Posted on Posted in ECAC, Hockey East, Union Garnet Chargers, Vermont Catamounts
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The inaugural season for Union men’s hockey was 1903, making it one of the oldest college hockey programs in the nation. Union made the jump to Division I hockey prior to the 1991-92 season. Vermont, on the other hand, introduced men’s hockey in 1963 and moved up to Division I in 1974. Both teams were a part of the ECAC in that first season of Division I hockey for Union. This is when the teams met on the ice for the first time. The Catamounts won the first game in the series 3-1 at home in Burlington. Later that season, Vermont traveled to Schenectady, New York, for the first time.

The Catamounts were victorious on Union’s sheet of ice as well. The final score in the February 7, 1992, game was 5-2 in favor of Vermont, ensuring the season sweep in the first-ever meetings between the schools. By the end of the season, the Dutchmen (as they were known as the time) had finished in last place in the conference with three wins and would miss the ECAC tournament. Not surprising for a team in its first year in highest level of college hockey. Vermont ended up with a winning record of 16-12-3 and lost in the first round of the ECAC tournament as a seven seed to RPI.

Union hosts Vermont this weekend. This will be a non-conference match up as the Catamounts have been members of Hockey East since 2005. The Catamounts lead the all-time series 20-14-2 but the Garnet Chargers (Union’s nickname since 2023) favor an 8-5-2 record when the teams play in Schenectady.

Photo Credit: Concordiensis, February 13, 1992.

Posted on Posted in Big Ten, Ohio State Buckeyes, Penn State Nittany Lions
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The debut of Big Ten Hockey in 2013 and the reason behind it has been well documented throughout the college hockey world – including this site. The announcement from Penn State in 2010 to create a Division I hockey program kick started the conference and changed the landscape of men’s hockey at the time. Penn State and Ohio State were two of the original six Big Ten Hockey teams. The first conference game between the two schools occurred January 31, 2014, in Columbus when the Buckeyes defeated the visitors. But that was not the first Division I hockey game between these two teams.

That initial game occurred the season beforehand on neutral ice. Penn State was an independent program in the first year of playing Division I hockey while Ohio State was in the last year of the original CCHA. The two teams participated in an inaugural four-team holiday tournament at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh called the Three Rivers Classic. Robert Morris and Miami rounded out the rest of the field. Penn State and Ohio State faced one another in the consolation game in the second day of the in-season tournament on December 29, 2012. Penn State defeated the Buckeyes by a score of 5-4. Ohio State jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but Penn State scored three unanswered goals. A hat trick from sophomore Ryan Dzingel wasn’t enough for Ohio State and the Nittany Lions held on in the third period.

The two teams will play games 52 and 53 in the all-time series this week in Columbus. This series has had its share of Big Ten regular season and tournament games in the past decade but only one is considered to be a non-conference game: the very first one.

Posted on Posted in Big Ten, CCHA, Michigan Wolverines, Minnesota State Mavericks
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The first time Michigan and Minnesota State faced one another was on a neutral sheet of ice within Bulldog country in northern Minnesota. The UMD Bulldogs hosted the 2021 West Ice Breaker Tournament at AMSOIL Arena early in the 2021-22 season. All four participating teams were ranked within the top 10 to begin the season. The #10 Providence Friars rounded out the field in addition to the #3 Wolverines, #1 Mavericks, and #5 host Bulldogs. There were two Ice Breaker Tournaments in the fall of 2021 to make up for the canceled 2020 Ice Breaker Tournament. The East version was held the week before and had a predetermined schedule unlike this seeded tournament.

The Wolverines easily skated by Minnesota Duluth on its home ice by a score of 5-1 on Friday, October 15. The Mavericks defeated Providence 5-2 in the other game that day. This set the stage for an early top 3 contest on neutral ice the following night. The first period of the championship game of the in-season tournament was evenly matched. The scoreless tie was broken in the second period on a power play goal from Wolverine Nick Blankenburg. Minnesota State answered with two goals before the end of the period but Michigan came back strong in the third with two goals of their own. Brendan Brisson scored the game winner for Michigan with less than five minutes to go in regulation.

This was the Wolverines fourth win in a row over a #1 ranked team in the nation. Michigan and Minnesota State would both ultimately end up in the 2022 Frozen Four in Boston at the end of the season. The teams never got a chance to bookend the season because eventual champion Denver defeated Michigan in the semifinals and then took down Minnesota State to win the championship trophy.

Flash ahead three years and Minnesota State and Michigan are set to face one another for the first time since that Ice Breaker Tournament. The teams will hit the ice early in the season once again. Michigan will host Minnesota State this weekend in Ann Arbor for the second and third games in the young series. Michigan is ranked #7/8 in the preseason polls.

Posted on Posted in Atlantic Hockey, Augustana Vikings, Big Ten, Boston College Eagles, Boston University Terriers, CCHA, Clarkson Golden Knights, Colgate Raiders, Denver Pioneers, ECAC, Hockey East, Michigan Wolverines, NCHC, Ohio State Buckeyes, Robert Morris Colonials, Wisconsin Badgers
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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 the site.

The 2023-24 season saw the return of Robert Morris to Division I men’s and women’s hockey. The program had been on hiatus since the end of the 2020-21 season. The university announced it was eliminating both hockey programs May 26, 2021, just months after the women’s team won its conference title. The school reversed the decision December 17, 2021, due in large part to the efforts from the hockey community, students, alumni, and men’s head coach, Derek Schooley, to raise funds to revive the program.

For the fourth season in a row, a new school added Division I men’s hockey. On October 5, 2021, Augustana University formally announced a new Division I hockey program to begin play in the 2023-24 season. The following May the CCHA announced Augustana would be its ninth conference member. The Vikings would start off with two seasons of a transitional schedule followed by a full schedule beginning in the 2025-26 season. Augustana’s first game was in Madison, Wisconsin, against the Badgers October 7, 2023. It was official: Augustana was the first Division I hockey team from the state of South Dakota.

The 2024 men’s Frozen Four included four college hockey blue bloods with a combined 96 Frozen Fours and 28 NCAA titles between them heading into the final weekend of the season. It was the 11th time Minnesota hosted a men’s Frozen Four and seventh time in Saint Paul. Denver defeated Boston University 2-1 in overtime in the first semifinal game. It was the first time these teams played one another in the Frozen Four since 1971. Boston College faced Michigan in the nightcap. These two teams met in the semifinals of the very first national tournament in 1948. Michigan won the game 76 years ago by a score of 6-4 but the Eagles would win this contest 4-0. This set the stage for the first championship game to be played between Boston College and Denver. The two teams have been around since 1917 and 1949, respectively, yet had never met in the championship game until 2024. In this final game of the season, Denver shut out Boston College 2-0 to put the Pioneers in the sole Division I championship lead with its 10th NCAA title. With Denver’s win, this was the third Minnesota city where the Pioneers were crowned NCAA champions (Minneapolis in 1958, Duluth in 1969, and Saint Paul in 2024). Of the 11 times Minnesota hosted the men’s Frozen Four, only one Eastern team has won (Harvard in 1989). This also meant the first time the Xcel Energy Center has hosted a Frozen Four where a team not based in Minnesota won. Previous teams to win the championship trophy at the arena include Minnesota in 2002 and Minnesota Duluth in both 2011 and 2019.

Seventeen-year-old freshman phenom Macklin Celebrini of Boston University won the 2024 Hobey Baker Award and became the youngest player to do so. Celebrini was the fourth freshman to win it and second in a row. In his freshman season, he broke the record for most college goals by a 17-year old with 32. He also added 32 assists. Celebrini was the first freshman to record at least 30 goals and 30 assists in the same season since 2005-06.

The Women’s Frozen Four took place in Durham, New Hampshire, for the fourth time. A Minnesota-based team was crowned champion at the Whittemore Center in each of the three previous title games New Hampshire hosted. The field in 2024 ensured that wouldn’t happen this time. Two teams represented the WCHA and two represented the ECAC. The championship game became an all-WCHA affair after Ohio State defeated Clarkson 4-1 and Wisconsin defeated Colgate 3-1 in the semifinals. It was the Buckeyes third title game in a row. This set the stage for the first championship rematch since 2007-2008 when Wisconsin met Minnesota Duluth back to back. The 2024 title game was scoreless until Joy Dunne of Ohio State netted a goal a little over halfway through the third period. The Buckeyes held on to win 1-0 and secured the program’s second NCAA title in three seasons. This was the 21st women’s hockey championship for the WCHA.

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In Division III men’s hockey, the Dubuque Spartans debuted in Dubuque, Iowa. This marked the first NCAA hockey program based in the state of Iowa. In the national tournament, Hobart defeated Curry College 4-3 in 4OT within the quarterfinals to win the second longest Division III men’s hockey game of all time. Curry College may have lost the game but its goalie, Shane Soderwall, made 98 saves to tie the all-time record for most saves in a game. This overtime thriller propelled the Hobart Statesman throughout the playoffs and ultimately to the program’s second NCAA title in a row after Hobart defeated Trinity 2-0 in the championship game in Hartford, Connecticut.

In Division III women’s hockey, the Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons won its first NCAA hockey championship in impressive fashion. The Falcons finished the season undefeated at 31-0-0 and set the Division III women’s hockey record for most wins in a season.

Posted on Posted in Boston College Eagles, Denver Pioneers, Hockey East, NCHC
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Four teams participated in the first NCAA men’s hockey tournament to take place in Duluth, Minnesota. The 21st iteration of the tournament was held in 1968 at the Duluth Arena Auditorium; home of the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. The semifinals at the time were played on separate nights. The first night of the tournament on March 14 saw the number one seed in the West, Denver, take on the number two seed in the East, Boston College. Both teams were looking to bring another hockey championship trophy back home to campus. At the time, Denver had last won an NCAA title in 1960. That tournament was held in Minneapolis and was the first one to be played outside of Colorado. Boston College had previously won the second-ever tournament in 1949 and finished runner-up in 1965.

The Pioneers defeated the Eagles 4-1 in front of the crowd in Duluth and went on to face North Dakota in the championship game two nights later. Denver shut out North Dakota 4-0 in the title game and earned its fourth championship trophy. It was the second Minnesota city where Denver had won a championship with both being at North Dakota’s expense. Flash forward fifty-six years to the present day. Denver and Boston College are set to face off in the NCAA tournament once again; this time in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It will be the first time the two will meet in the championship game. If the Pioneers are victorious, the program will jump ahead of Michigan in all-time NCAA hockey championships. If Boston College wins, it will be the program’s sixth NCAA hockey championship, putting it in a tie for third place with Wisconsin.

Photo Credit: Kynewisbok Yearbook, Vol. 70, 1968

Posted on Posted in Big Ten, Boston College Eagles, Hockey East, Michigan Wolverines
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By the time the December 1987 series between Michigan and Boston College rolled around, it had been nearly 39 years since the two teams first met in the inaugural NCAA tournament semifinals in 1948. Throughout that time span, the Wolverines and Eagles had faced off five times in a combination of NCAA tournament and regular season games. Michigan had yet to lose a game to the Eagles.

Boston College traveled to Ann Arbor in December 1987 for just the second time ever; the first being in January 1980. The Wolverines took care of business with a score of 6-2 in the opening game of the non-conference series. The following game needed an extra period of hockey in order to decide the winner. Michigan scored the overtime goal and defeated Boston College 5-4, ensuring the team’s perfect record against the East Coast team remained intact.

These two teams will share the ice in the second Frozen Four semifinal in Saint Paul this Thursday. Both programs have come a long way since that first NCAA tournament. Boston College has indeed defeated Michigan since 1987. In fact, a big win for the program was the victory over Michigan in the 2004 regional final that sent the Eagles to the Frozen Four. The Wolverines are tied for the Division I men’s lead with nine NCAA titles while Boston College has five. This will be Michigan’s 41st NCAA tournament appearance and 28th Frozen Four; both NCAA records. The Eagles are second with 26 Frozen Four appearances. For two programs that share this much history in the sport, it’s only fitting they will face one another on the national stage yet again.

Photo Credit: “Bryan Deasley, UM Hockey, 1987/88; BL019271.” In the digital collection Art Images for College Teaching. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhl/x-bl019271/bl019271. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 04, 2024.

Posted on Posted in Boston University Terriers, Denver Pioneers, Hockey East, NCHC
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At the onset of the inaugural Hockey East season in 1984, the conference announced it scheduled four inter-league crossover games against WCHA teams. Boston University hosted Denver that season and both games were decided in overtime. The two teams would end up playing one another every season after that up through the 1990-91 season. The Terriers and Pioneers were no strangers to one another before this crossover. The teams had played two previous regular season series in the early 1980s. More notably, the first two games in the all-time series occurred on neutral ice in the NCAA tournament beginning with the 1960 national semifinals. Denver defeated Boston University 6-4 and later won the program’s second NCAA title after defeating Michigan Tech.

The January 1986 crossover series took place in Denver. The Pioneers won the first night 5-4. The Terriers earned a series split after a 3-1 win in the following game. Throughout the 14 games the teams played in the 80s, the teams were evenly matched throughout the decade with a 6-6-2 series record. These two teams will once again meet on neutral ice in the first semifinal game on Thursday. The winner will face another hockey blue blood in either Michigan or Boston University. Denver is currently tied with Michigan for the NCAA lead with nine championship trophies which ups the ante. Boston University has won five NCAA men’s hockey titles in its history. The Terriers last won the title in 2009 while Denver is looking for its second championship trophy in three years. Denver is also looking to win an NCAA championship in its third Minnesota city (1960 in Minneapolis and 1968 in Duluth). A lot of history between these programs with more history to be made this week.

Photo Credit: Digital Collections at DU

Posted on Posted in Colorado College Tigers, Denver Pioneers, NCHC
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The men’s hockey rivalry between Colorado College and Denver is one of the most played rivalries in college hockey. It’s constantly leap frogging with the Michigan and Michigan State rivalry for most games played. At the time of this posting, the Tigers-Pioneers rivalry sits at 339 games played while the Wolverines-Spartans rivalry is at 341. After this weekend’s series in Colorado Springs, the series will once again be tied. And that is where it will stand until the 2024-25 season unless these teams meet in the conference tournaments this month. No matter how many games are played between two teams, it all must start somewhere.

The first-ever game between Colorado College and Denver took place during the Pioneers’ first season in 1949-50. The Tigers had a head start at hockey and had already solidified their program that began in 1937. So it wasn’t surprising that the Tigers swept the Pioneers in Colorado Springs. However, it was much more lopsided than you likely expected. Colorado College outscored Denver 26-0 during the weekend after winning the first-ever game between these teams 16-0 on January 6, 1950, and then following it up with a 10-0 shutout. The Pioneers would have to wait until December 7, 1951 before the team won its first game against Colorado College in its 10th try. To say a lot has happened since that January 1950 weekend would be a massive understatement. The Pioneers now hold a winning record of 196-122-21 over the Tigers. Denver is tied with Michigan for the most Division I men’s NCAA hockey titles at nine.

Games 340 and 341 will take place this weekend in a home-and-home series. Denver is ranked 4th nationally and currently second in the NCHC standings while Colorado College’s resurgence this year has vaulted the team to 10th in the national rankings and 4th place in the conference. The last time the teams played a series when both were in the Top 10 of the national polls was December 2, 2011.

Photo Credit: The Colorado College Tiger; January 12, 1950.

Posted on Posted in Big Ten, Michigan Wolverines, NCHC, St. Cloud State Huskies
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More than a decade before the NCHC and Big Ten Hockey were introduced, St. Cloud State and Michigan were a part of the WCHA and (original) CCHA, respectively. Prior to the 2001 NCAA tournament, the two teams had never faced one another on the ice. That changed during the national tournament that season where the teams met on the big stage.

Going into the tournament, the Huskies landed an automatic bid as the WCHA Tournament champions. This earned St. Cloud State the second seed in the West Regional and a first round bye. The Wolverines were an at-large bid after finishing third in the CCHA regular season and runner-up in the conference tournament to the rival Spartans. As a third seed in the West Regional, the Wolverines defeated Mercyhurst 4-3 in the opening round to advance to a date with the Huskies.

While Michigan was a lower seed, the team held the home ice advantage in the regional played in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Wolverines jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period before St. Cloud State got on the board in the second. Mike Cammalleri scored toward the end of the second period to extend the Wolverine lead to 3-1. A power play goal by St. Cloud State less than two minutes into the third period brought the Huskies to within one but the ultimate game winner was scored by Geoff Koch several minutes later. The Huskies added another power play goal late in the third period, but it wasn’t enough. Michigan won the game 4-3 and advanced to play Boston College in the Frozen Four. The Eagles defeated the Wolverines in the semifinal en route to its second national title.

Overall, this was Michigan’s 24th appearance in the NCAA tournament and third for St. Cloud State. Both teams will play a series this weekend at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. It will be the third and fourth games played between the programs and first time the teams will play one another in the regular season and outside the state of Michigan.

Photo Credit: St. Cloud State University, “The Chronicle [March 26, 2001]” (2001). Chronicle. 3477.

Posted on Posted in Big Ten, Boston College Eagles, Hockey East, Michigan State Spartans
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Heading into the 2006-07 season, the Michigan State Spartans men’s hockey team had high hopes. The reigning CCHA Tournament champions had narrowly missed out on the 2006 Frozen Four – losing by one goal to Maine in the Regional Final. The same could be said for the Boston College Eagles. The 2006 team lost in the NCAA championship game the year before to Wisconsin and the Eagles hoped to avenge that loss the following season.

The Spartans received an at-large bid as the three seed in the Midwest Region of the 2007 NCAA Tournament after losing in the semifinal of the CCHA Tournament. Boston College, on the other hand, won its Hockey East Tournament and was the two seed in the Northeast Region. The two teams made it to the 2007 championship game in St. Louis after impressive NCAA tournament wins.

The title game came down to the final minute as the teams were deadlocked 1-1 since halfway through the third period. A three-on-one breakaway for the Spartans resulted in a near-miss. But the team capitalized in the Boston College zone as Justin Abdelkader scored the game-winning goal with just 18.9 seconds left in regulation. Michigan State would score an empty net goal with two seconds left to seal it. This was the third NCAA hockey championship for Michigan State and first since 1986. It was the second title game loss in a row for Boston College. The Eagles perseverance would pay off in 2008. The third time was the charm as the Eagles defeated Notre Dame in the 2008 NCAA championship game.

The Eagles will play host to the Spartans this week in Chestnut Hill. Boston College has been victorious in the three games the teams have played since the 2007 title game. However, Michigan State holds the all-time series lead 16-9-1 dating back to December 1958.