Liam Fraser – St. Norbert College (Photo by Patrick Ferron)
Our season previews continue as the 2025-2026 Men’s & Women’s Division III hockey regular season nears closer. Today, we look at the Men’s side of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA).
The NCHA features:
Adrian
Aurora
Concordia-Wisconsin
Dubuque
Lake Forest
Lawrence
Marian
Milwaukee School of Engineering
St. Norbert
Trine
2024-2025 Overview
Last season, we saw an electric season from the NCHA, with three teams qualifying for the NCAA tournament, the most of any league. However, that’s where it ended, rather quick… as all four teams were eliminated by the quarterfinal round in astounding fashion.
The top four of the league stood out from the rest, despite the conference having great depth:
- Aurora (24-5-1)
- St. Norbert (24-6-1) *Conference Winner
- Trine (21-7-2)
- Adrian (18-10-1)
Adrian was the first team to miss out via at-large in the NPI standings, they were 0.363 behind University of New England who received the final at-large bid to get in the dance. The Bulldogs made a nice run at the end of the season in the conference playoffs, which included a 6-1 blowout win over Trine in the semifinals, but fell to their arch-rival St. Norbert 7-4 in the finals.
Speaking of Trine, it was their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance which included a first round 4-1 home victory over Oswego State. The Thunder would then have the challenge of traveling to the back-to-back champions Hobart College, to which they gave the Statesmen all they could, but fell 3-2 in overtime.
Hassan Akl – Aurora University (Photo by Steve Woltmann)
Aurora was mainly known for their firepower offense which included Rookie of the Year Landry Schmuck, scoring 31 goals a year ago in his freshman campaign. Ultimately, the undisciplined play at times and defensive breakdowns which come with an explosive offense at times, led to their downfall vs an extremely well-structured Geneseo squad.
St. Norbert got back to their winning ways, led by their star Sophomore Logan Dombrowsky, who won DIIIHockeyNews.com POTY, the Green Knights won the NCHA in dominant fashion. They would visit Utica for an early 1pm puck drop, falling 5-3 to the Pioneers after defeating Gustavus, the MIAC winner in round one.
Now, getting back to the “astounding fashion”, none of these teams made it past the quarterfinals as mentioned, despite every team leading by multiple goals, here’s what each did:
Aurora – (QF) Lost to Geneseo 7-4 after leading 4-2 with 16 minutes left in the 3rd period.
St. Norbert – (QF) Lost to Utica 5-3 after leading 3-1 with five minutes left in the 2nd period.
Trine – Lost in QF Hobart 3-2 in OT after leading 2-0 midway through the 2nd period.
We had a chance at a three v one west vs east Frozen Four, but we ended up with a three-east one-west finale. Also, adding to the madness, Curry Head Coach Peter Roundy said in our Full 60 Frozen Four Edition video: “Credit to all the western teams for great seasons, but the east really came through here and showed how strong we are, and by beating Hamilton we prevented the New York State Invitational”.
Returning Production
In terms of returning production, Aurora returns… everything… The Spartans return 91% of scoring and 89% of assists coming off a season where they featured the second best offense in the country, averaging just over 4.5 goals-per-game. If they want to make that next step this season, they’ll need to improve on their defense and penalties as they were one of the highest-committed penalty teams in D-III last season.
Adrian, St. Norbert & Trine all return similar numbers: 77%, 69%, & 73% respectively.
The team returning the most production will be Dubuque at about 93% of total points coming back, with MSOE very close behind at 91%. The Raiders took Adrian to overtime in the NCHA playoffs last season where they had to win in the minigame, we’ll see if they can make that next leap.
The team returning the least amount this season are the Forsters of Lake Forest, returning a slim 54% of total points. Last season they finished 9-15-1, maybe it’ll be good to get some fresh faces on the ice and start something special.
Dark Horses
For this league, in my opinion, a ‘dark horse’ should be considered anyone other than Adrian & St. Norbert. While as crazy as it sounds, it’s by no means disrespect to the likes of Aurora and/or Trine, it’s simply because neither have done it yet… If you remove the shortened/cancelled COVID season of 2021 where Marian won the league, Adrian/St. Norbert have won every NCHA conference title since 2010, and to expand, since 1998, the pair have won it every year other than five times… St. Norbert with 17 & Adrian with five… complete dominance.
Milwaukee School of Engineering Men’s Hockey (Photo by 2024 Kylie Bridenhagen)
I can see one of the middle-tier teams making a run or pulling off an upset of one or two of the ‘big four’ teams in the NCHA tournament, but I cannot see one of these four not winning it. My ‘dark horse’ would be Adrian since they had a ‘down’ year for them last season and were the lone team of the four to not make the NCAA tournament, despite making the conference finals, but they’re too good to be considered one… I’m very high on the Bulldogs this season along with St. Norbert, we will have to see if Aurora or Trine can breakthrough and win the league. Until they do it, I’m never swaying away from either Adrian or St. Norbert in this league.
If i’m forced to choose a team outside of these four, I almost have to go with MSOE or possibly Marian as they’ve had a little history of getting a big win over one of these teams each season.
Final Thoughts
My final thoughts echo what I said regarding dark horses… it’s St. Norbert and/or Adrian’s league to lose. I fully expect Aurora to win a lot of games and likely get an at-large bid, but I’m thinking it’s another three-team showing from the NCHA come NCAA tournament time. Coming off this most recent weekend where Adrian swept #2 Utica on the road, it only adds to the thought that they’ll be right on the cusp of it again this season looking to take the title back from the Green Knights.
