and Geneseo departed to join the ranks of the UCHC. Two familiar rivals in Oswego and Plattsburgh battled for the conference title with the Lakers earning their fist SUNYAC title in many years. Now this season, the … Read more
The UCHC, like virtually every other conference, will have a new look this season with the additions of Albertus Magnus and Elmira from the now defunct NEHC along with St John Fisher which commences NCAA play this season. The new nine-team league will certainly add more excitement to the pursuit of the conference title … Read more
New looks, there are a lot of them this year across the D-III hockey landscape. OK, you might even say why is the guy from the east covering the WIAC? Well, like the hockey landscape so too has the coverage changed. I will only hope to be able to come close to all Brian … Read more
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