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
CHH Relevant Rewind Header

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
CHH Relevant Rewind Header

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
CHH Relevant Rewind Header

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
CHH Relevant Rewind Header

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
CHH Featured Flashback Header

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.

Posted on Posted in ECAC, Harvard Crimson
First hockey game in rebuilt Boston Arena First hockey game in rebuilt Boston Arena Jan 8, 1921 The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com
CHH Featured Flashback Header

The original Boston Arena burned down to the ground in December 1918. It took a little more than three years to reconstruct the arena before the grand opening or re-opening, depending on how you look at it. Harvard’s freshmen and varsity teams hosted the first two games in 1910. This time, MIT was the inaugural host in the rebuilt Boston Arena when the team from Massachusetts welcomed its neighbors from the north, King’s College.

1920-21 MIT men's hockey team photo.
1920-21 MIT men’s hockey team

The Engineers agreed to play six-man hockey against their Canadian brethren on Friday, January 7, 1921. The team from Windsor, Nova Scotia, had been playing that type of hockey for the past six years. It was later noted after the game that it was the first time six-man hockey was played on a large ice surface in the city of Boston. In this season opener for MIT, the Engineers lost steam at the end of the game and King’s College pulled away with a 4-3 victory after scoring the game-winning goal with less than five minutes left in regulation. Tommy Winter sent a bouncing puck that jumped over the goaltender’s stick to win it for King’s College.

King's College 1920-21 men's hockey team King’s College 1920-21 men’s hockey team Jan 4, 1921 The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com

The following night, Harvard opened its season by hosting King’s College in the same venue. But this time it would be a seven-on-seven hockey game. The Crimson refused to switch to six-man hockey so King’s College agreed to play with seven men in their second game of the weekend. The Crimson went undefeated the previous season in league play and were Triangular League champions. Because of this, the Boston Globe all but guaranteed a victory over King’s College that night. The prediction would ring true as 6,500 spectators saw Harvard hand King’s College a 9-1 loss. It set a Boston record at the time for most fans to ever attend a hockey game.

Photo Credit: Featured Photo: The Boston Globe, January 8, 1921. Second Photo: 1920-21 MIT men’s hockey team photo, 1922 Technique Yearbook. Third Photo: 1920-21 King’s College men’s hockey team photo, the Boston Globe, January 4, 1921.