Posted on Posted in Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, Alaska Nanooks, Atlantic Hockey, Bentley Falcons, Big Ten, Boston College Eagles, Boston University Terriers, CCHA, Colorado College Tigers, Connecticut Huskies, Dartmouth Big Green, Denver Pioneers, ECAC, Ferris State Bulldogs, Harvard Crimson, Hockey East, Independents, Lindenwood Lions, Maine Black Bears, Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks, Mercyhurst Lakers, Merrimack Warriors, Miami RedHawks, Michigan Wolverines, Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, Minnesota State Mavericks, NCHC, North Dakota Fighting Hawks, Northeastern Huskies, Ohio State Buckeyes, Omaha Mavericks, Penn State Nittany Lions, Princeton Tigers, Providence Friars, Quinnipiac Bobcats, St. Cloud State Huskies, St. Lawrence Saints, St. Thomas Tommies, Union Garnet Chargers, WCHA, Wisconsin Badgers, Yale Bulldogs
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The content of this recap is also available in the 2020s page of our U.S. College Hockey History section of this site.

The final game played at the historic Matthews Arena in Boston occurred during the 2025-26 season. The original arena opened April 25, 1910, when the Harvard freshmen played Newton High School. Later that night, Harvard became the first-ever varsity team to take the ice at the arena when it played the Crescent Hockey Club. The first-ever intercollegiate hockey game to be played at the arena took place the following season when Harvard and MIT met December 18, 1910. A catastrophic fire destroyed the original building in December 1918. The second iteration of the arena opened a little more than three years later when MIT hosted King’s College from north of the border. The Canadian team won that January 7, 1921, game 4-3. Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Boston University and numerous professional teams called the rink home over the years. Northeastern played its first hockey game there on January 17, 1930, and ultimately became the main tenant of the arena in October 1979. The university renamed it Northeastern Arena and ultimately Matthews Arena. On December 13, 2025, the Northeastern men hosted Boston University in the last hockey game played in the historic rink. The Terriers won 4-3, which is fitting since the first hockey game played between these programs was at the same rink in February 1931 when the Terriers defeated the Huskies by the exact same score.

Boston Arena in black and white from the early 1920s.
A photo of Boston Arena from the early 1920s.

Two hockey programs separated by 3,000 miles celebrated 100 years of hockey during the season: Alaska and St. Lawrence. Two Division I programs also debuted new hockey rinks. The Lee & Penny Anderson Arena opened on the St. Thomas campus when the women’s team hosted Providence. The men’s teams from the same schools played the second game of a debut doubleheader. In Schenectady, New York, the M&T Bank Center opened its gates September 26, 2025, when the Union women played Franklin Pierce. The Garnet Chargers previously played at Messa Rink; an arena that hosted its first Union hockey game in 1975. In the NCHC, the Miami RedHawks snapped its 26-game winless streak with a 6-4 win over Ferris State in the season opener. The team kept rolling and won its first six games of the season with the last two coming in overtime. It was the first back-to-back overtime wins in program history. Within the Big Ten, the Gopher men snapped an 11-game shootout losing streak after defeating Boston College. Going into the shootout, the team had missed its previous 28 shootout attempts, as impossible as that may seem. Coincidentally, the Gophers first-ever regular season shootout was against Boston College nearly 12 years beforehand at the same rink.

Unfortunately, two Division I programs closed their doors at the end of the season. Mercyhurst debuted its hockey program in 1987 within Division III and elevated to Division II in 1992. The Mercyhurst men played their last game March 7, 2026, against Bentley, which coincidentally was the first conference opponent the Lakers faced in 1999 after joining Division I. Note that the Mercyhurst women’s hockey team will continue operations. The Simon Fraser Red Leafs of Burnaby, British Columbia decided to discontinue the school’s Non-Conference Team at the conclusion of the season. The Non-Conference Team had operated as an independent program for three seasons with a schedule predominantly made up of U.S. Division I teams. The Red Leafs played 20 NCAA Division I and three Division III programs throughout its tenure. The first program win over an NCAA Division I team came against Alaska Anchorage in 2022. A notable 2024 game for Simon Fraser saw the Red Leafs tie the second-ranked team in the U.S. at the time, Boston University. The last game the team ever played was in Ann Arbor, which happened to be the first time the program had played the Wolverines. Note that the Simon Fraser BCIHL team will continue operations.

Changes were made to a couple of postseason tournaments in the Division I men’s world. Big Ten Hockey reduced its tournament to a two-and-a-half week single elimination tournament instead of a three-weekend tournament where the first round was a best-of-three series. On the other hand, the NCHC shifted to a setup that mirrored the previous Big Ten format. In doing so, the NCHC moved to an entirely on-campus tournament for the first time. Excluding 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, the final weekend of the tournament had previously been held in Minneapolis or Saint Paul. This change saw the conference host a three-weekend tournament for the first time, with the first weekend being a best-of-three series. The tournament trophy was also branded the National Cup, a name change that mirrored the new secondary branding of the NCHC. Denver ended up hosting UMD in its first single-elimination conference tournament title game on home ice since 1970. The Pioneers won in double overtime, marking it the second double overtime championship game in a row for Denver and the NCHC. This was the first time in the Division I men’s hockey era where a conference’s tournament title game went to double overtime in back-to-back seasons.

In the CCHA, Minnesota State and St. Thomas squared off in the tournament championship game for the second season in a row. This time a berth to the NCAA tournament was truly on the line. The Mavericks were victorious again. This marked the last CCHA conference game played by the Tommies as they are moving to the NCHC for the 2026-27 season. It also marked the fourth Mason Cup for the Mavericks in the past five seasons.

Looking east, the ECAC men’s conference title game was an Ivy League affair between Dartmouth and Princeton. The all-time hockey series between the two schools started nearly 120 years beforehand on January 9, 1907. Dartmouth won the 2026 title game and earned a trip to the national tournament. It was the first-ever conference tournament championship for the Big Green. Note that Dartmouth defeated Harvard in a one-off playoff game in 1949 for the Pentagonal League title, but that was not part of a tournament. The 23 wins this season also set a team record for a program that dates back to 1905. The Quinnipiac Bobcats won the ECAC men’s regular season title for the sixth time. And for the sixth year in a row, the Bobcats lost in the conference tournament as the top seed. Within Hockey East, Merrimack became the lowest seed (#8) to advance to the Hockey East championship game, let alone win it. This was the first Hockey East tournament title for the Warriors. Within Atlantic Hockey America, the Bentley Falcons won the men’s regular season and tournament championships. It was the Falcons first Division I regular season title. The Falcons last won a regular season title back in 1997 when the program participated in Division III.

For the first time in the Division I men’s hockey era, an end-of-season tournament was held for the independent programs. Five teams took part in the inaugural United Collegiate Hockey Cup hosted by Lindenwood in Maryland Heights, Missouri. Alaska received the lone bye and went on to become the first team to win the tournament after defeating the host Lions in overtime of the championship game.

The NCAA Division I men’s tournament included no Beanpot teams for the first time since 1981. The men’s Frozen Four was held in Las Vegas for the first time. The four teams in Las Vegas (Denver, Michigan, North Dakota, Wisconsin) just happened to be the top four teams with the most NCAA Division I men’s titles with a combined 33 championship trophies amongst them. And in addition to that, for the first time in NCAA history all four starting goalies were freshmen. Decades earlier, all four teams were WCHA division foes between 1969 and 1981. One of the semifinal games pitted Denver against Michigan. The Pioneers were victorious in overtime to advance to the championship game. This marked the fifth NCAA semifinal game in a row for the Pioneers where the outcome was decided in overtime – all since 2019. In the final game of the season, Denver came from behind to defeat Wisconsin to increase its NCAA lead with an 11th championship trophy. This marked the third title for the Pioneers in the last five seasons. It also meant that another NCHC team was crowned the champion. It’s the eighth championship for the NCHC in the past 10 seasons; the most dominant conference run in men’s hockey since the WCHA won 10 of 11 from 1973 to 1983.

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Within Division I women’s hockey, a new program debuted in Delaware. The Fightin’ Blue Hens became the first NCAA hockey team to be based in Delaware after debuting within Atlantic Hockey America. Within the ECAC, Princeton and Yale shared the regular season crown. This was the first regular season title for Princeton. The semifinals and championship game of the ECAC women’s tournament was held off-campus for the first time. The games took place at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, where the three-seed Quinnipiac defeated top-seed Yale.

The women’s Frozen Four was held at Pegula Ice Arena on the Penn State campus. The Nittany Lions had a hometown advantage after the team made it to the Frozen Four for the first time. The resulting Penn State versus Wisconsin semifinal game set an arena and Frozen Four attendance record with 5,176 fans. Wisconsin ended up winning in overtime to set the stage for yet another Wisconsin and Ohio State championship game; the fourth in a row. The Badgers won 3-2 to add to its NCAA-leading number of women’s NC championships with nine. This was also the 23rd WCHA team to win a women’s hockey championship. Wisconsin has won the championship in five of the past seven seasons. The past six championship games were all very competitive with all six being decided by one goal.

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Caroline Harvey was awarded the Patty Kazmaier Award – the second Badger to earn it in a row and seventh overall. The Badgers broke a tie with Harvard for most recipients of the award that’s handed out to the top female college hockey player in the United States. Max Plante took home the Hobey Baker Award; the seventh time a UMD Bulldog was awarded the trophy. Scott Perunavich was the last Bulldog to do so in 2020. High school hockey fact: Hermantown High School in Minnesota (enrollment 612) is the first-ever high school to produce multiple Hobey Baker winners (Drew LeBlanc in 2013 for St. Cloud State and now Max Plante).

Within Division III men’s hockey, the Hamilton Continentals (Kirkland, New York) defeated Hobart 2-1 in overtime. It was the first hockey championship for a program that’s been around since 1918. The Continentals also prevented Hobart from celebrating a four-peat in the process. It was the second Division III men’s title game in a row that ended 2-1 in overtime and fifth overtime championship game in the past seven seasons.

The Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons shut out Nazareth (Rochester, New York) 4-0 to secure a three-peat in Division III women’s hockey. This is the first three-peat since Plattsburgh won four in a row from 2014 to 2017. It was the first championship game for runner-up Nazareth.

Midland University (Fremont, Nebraska) won its first ACHA Division I women’s hockey championship after defeating top-seed Liberty. The game went to triple overtime before the Warriors won 4-3. Midland won its final three tournament games in overtime.

Current and former college hockey stars were front and center in midseason tournaments in 2026. For the first time ever, the NCAA sent a select team of current college players to the Spengler Cup to represent the NCAA. The hockey tournament based in Switzerland has a history that dates back to 1923. It features club and national teams from Europe and North America. The Minnesota Gophers previously participated in 1981 and North Dakota in 1982. The schools sent their full teams to play in the exhibition mid-season tournament. This team in 2025 was essentially an NCAA all-star team – a first of its kind for the Spengler Cup. The team lost its first game to Team Canada but later defeated HC Davos and then Canada in a rematch. The U.S. Collegiate Selects surprised the European crowd and hockey community by advancing to the championship game on New Year’s Eve. However, the team fell short as HC Davos won its 17th title after a 6-3 victory. Seventeen college programs were represented on the roster with Penn State leading the way with five players. It was later announced that a select team would represent the NCAA in at least the next two Spengler Cups.

The 2025 U.S. Collegiate Selects team that competed in the Spengler Cup.
The 2025 U.S. Collegiate Selects team that competed in the Spengler Cup.

The 2026 Olympics were held in Milan Cortina, Italy. Team USA and Canada met in the women’s gold medal game for the fifth Olympics in a row. The U.S. had blanked Canada in preliminary play just nine days before. All 46 players in the women’s gold medal game had ties to NCAA hockey. Wisconsin led the way with 11 players, followed by seven from Ohio State and five from Minnesota. Overall, 16 college programs were represented that evening. The final game was decided in overtime when Megan Keller (from Boston College) scored the golden goal. Team USA scored a total of 33 goals throughout the tournament and only gave up two.

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It was déjà vu on the men’s side as Team USA and Canada met in the gold medal game as well. It was the sixth gold medal game between the two countries and first since 2010 when Canada won in overtime in Vancouver. In poetic fashion, this 2026 game was decided in overtime as well. The United States won 2-1 to secure the men’s hockey gold medal for the third time in U.S. history. Of the 25 players on the U.S. roster, 19 played college hockey. Five played for Boston University, four for Michigan, two for both Boston College and North Dakota, and one each for Colorado College, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts Lowell, Minnesota, and Omaha.

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Posted on Posted in Big Ten, Denver Pioneers, Michigan Wolverines, NCHC, North Dakota Fighting Hawks, WCHA, Wisconsin Badgers
First-ever WCHA game for Wisconsin men's hockey as Wisconsin beat North Dakota in Grand Forks. First-ever WCHA game for Wisconsin men’s hockey as Wisconsin beat North Dakota in Grand Forks. Nov 15, 1969 Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, North Dakota) Newspapers.com

The semifinals for the 2026 men’s Frozen Four will feature two games that will pit Big Ten Hockey against the NCHC. But if you flip back far enough through the history books, you’ll see that these four teams were once a part of the same conference for more than a decade: all were WCHA division foes throughout the 1970s.

The WCHA has a long and storied history; many of the nation’s top programs called it home for extended stretches of time. By the time Wisconsin joined the conference for the 1969-70 season, the WCHA had already produced 16 NCAA championship teams in the first 22 years of the tournament. The addition of Wisconsin proved to be the right choice as that program became the most decorated team in the conference in the 1970s.

In the 12 seasons that Denver, Michigan, North Dakota, and Wisconsin were in the WCHA together between 1969 to 1981, the teams produced nine WCHA champions, four NCAA champions, three NCAA runners-up, and three NCAA third place finishes:

  • Denver:
    • 3-time WCHA champion (1971, 1972, 1973)
    • 1973 NCAA runner-up
    • 1971 NCAA third place
  • Michigan:
    • 1977 NCAA runner-up
  • North Dakota:
    • 2-time WCHA champion (1979, 1980)
    • 1980 NCAA champion
    • 1979 NCAA runner-up
  • Wisconsin:
    • 4-time WCHA champion (1972, 1973, 1977, 1978)
    • 3-time NCAA champion (1973, 1977, 1981)
    • 2-time NCAA third place (1970, 1972)

The early semifinal game in 2026 will see Wisconsin go up against North Dakota. The primetime game will be Denver versus Michigan. Let’s look into the history between these two matchups.

Wisconsin versus North Dakota

  • All-time series: Wisconsin leads 87-73-13.
  • First-ever meeting: December 13, 1968. Wisconsin won 7-5 in Madison.
  • First-ever conference game: November 14, 1969. Wisconsin won 8-4 in Grand Forks.
  • Most recent NCAA tournament game: March 29, 2014. North Dakota won the Midwest Region Semifinal 5-2 in Cincinnati.
First-ever hockey game between Wisconsin Badgers and North Dakota Fighting Sioux. First-ever hockey game between Wisconsin Badgers and North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Dec 14, 1968 The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) Newspapers.com

The first hockey game between Wisconsin and North Dakota took place at Dane County Coliseum in Madison in 1968. The top-ranked team in the nation was in town and was sporting an undefeated record. A crowd of 4,120 spectators saw the home team defeat North Dakota 7-5 in a surprising upset. Legendary Badger coach Bob Johnson’s team was 5-3-1 heading into the weekend series. By the time the number one team left Madison, the Badgers had won two more games after scoring a total of 18 goals.

The very first WCHA conference game the Badgers ever played in was at the Winter Sports Building in Grand Forks against North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux started out strong with a 3-1 lead but Wisconsin bounced back and won a lopsided game 8-4. It was a high scoring affair with a lot of offense on both sides. Wisconsin put up a staggering 62 shots on goal while North Dakota had 47 of its own.

First-ever WCHA game for Wisconsin Badgers men's hockey. First-ever WCHA game for Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey. Nov 15, 1969 The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) Newspapers.com

Fun Fact: The University of North Dakota isn’t the first hockey opponent the Badgers faced from that state. Wisconsin hosted North Dakota State (known at the time as North Dakota Agricultural College) in January 1929 and swept the visitors.

Denver versus Michigan

  • All-time series: Denver leads 47-36-1.
  • First-ever meeting: February 6, 1951. Michigan won 5-4 in Denver.
  • First-ever conference game: December 20, 1951. Michigan won 7-5 in Ann Arbor.
  • Most recent NCAA tournament game: April 7, 2022. Denver won the Frozen Four Semifinal 3-2 in overtime in Boston.
Michigan looks to shoot on net during the first-ever game between Michigan and Denver in 1951. A black and white photo but it appears to be a color-on-color game.

Denver hosted Michigan for a two-game series in the Pioneers second season of existence during the 1950-51 season. The Wolverines came to town in early February. The independent Denver program had already held its own that season against established NCAA programs such as Princeton and Minnesota. Defending champion Colorado College had swept Denver earlier in Colorado Springs. Denver was not one to shy away from competition as Michigan was fresh off an NCAA third place finish. The Wolverines defeated Denver 5-4 in that first-ever hockey game between the schools. However, Denver evened the score the following night with a 5-3 win. The Wolverines would later go on to win its second NCAA championship trophy at the end of the season.

1950-51 Denver Pioneers hockey team photo.
1950-51 Denver Pioneers hockey team photo.
1950-51 Michigan Wolverines hockey team photo.
1950-51 Michigan Wolverines hockey team photo.

The following season, both programs were invited to be founding members of the Midwest Collegiate Hockey League along with Colorado College, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota, and North Dakota. The MCHL later changed its name to the Western Intercollegiate Hockey League and then again to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association that is still in use today in women’s hockey. Denver traveled to Ann Arbor for the first time in December 1951. It was the first intra-conference game between the two schools. Once again, the teams would split. The home team won the first conference game 7-5 while the Pioneers won 5-4 the following night. And again, Michigan would later go on to win the NCAA championship at the end of the season – securing the first national championship trophy for the WCHA. It would also be the middle title for Michigan in what would ultimately be NCAA hockey’s first – and still only – three-peat champion.

1951-52 Michigan Wolverines hockey team photo.
1951-52 Michigan Wolverines hockey team photo.

2026 Frozen Four

This year’s Frozen Four is truly a field of college hockey blue bloods. There are 33 NCAA titles between the four teams. In fact, the four teams left standing all hold the top four spots for most NCAA Division I men’s hockey championships.

As we like to highlight each season prior to the Frozen Four, there are a lot of historical implications this weekend. Denver is looking to add to its NCAA-leading 10 titles while Michigan is looking to win one for the first time since 1998. North Dakota last won a title a decade ago in Tampa. It’s the first Frozen Four appearance for the Fighting Hawks since then after having gone to six in the ten years leading up to 2016. This is the first Frozen Four for the Badgers since 2010 and only its second since it’s last championship trophy twenty years ago. Another wrinkle is that the Badgers women’s hockey team won another NCAA championship this season. If the men’s team wins it all this weekend, it’ll only be the second time that both the men and women’s hockey teams from the same school won hockey titles in the same season. The only other time that happened? The Wisconsin Badgers in 2006. The last storyline is Big Ten versus NCHC. Big Ten Hockey is looking for its first-ever champion while the NCHC is looking to add another name to the wall in its Colorado Springs headquarters. The conference has boasted 7 national champions in 11 seasons. With all of these historical implications and storylines intertwined throughout the remainder of the tournament, only one thing is certain: an NCAA hockey powerhouse will add yet another trophy to its case.

Posted on Posted in Hockey East, Merrimack Warriors, NCHC, North Dakota Fighting Hawks, WCHA
First-ever hockey game between North Dakota and Merrimack. First-ever hockey game between North Dakota and Merrimack. Oct 10, 2009 Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, North Dakota) Newspapers.com
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Merrimack traveled to Grand Forks for the first series of the 2009-10 hockey season for both the Warriors and Fighting Sioux. North Dakota held a WCHA Regular Season Champion banner raising prior to the initial puck drop. The Sioux kept the atmosphere high by scoring five times with five different players scoring the goals. Eleven North Dakota players scored at least one point in the 5 to 2 win. All four lines contributed to the scoring. The following night was a closer game. Mike Cichy broke a 1-1 tie a little more than seven minutes into the second period that proved to be the game winner. North Dakota hung on to a 3 to 2 win and earned a season-opening sweep.

Jump ahead nearly seventeen years and Merrimack just won the Hockey East tournament for the first time. It was also the first time an eight seed won the tournament. Merrimack is slated to face North Dakota in the opening round of the tournament. The game in the Sioux Falls Regional will be just the third one between the programs and first since that early-season October series in 2009. Merrimack is looking to win its first game against North Dakota, but it will be worth the wait if it happens on the big stage.

Photo Credit: Grand Forks Herald, Oct. 10, 2009

Posted on Posted in Big Ten, Dartmouth Big Green, ECAC, Michigan State Spartans, Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, NCHC, Penn State Nittany Lions, Wisconsin Badgers

There are three first-time matchups in the opening round of the 2026 NCAA Division I men’s tournament. All three of the games involve teams from the Big Ten. And both games that will kick off the Worcester Regional include first-time matchups. It isn’t a huge surprise that one of these three games involves Penn State as that Division I program began 14 years ago – making it a young program compared to quite a few others in the field. The surprise is the Wisconsin versus Dartmouth game. These are two teams that have each been around for more than 100 years. Wisconsin began hockey in 1921 while Dartmouth was a pioneer of the sport back in 1905. Looking back, the three games this season are the most first-time games in the men’s opening round since we saw the same amount in 2021. The three games this year include:

  • Connecticut versus Michigan State (Worcester Regional)
  • Wisconsin versus Dartmouth (Worcester Regional)
  • Penn State versus Minnesota Duluth (Albany Regional)

Posted on Posted in Alaska Nanooks, Atlantic Hockey, Bentley Falcons, Big Ten, CCHA, ECAC, Hockey East, Independents, Michigan State Spartans, Minnesota State Mavericks, NCHC, North Dakota Fighting Hawks, Providence Friars, Quinnipiac Bobcats

The regular season is in the books so let’s take a look at this season’s Division I men’s conference champions and the history behind these regular season titles.

  • Atlantic Hockey America: for the first time ever, Bentley won a Division I regular season title. The Falcons had two Division III regular season titles but this is a first since moving up to top tier hockey in 1999. Last season, Bentley won the conference tournament and earned a trip to the national tournament for the first time. The program looks to repeat that feat for the second year in a row.
  • Big Ten: Three regular season titles in a row for Michigan State. It’s the first three-peat for a program that dates back to 1921. The Spartans finished two points ahead of rival Michigan; ensuring the Wolverines remain the only Big Ten hockey program yet to win a regular season title.
  • CCHA: Minnesota State won the McNaughton Cup for the second year in a row and 10th time in the past 12 seasons dating back to the Mavericks’ WCHA days. The CCHA crown came down to the last weekend when the tightest race in hockey saw five teams finish within two points of one another.
  • ECAC: Quinnipiac won an impressive sixth regular season title in a row after finishing three points ahead of both Dartmouth and Cornell. The Bobcats have now won 10 ECAC regular season titles with all of them taking place since 2013. The Cleary Cup has set up an almost-permanent residence in Hamden, Connecticut, yet the Bobcats are still looking for the program’s first conference tournament championship during this six-peat.
  • Hockey East: Providence College earned its first outright regular season title within Hockey East. The Friars were co-champions with Boston College in 2016. Providence won a program-record 18 Hockey East games this season and are looking to win its first Hockey East tournament since 1996.
  • NCHC: For the seventh time in 13 years of NCHC play, North Dakota is the regular season champion. The Penrose Cup is a common sight for the team from Grand Forks as the Fighting Hawks have won more NCHC regular season titles than the rest of the NCHC teams combined.
  • Independents: It’s also worth noting that the five Independent Division I men’s teams pooled together this year to host the first-ever United Collegiate Hockey Cup in Maryland Heights, Missouri. Alaska was awarded the only bye as the team had the best record throughout the regular season. The Nanooks went on to win the weekend tournament after defeating Lindenwood 4-3 in overtime to be crowned the first-ever United Collegiate Hockey Cup champion.

Posted on Posted in Atlantic Hockey, ECAC, Hockey East, Northeastern Huskies, Penn State Nittany Lions, Princeton Tigers, WCHA, Wisconsin Badgers, Yale Bulldogs

The regular season is in the books so let’s take a look at this season’s Division I women’s conference champions and the history behind these regular season titles.

  • Atlantic Hockey America: for the fourth season in a row, Penn State ended up on top of the AHA standings; and it wasn’t even close. The Nittany Lions finished the regular season campaign with 68 conference points; 19 more than second place Mercyhurst.
  • ECAC: co-champions were crowned in the ECAC this season. Two Ivy League schools in Yale and Princeton ended the regular season with 46 conference points apiece. While the schools were technically co-champions, Yale earned the number one seed in the conference tournament due to the head-to-head tiebreaker. It was the second regular season title for the Bulldogs (2023) and first-ever for the Tigers.
  • Hockey East: Northeastern finished the regular season on top of Hockey East by 12 points. The last time the Huskies finished first in Hockey East was during the 2022-23 season when the team made it to the Frozen Four in Duluth.
  • NEWHA: Franklin Pierce earned its second-ever regular season title (2022) and snapped LIU’s bid for a four-peat. The Ravens have won the NEWHA regular season title twice in the seven years since joining Division I.
  • WCHA: Wisconsin secured back-to-back regular seasons titles after barely edging out Ohio State by two points. This is the Badgers 11th regular season title that puts the program in a tie with Minnesota for most-ever in the WCHA.

Posted on Posted in Boston College Eagles, Boston University Terriers, Hockey East
First-ever Beanpot championship game between Boston College and Boston University. First-ever Beanpot championship game between Boston College and Boston University. Feb 6, 1957 The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com
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The fifth men’s Beanpot tournament was notable because the final included Boston College and Boston University for the first time. It was also the first time Harvard did not make it to the championship game, after the Terriers handed them a loss in the opening game. The Eagles were riding a six-game winning streak against the Terriers with the last loss against Boston University taking place February 13, 1953.

In the Beanpot title game that was played at Boston Garden the evening of February 5, 1957, the Terriers controlled most of the game and held five different leads throughout the contest. Sarge Kinlin of Boston University netted a hat trick. Hank Levin made several standout saves throughout the game, but the Eagles Ned Bunyon slipped one by him with only 53 seconds left in regulation to tie the game 4-4 and send it to overtime. Then in the extra period, Joseph Celata scored in front of 4,052 spectators to win the second Beanpot in a row for Boston College, and third in the past four years. The Terriers would end up winning the program’s first Beanpot in the following season’s tournament.

Jump ahead 69 years and the same two teams will play for the men’s Beanpot tonight at TD Garden in a repeat of last year’s title game. It coincidentally will be the 300th game in the historic Boston College and Boston University men’s hockey series that dates back to February 6, 1918. Boston University is looking to repeat as men’s Beanpot champions tonight. Boston College is looking to win its first men’s Beanpot since 2016 when it blanked the Terriers 1-0 in an overtime game.

Photo Credit: The Boston Globe, February 6, 1957.

Posted on Posted in Big Ten, Penn State Nittany Lions
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The Penn State men’s hockey team will be hosting Michigan State this weekend in the first-ever outdoor men’s hockey game at Beaver Stadium. The Penn State men’s hockey team participated in the Frozen Confines series last season at Wrigley Field in Chicago. While that was technically the first outdoor stadium game played by the Penn State Division I men’s hockey team, it wasn’t the first time a men’s hockey team from Penn State played outdoor hockey in a stadium. On January 4, 2012, a season before Penn State launched Division I hockey, the Penn State men’s club hockey team played Neumann University at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia as part of the fifth annual Winter Classic.

The 2012 game was officially an exhibition game between the Penn State Icers and the Neumann University Knights, a Division III team from nearby Aston, Pennsylvania. The Knights opened up the scoring with two goals in the first frame. Penn State answered back with a goal early in the second period. Neumann broke it open with a 4-1 score that ultimately proved to be too big of a deficit for Penn State. An announced crowd of 6,800 fans saw Neumann win the game 6-3.

A Penn State men's club hockey player celebrates a goal against Neumann University during a 2012 outdoor stadium game in Philadelphia.

Penn State played its first Division I hockey game just 282 days after this outdoor hockey game. The head coach of that new Division I team, Guy Gadowsky, coached the ACHA DI club team the season beforehand. There were players who participated for both programs as well, but Gadowsky is the one constant throughout all of this. By the time the upcoming outdoor game wraps up at Beaver Stadium, he will have coached three outdoor stadium hockey games for Penn State.

Photo Credit: Screenshots from the Penn State Hockey production.

Posted on Posted in Air Force Falcons, Atlantic Hockey, Holy Cross Crusaders
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The first time Holy Cross men’s hockey traveled west to the U.S. Air Force Academy was during the 1992-93 season. Presently, the Crusaders and Falcons are division foes within Atlantic Hockey America in Division I. But that wasn’t always the case. In fact, this first game from 1993 is unique in that not only were these two programs not in the same conference at the time of this first game, they weren’t even in the same division. Air Force introduced hockey in 1968 and has played at the highest level since. At the time of this series, the Falcons were an independent hockey program. Holy Cross, on the other hand, debuted hockey within the College Division in 1966 and was later classified as a Division II hockey program when the NCAA switched to a three-tier system in 1973. The Crusaders moved to ECAC East in Division III prior to the 1984-85 season. When Holy Cross played Air Force the first weekend of February 1993, the team was playing two Divisions above its standard competition.

The first game of the series was Friday, February 5, 1993. The Crusaders put up a good fight but lost 4-3. The floodgates opened the next night as the home team won again; this time by a score of 8-0. Unfortunately for Air Force, this was the last game the team would win during the season. It dropped its five remaining contests to Alaska, Colorado College, and Alaska Anchorage. Holy Cross later missed out on the ECAC East tournament as the Crusaders barely finished outside the top 8 of the conference standings in tenth place out of 19 teams.

Flash forward more than thirty years and these two programs will meet twice this weekend in what will be the 66th and 67th hockey games in the all-time series. Holy Cross holds the slight edge with a 27-24-14 record. A lot has changed since that first meeting between a Division I independent and Division III team. The hockey programs may have taken different paths to get to where they are today, but they are now on equal ground within the highest division in NCAA men’s hockey.

Photo Credit: Air Force sophomore Dan MacAllister battles with a Holy Cross player. 1993 Air Force Polaris Yearbook.

Posted on Posted in Dartmouth Big Green, ECAC
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The National Hockey League premiered Wednesday, December 19, 1917. Two hockey games were held that night. The NHL started out with four teams, so the entirety of the league was in action. The Montreal Wanderers hosted Toronto while the other game was played in Ottawa. One of the skaters on the Montreal roster included a former Dartmouth hockey star by the name of Gerry Geran. The Wanderers defeated Toronto 10-9 in what is now known as the very first game in NHL history. The other game between the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators was scheduled to start 15 minutes later. Geran didn’t make it on the score sheet that night, but he will be forever remembered as not only the first former college hockey player to suit up for the NHL, but the first U.S. born player to ever do so.

Geran was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and earned the nickname of the Mystery Man of Hockey. One of the reasons behind this nickname is because he was mysteriously suspended by Dartmouth despite being one of the most talented players on the team. After Dartmouth, Geran played amateur hockey and then signed with Montreal in the NHL. However, the team only played six games before being disbanded, finishing with a 1-5 record. The lone win coming on opening night. The Wanderers home rink burnt down in early January 1918, ending the team’s season and forcing it to disband. This wasn’t an end to an upstart expansion team; the Wanderers had been around since 1904, playing in previous leagues and associations. In fact, the Wanderers had won the Stanley Cup four times (1906, 1907, 1908, 1910).

The following season, Geran went back to amateur hockey and then later played across the pond in France. He played one season away from the U.S. and then returned to amateur hockey for several years. In 1925, Geran’s former Wanderers teammate, Art Ross, contacted him to see if he wanted to play for the Boston Bruins. Ross was now the coach and general manager in Boston. Geran returned to the NHL nearly eight years after his debut. He made history again when he scored a goal December 11, 1925, becoming the first U.S. Born player to score a goal in the NHL. He scored a second goal later that same game.

Geran also represented his country at the 1920 Olympics. The team won silver and he scored a hat trick against Sweden. The United States asked him to play in 1924 as well. Geran didn’t give the team a definitive answer about whether he would participate. Ultimately, he never showed up. This added fuel to the Mystery Man of Hockey nickname.

After one year with the Bruins, he returned to amateur hockey again; this time in Saint Paul with the Saints. His final year of playing hockey was back in France. Overall, Geran may not have scored many goals or earned many points in the NHL, but his name will forever be etched in the record book as the first college hockey player in the NHL, first U.S. born player in the NHL, and first U.S. born player to score a goal in the NHL.