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.
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.
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.
Two college hockey teams located within the state of New York debuted in the winter of 1903: Union and Army. Only a little more than 100 miles separate West Point from Schenectady, yet it took more than 73 years for the in-state teams to play a game against one another at Union’s home rink. And it wasn’t even on the schedule at the beginning of the season.
Army fielded a varsity hockey program at its onset while hockey at Union didn’t gain varsity status until 1919. It’s doubtful that played a part in why the teams didn’t play one another for the first time until 1924, but it’s worth noting. It’s also worth noting that Union suspended hockey operations three times in the first 17 years of the program; something that likely contributed more to the delay than varsity status considering colleges often played local club and high school teams at the time. The first game between the two programs was February 13, 1924, and was played outdoors at Stuart Rink on the United States Military Academy campus behind the gymnasium. The teams played a total of 10 times at West Point before the Cadets would travel up north for a game at Union. Army won 9 of these 10 games with Union snapping the nine-game win streak in 1941. Thirty-five years later, Union finally hosted Army on March 6, 1976.
The game took place the first season the Union program was reinstated after nearly thirty years without hockey. The Dutchmen, as they were known as at the time, joined ECAC 2 in Division II. Army was an original member of ECAC 2 since 1973 when the NCAA split the College Division into Divisions II and III. The 1975-76 season saw Union dominate competition – a feat that was unexpected for a new program. The Dutchmen had a 16-game win streak heading into the ECAC 2 quarterfinals. Army, on the other hand, owned a 17-8 overall record by the end of the regular season. This would mean the Cadets would head to Schenectady, New York, for the first time.
During the regular season, Union’s all-freshmen team shocked ECAC 2 with the best record in the division. However, the team was seeded 4th in the ECAC 2 tournament due to the competition it scheduled throughout its first season back. In this playoff game, the older, experienced and more physical Army team upset the Dutchmen 3-2 in front of a shocked crowd at Achilles Rink. Army played Merrimack in the conference semifinals the following week and lost 8-2 to finish the season.
The Union men’s hockey team will host Army this upcoming Saturday on October 4, 2025. The Black Knights will have the privilege of being the very first team to play against Union in its inaugural game at M&T Bank Center. With 101 years of hockey history between them, it’s only fitting that these two teams will break in the ice at this new arena.
Photo Credit: Union College Concordiensis, Vol. 105, No. 17. April 7, 1976.
The four-year streak of a new NCAA men’s hockey team joining Division I was snapped this year. However, one conference expanded. Arizona State found a home in the NCHC during the 2024-25 season after spending nine seasons as a DI independent. The program won its first Division I conference game when the Sun Devils beat Omaha at home 3-2 on November 16, 2024. Later that month, the Sun Devils defeated Denver 3-2 to earn its first win over a top-ranked team in the nation. This win snapped Denver’s 21-game unbeaten streak in the process. Arizona State would later win its first conference playoff game and series after sweeping UMD in the opening round at home. The Sun Devils participated in the Frozen Faceoff and were defeated by Denver 4-2. The Pioneers, in turn, lost the following night when Western Michigan took down Denver in double overtime. Western Michigan won its first Frozen Faceoff title in the final NCHC championship game to take place in Saint Paul. Beginning next season, the entire NCHC playoffs will be played on campus.
The NCHC announced in the off-season that it would add another new member in St. Thomas in 2026-27. With the news of the Tommies’ future exit from its current conference, the CCHA, in turn, announced Augustana would become a full member in 2024-25; a year earlier than scheduled. Due to an unbalanced conference schedule for Augustana compared to the rest of the CCHA, the conference switched to points percentage this season to determine the standings. The Vikings finished second to Minnesota State in the standings. A unique situation occurred during the 2025 CCHA Mason Cup playoffs. When St. Thomas defeated Bowling Green in the semifinals, it ensured that the winner of the other semifinal between Minnesota State and Bemidji State would receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. This was because St. Thomas was not eligible for the tournament due to a mandatory four-year waiting period after transitioning from Division III to Division I. In a semifinal with unexpectedly high postseason ramifications, the Mavericks downed the Beavers 4-0 to earn the bid. The Mavericks put an exclamation point on the tournament the following week with a 4-2 win in the championship game, thus regaining the Mason Cup for the third time in four years.
The Lindenwood men’s hockey team defeated the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison October 11, 2024. It was the first program win over a top ten ranked opponent as well as its first win over a Big Ten team. Two weeks later in Indiana, LIU defeated Notre Dame for the program’s first road win over a ranked opponent. LIU finished the season with a record of 20-12-2; the first time the program hit the 20-win plateau in a season.
Denver hosted UNLV for a holiday-season exhibition game on December 28, 2024. UNLV, an ACHA Division I hockey program, shocked the hockey world by defeating the Pioneers in a shootout 7-6. Granted, Denver was without head coach, David Carle, and star defenseman, Zeev Buium, but this was historic. It’s safe to say this was the first time an ACHA (club) team defeated the defending Division I men’s hockey team who also owns the record for most NCAA Division I hockey titles. In April, the Skatin’ Rebels capped its historic season with the school’s first-ever ACHA Division I national hockey championship.
Two Division I men’s conference championship games went to double overtime. This was just the second time this ever happened in the same season; the only other occurrence took place in 2017. In addition to the aforementioned NCHC title game when Western Michigan outlasted Denver, the Michigan State Spartans defeated Ohio State in double overtime by a score of 4-3 to earn its second Big Ten tournament title in a row. Elsewhere, Bentley won the Atlantic Hockey America tournament. The Falcons hoisted the Riley Trophy for the first time, granting the program its first-ever berth in the NCAA hockey tournament. Within Hockey East, Maine won its first Hockey East tournament since 2004 after defeating UConn in the title game. UConn, however, earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament; its first time ever participating in the national tournament. Within the ECAC, Quinnipiac won the regular season title for the fifth season in a row. However, the Bobcats lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament. Quinnipiac has not won any of the five conference tournaments throughout this five-peat run.
During the 2025 NCAA Division I men’s tournament, Denver and Boston College met in the Manchester Regional Final for a rematch of the 2024 title game. Since 1949, there have been seven instances of a title game rematch happening in the following season’s tournament. In all seven instances, the runner up from the season before avenged the loss. History did not repeat itself in 2025 as Denver beat Boston College 3-1 to earn a trip back to the Frozen Four.
The men’s Frozen Four took place in St. Louis for the first time since 2007. Of the four teams that made it, two are considered college hockey blue bloods in Denver and Boston University and two are first-time participants in Western Michigan and Penn State. Western Michigan defeated Denver in double overtime in the early semifinal. It was the second time the Broncos defeated the Pioneers in double overtime in 21 days. Also, the only other time these two teams met in the NCAA tournament, that too ended in double overtime. But Denver was on the winning side of that 2011 first round contest. The late semifinal game saw Boston University defeat Penn State; thus, ending the Cinderella run for the 13th overall seed. Western Michigan defeated Boston University two days later and claimed the program’s first NCAA hockey title. It was the third time in five years that a first-time winner was crowned for the Division I men. The Broncos are also the first champion to win two double overtime games in the NCAA tournament en route to a title. Western Michigan is the first men’s team to pull off the trophy trifecta (conference regular season title, conference tournament title, NCAA title) since Union in 2014. A Michigan-based team has won all three Frozen Fours hosted in the city of St. Louis (Western Michigan in 2025, Michigan State in 2007, and Michigan Tech in 1975).
The women’s Frozen Four was held at Ridder Arena. It was the seventh time it took place on the University of Minnesota campus. Two WCHA powerhouses met in the championship game yet again. In fact, it was the third year in a row that Ohio State and Wisconsin faced off for the championship trophy; the first time that has ever happened in the NC women’s hockey tournament. Wisconsin won two years ago, and Ohio State won the previous season. The two previous title games were decided by one goal and this year wasn’t any different. Wisconsin tied the game on a Kirsten Simms penalty shot with just 19 seconds left in regulation. The Badgers then won the game 4-3 in overtime on another goal by Simms. It was the fourth championship trophy for the Badgers in six seasons. Wisconsin has now won the hockey championship in the last four odd-numbered years. The Badgers increased their lead in the overall title count by adding this eighth trophy. This was also the 22nd women’s hockey championship for the WCHA.
In Division III men’s hockey, Hobart completed a three-peat after defeating Utica 2-1 in overtime during the championship game of the 40th NCAA hockey tournament for Division III. The Statesmen have defeated three different teams in the three consecutive championship games. The last time there was a three-peat in Division III men’s hockey, Middlebury (Vermont) won three in a row from 2004 to 2006.
The longest women’s hockey game in Division III history took place during the MIAC tournament. Augsburg (Minnesota) defeated Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota by a score of 3-2 when Aunna Schulte scored eight minutes and six seconds into the fourth overtime. The field for the NCAA Division III women’s tournament was expanded from 11 to 12 teams this year. For the second year in a row the semifinals and title game were held in River Falls, Wisconsin. It was held there in 2024 because Wisconsin-River Falls was the highest remaining seed. However, it was chosen as a predetermined site prior to this 2024-25 season. But as luck would have it, Wisconsin-River Falls made another tournament run and ended up back in the championship game at home. The Falcons defeated Amherst 3-1 to claim back-to-back titles.
For more than five decades, if a hockey prospect played in one of the Major Junior leagues in Canada or even signed a contract with one of the teams, it rendered a player automatically ineligible from NCAA hockey. In fact, NCAA hockey did not accept players who had even played in a game against a professional player. However, this changed November 7, 2024, when a vote was passed that allowed NCAA Division I teams to recruit prospects who participated in Major Junior hockey or professional teams. The caveat was that the players must never have received payments more than the actual and necessary expenses as part of their participation on the team. Players who accepted additional expenses or gifts, or signed NHL contracts are still deemed ineligible in the eyes of the NCAA. It was determined that eligible players would be able to begin play within the 2025-26 season. Division III was excluded from this ruling. Braxton Whitehead was the first Canadian Hockey League player to commit to an NCAA team. Whitehead, an alternate captain for the Regina Pats of the WHL, verbally committed to Arizona State on September 13, 2024. He did so due to a class action suit filed against the NCAA to allow CHL players to be deemed eligible. The NCAA voted less than two months later to allow it. The fact that NCAA players currently earn scholarships and money from name, image, and likeness (NIL) helped fuel this change.
We previously highlighted the Division I women’s regular season champions. Now that the Division I men’s conference playoffs are in motion, it’s time to cover the 2024-25 regular season conference champions. Below is a look at the seven teams that ended the regular season on top of the six conferences and the historical implications for each. (No, there was not a typo in that last sentence.)
Holy Cross – The Crusaders won the regular season title in the first season after the Atlantic Hockey Association rebranded to Atlantic Hockey America. This marked the first regular season crown for Holy Cross since 2006. Minnesota Gophers fans will never forget what Holy Cross did in the NCAA tournament that season.
Michigan State and Minnesota – For the first time in Big Ten Hockey history, there are co-champions for the regular season title. It came down to the final weekend and both teams ended up tied at 50 points. The Spartans became back-to-back champs – the team won the Big Ten for the first time in 2023-24. Minnesota’s most recent title before this was in 2023. This year’s feat is Minnesota’s conference-leading seventh time doing so. Fun Fact: Michigan is the only team yet to win a regular season Big Ten title, yet it leads the field in conference tournament wins with three.
Minnesota State – A year after the MacNaughton Cup traveled 269 miles north, it found its way back to Mankato this season. The Mavericks ended with a .781 points percentage and 56 points on the season. The conference tracked points percentage this season because Augustana – the newest member of the CCHA – had far fewer conference games compared to the other teams. The Vikings ended up in second place with 30 points – yet a .625 points percentage. This is an impressive seventh time Minnesota State has brought home the MacNaughton Cup in the last eight seasons. (Three in CCHA and four in the now-defunct WCHA men’s hockey conference.)
Quinnipiac – It’s a five-peat for the Bobcats. Yes, you read that right. Quinnipiac has dominated the ECAC in the past ten-plus seasons – winning the Cleary Cup nine times since 2012-13. In addition to the regular season titles, Quinnipiac won the Whitelaw Cup once for winning the conference tournament in 2016, a national championship in 2023, and was NCAA runner-up in 2013 and 2016.
Boston College– The Eagles won the Hockey East regular season title for the second time in a row. It was the 19th time in Boston College history. The Eagles finished the season on a tear, winning six in a row to close it out and 14-2-1 overall in the last 17 games. The team is looking to win the Hockey East men’s tournament again to sweep the titles for the second year in a row.
Western Michigan – The 50th season was the charm. Western Michigan’s first season in Division I was 1973-74 and this year the Broncos won its first regular season title. Western Michigan is only the fourth school to lift up the Penrose Trophy in the 12-year history of the NCHC. (Fighting Hawks, Pioneers, and Huskies are the other three.) Western Michigan looks to win its first NCHC Frozen Faceoff this year as well – the last one being held in Saint Paul.
It’s worth noting that of the five independent teams in Division I men’s hockey, LIU finished with the best record at 20-12-2. It’s the first time the Sharks have hit the 20-win plateau since the program began five years ago.
The Division I women’s conference playoffs are in full swing so there’s no time like the present to cover the 2024-25 regular season conference champions. Below is a look at the five teams that ended the regular season on top of their respective conferences and the historical implications for each.
Penn State – The name of the conference may have changed but the regular season champion remained the same. In the first season after College Hockey America rebranded to Atlantic Hockey America, Penn State completed its regular season three-peat. The Nittany Lions went an impressive 19-1 in conference play and finished with 52 points; 13 more than second place Mercyhurst. It’s the fourth regular season title in program history for PSU.
Cornell – The Big Red won the ECAC regular season title for the first time since 2020 and seventh time overall. Heading into the ECAC conference playoffs, the Big Red have not lost in regulation since January 11. The team also won its second Ivy League title in a row.
UConn – The Huskies are back-to-back Hockey East regular season champions. It was a close race as UConn closed out the regular season with a win over Boston University and finished with 58 points – just one more than the Terriers. The team is looking to win its second Bertagna Trophy in a row after winning the Hockey East tournament for the first time last season.
LIU – It’s a three-peat for the Sharks as the team won another NEWHA regular season title. LIU is 62-12-8 within NEWHA play throughout those three years. The Sharks closed out the 2024-25 regular season with 57 points and 19 conference wins. Franklin Pierce was the last team not named LIU to win the NEWHA regular season back in 2021-22 as the Sharks finished second that year.
Wisconsin – The Badgers won the WCHA regular season for the first time since 2021. It’s the 10th time overall; second most in conference history. Mark Johnson coached all ten Wisconsin teams that won conference regular season titles; the most for any coach in WCHA history. The Badgers may not have won the WCHA regular season since 2021 but that didn’t stop the team from winning an NCAA national championship in 2023.
The Canisius and Niagara men’s hockey teams currently compete within Division I in the Atlantic Hockey America conference. The New York schools are only separated by 21 miles and the hockey programs have been Division I conference foes since 2010. Yet the hockey history between the teams didn’t start there. The Niagara men’s hockey program began in 1996 within the Division III conference of ECAC West after the club program was promoted to varsity status. Canisius, on the other hand, promoted its club hockey team to varsity status in 1980 and joined ECAC 3 in Division III. Two years later it made the jump to Division II when it became a member of the New York College Hockey Association. The Ice Griffs moved to ECAC West several years later and joined Niagara.
Niagara won the 1997-98 regular season title and sat atop the ECAC West standings ahead of five other teams. Canisius finished in fourth place and just barely made the ECAC West conference playoffs as the last two teams were left out of the postseason. This meant Niagara would host the Griffins in the opening round of the tournament.
The Purple Eagles welcomed Canisius to NU Ice Complex in early March for playoff hockey. Bob Janosz made a total of 37 saves for Canisius, but it wasn’t enough as the Purple Eagles won 4-1 and advanced to the championship game against RIT. This ended the 1997-98 hockey season for Canisius along with its tenure in Division III. The following season the Golden Griffins would move up to Division I to compete in the MAAC conference. The Purple Eagles would go on to defeat RIT 5-2 the following night, ending its Division III tenure on a high note.
This March 6, 1998, game between Canisius and Niagara would be its last meeting as conference foes within Division III. However, the teams would reunite within the same conference in 2010 when Niagara joined Atlantic Hockey after College Hockey America folded. It’s worth noting that these teams played at least one non-conference game every season except for one between 1998 and 2010. The Battle of the Bridge rivalry, as it’s known, is played between these New York schools and includes 14 different sports. The champion of this rivalry brings home the Canal Cup every year since it was created in 2007.
These two hockey teams will play a home-and-home series this weekend. It’ll be games 75 and 76 in the series that began in 1997. Historically, it’s been an evenly matched series as Canisius currently leads it 35-33-6.
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.
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.
The first Mercyhurst men’s hockey season was 1987-88. The Lakers spent that season as a Division III independent team before moving to ECAC East within Division III the following season. Mercyhurst posted an impressive inaugural season record of 16-7-0. One of the teams on the schedule that season was Division I Notre Dame. The game that took place November 25, 1987, between Mercyhurst and Notre Dame is important in that it’s the first time Mercyhurst played a Division I opponent. The visiting Fighting Irish won the game 7-3 and would end up with an impressive 27-4-2 record. The two teams met again during the 1990-91 season when Mercyhurst was still a Division III program. The first time the two teams met in a true Division I game was October 13, 2007, during a season-kickoff tournament in Ohio. The teams have met five times overall throughout the years.
