For the second year in a row, the NCAA has delivered us a truly straight-seeded bracket minus Aurora & Saint John’s saving a flight, but overall, it’s been done the right way just like the women’s side this season. We’re away from the days of playing the west down to one team or restricting the awesome potential matchups that wouldn’t happen during the regular season due to geographical and scheduling logistics.
The Frozen Four this season will be played at the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, NY which resides in the same building as the Frozen Four last year which took place in the Utica University Nexus Center. The ADK (home arena for the AHL – Utica Comets) seats approximately 4,000 people for hockey and with its central location for many teams, along with a nearby airport (Syracuse), it’s sure to be a packed house come March 27 & 29.
Purchase your tickets here. Individual games are $25 and a weekend pass (three games) is $40 total. Great value for some incredible hockey in an incredible venue.
Side note: next season is the final time we will have a ‘campus site’ which is always determined the week of the event at the highest remaining seed that meets hosting requirements. After that, we’ll be fully on schedule with predetermined host sites such as this year in Utica. In 2028, we head to Bob Suter’s Legacy20 rink in Middleton, Wisconsin. Future sites past 2028 are currently TBD, I would expect Lake Placid would get back in the circuit for the event as it’s always a popular destination despite the geographical challenges for some schools getting there. The last time it the Frozen Four was in Lake Placid was back in 2022 when Adrian College, led by former HC Adam Krug, defeated SUNY Geneseo 5-2 to claim their first national championship in school history.
#1 Hobart College Statesmen (28-0-0)
SUNYAC – Auto
Not much needs to be said here other than Hobart currently rides a 34-game winning streak and a record-setting 68 home-game winning streak that is the longest home winning streak in college hockey history. Cornell set the previous record of 63 during 1967-1972, which stood until February 20, 2026 when Hobart won their 64th game in a row at home, defeating Buffalo State 4-0.
Damon Beaver leads Hobart in net, he looks to go four for four in national championships and hasn’t looked back this season, boasting a perfect 18-0-0 record, .956 save-percentage, & an incredible 0.89 GAA.
On the scoring side of things, senior forward Kahlil Fontana who’s no stranger to big moments and goals, lead the team in scoring and second in points with 20G & 20A. Los Angeles native & Salve Regina transfer sophomore Arvega Hovsepyan is first in points on the team, clocking in with 41 which consists of 11 goals and 30 assists.
Hobart of course earned a bye to the quarterfinal round and with the true-seeded bracket, will give us an incredible matchup. They’ll face the winner of University of New England & St. Norbert College; these two teams have never faced off before and Hobart has only faced UNE three times (last time being 2018) and they’ve faced St. Norbert a mere once all the way back in 2006.
If St. Norbert advances, we’ll have quite the pair of longtime resumés in The Cooler as HC Tim Coghlin’s Green Knights roll into town to face HC Mark Taylor’s Statesmen. Of course, HC Kevin Swallow of Univ. New England has quite the resumé himself with the Nor’Easters with a career record (including Nichols) of 247-89-28 (.717) … For comparison, Mark Taylor is 463-177-56 (.705), & Coghlin with an incredible record of 704-192–63 (.767) … This doesn’t include the other accolades, but we’re setup for an incredibly entertaining and high-stakes matchup at The Cooler. The best opponent Hobart will have welcomed in all season.
Will the Statesmen stay alive in their journey to the legendary four peat? Will Tim Coghlin’s Green Knights be the team that ends the home winning streak reign for the Statesmen? Or will Kevin Swallow at UNE continue to establish himself as one of the best young coaches in college hockey with another potential Frozen Four run?
#2 Endicott College Gulls (21-3-3)
CNE – Auto
Endicott has had (in my opinion), one of the quietest 2-seeds ever. I could be partially to blame for this, but it seems like the main talk hasn’t really been on the Gulls this season as most saw their poor SOS and kept waiting to see if they would keep stacking wins together like they’ve been doing. We’ve seen Endicott really take huge strides the past few seasons, most notably in 2023 when they hosted the Frozen Four and fell in the semifinals to shocker… Hobart.
The Gulls enter the dance with a great record of 21-3-3, but a very low SOS as mentioned of 67/91 with their signature non-conference win being against Bowdoin. Their conference record was a solid 14-3-3 and defeated UNE 2-1 in the CNE title game.
The Gulls are set to host a fun one in the quarterfinals against either Saint John’s (MIAC winner) or Aurora (NCHA at-large), two teams who’ve never faced the Gulls and the biggest question is can Endicott get over the hump and get back to the Frozen Four as they made their first-ever as mentioned in 2023.
Leading the Gulls this season is Louie Kamienski with 12G & 16A (28 points). The most impressive part of Endicott this season is that their three leading point-getters are freshman. Kamienski with 28, Noah Gibbs with 26, & Sebastian Speck with 25. In net, freshman Peter Sterling started 25 games and finished with a 21-3-2 record, 1.60 GAA & a save-percentage of .933.
Keep an eye on the Gulls for the next three seasons as they’re loaded with young talent assuming they can keep them around in the new age of college sports, but the Gulls current and long-term future look extremely bright.
#3 Hamilton College Continentals (19-5-2)
NESCAC – At-Large
Hamilton College started this season hot and continued to rack up wins with their star forward Luke Tchor, prior to his injury, causing him to miss four games in which he was mightily missed.
The Continentals were 18-2-2, but dropped three of their last four games including their semifinal game against Williams to finish the season 19-5-2. The Continentals only dropped one spot in the NPI to #3 below Endicott despite losing that many home games in such as short span, still a mystery to many, including myself. Nevertheless, Hamilton will look to break out of their recent funk in Sage Rink as they host the Neumann University Knights who won the MAC over Stevenson. Neumann earlier in the season averaged nearly 24 penalty minutes per game and finished the season averaging 20.41 minutes per game (193 penalties for 551 minutes).
This season, Hamilton’s been led by Luke Tchor as mentioned earlier, while also being saved in net by Aksel Reid who finished with a 16-5-2 record, 1.88 GAA, & a save-percentage of .920.
We’ll see if the Continentals can get the train back on the tracks and if they manage to defeat Neumann, they’ll face the winner of Norwich & Salve Regina, who they’ll host regardless of that game’s outcome to face off and determine who earns the right to the Frozen Four.
#4 Utica University Pioneers (19-7-1)
UCHC – Auto
Utica was written off by many at the start of the season after starting 0-4-0 (not me) as they lost their opening weekend games to Adrian College, including against their former goaltender Ryan Piros who helped lead the Pioneers to a national runner-up finish last season. Then, they fell to Hobart in a 6-5 OT thriller at home and then a slim 2-1 loss in The Cooler.
The Pioneers then won five straight but fell to cross town rival Hamilton 3-1 to end their streak. The Pioneers played best non-conference schedule in D-III this year as they faced Hobart 2x, Adrian 2x, Hamilton, Oswego, & Neumann the MAC winner.
Lately, Utica hit a little bump in the road in mid-February as they were swept by Geneseo which (as HC Gary Heenan has said) have been their kryptonite, going 1-5-1 in their last seven games dating back to the start of the 2024 season, losing four straight going into the UCHC title game. On two of these occasions, Utica gave up seven goals and in their last three meetings (prior to Saturday) and gave up at least one goal in the first five minutes of each of their last three games against the Ice Knights. Utica followed this up by tying Chatham, but winning the shootout to secure the UCHC regular season title, followed by a complete 10-3 blowout of the Cougars the following night.
This season they’ve been led by Drake Morse who’s put up 17G & 17A for 34 points. In net, late-summer transfer from Elmira College – Kyle Curtin has had his moments this season, holding a 13-5-1 record, 2.21 GAA, & a save-percentage of .903.
The Pioneers welcome Williams College from the NESCAC. The Ephs upset top-seeded Hamilton and then defeated Middlebury who pulled off an upset of their own against Bowdoin in the semifinals. These two squads have only faced each other twice, both meetings coming in 2007 where they split the season series. Utica has the opportunity this season to host the Frozen Four for the second straight season if they can win their two games, this time in their main building unlike last season in the Nexus Center.
Side story, if Wisconsin-Stout & Utica win their round one games, Nicholas Pigeon will return to Utica after he initially committed to the Pioneers in the summer as a transfer, but quickly decommitted and announced his return to the Blue Devils just days after.
#5 Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils (21-5-1)
WIAC – Auto
Wisconsin-Stout was a team I liked in the preseason and we discussed on numerous occasions how the Blue Devils have always been a solid team who will have flashes of great wins and results, but failed to put it together when they needed to in the WIAC tournament as Wisconsin-Stevens Point & Wisconsin-Eau Claire had their decade-long reign, winning five WIAC titles apiece since 2014. Those two had taken up all the auto-bids since the WIAC earned an auto bid following the recent rule change regarding conference minimum-teams a few years ago.
The Blue Devils this season had a rollercoaster at times due to their erratic play. They defeated St. Norbert, St. Olaf, Saint John’s & others in their non-conference slate. Along with this, they finished WIAC play with a 12-2-1 record.
This season they’ve been led by their freshman goaltender Sebastian Monaco who finished with a 13-2-1 record, 2.03 GAA, & .935 save-percentage. In terms of points, Hayden Stocks led the way with 32 points (14G, 18A), leading the team in both goals and assists.
I think the Blue Devils can scare a lot of people with their style of play, I think they could potentially make a deep run if they can get past Anna Maria in the first round and then either Williams or Utica on home ice. As mentioned in the Utica portion of this article, UW-Stout forward Nick Pigeon will make his return to Utica with his Blue Devils after announcing his summer transfer to the Pioneers and then abruptly decommitting and returning to Menomonie, WI. He’ll get his former wish after all, playing at Utica.
The Blue Devils host the AMCATS of Anna Maria this Saturday (a match up I’d have laughed if you said was a possibility before the season started simply based on geography and randomness, but March is beautiful for this reason, other than the fact my birthday is in March).
#6 Salve Regina Seahawks (20-4-0)
Independent – At-Large
After not knowing if we would see a hockey team this season in Newport, RI this past summer (read all about it here), we now are talking about Salve Regina in the NCAA tournament and hosting a playoff game.
The Seahawks have drawn much controversy this season with their at-large bid given their independent status after their move last season to the NEHC and then were left with no home until next season (2026-27) where they’ll be an affiliate member of the CNE once again. Their SOS sits at a horrific 87th/91 and a smaller sample size than everyone else due to their NE-10 games not counting statistically for the NPI due to the D2 rules. Salve’s record is 20-4-0 overall, but for NPI purposes, it’s 17-3-0.
For context, Salve hasn’t seen the ice since February 10th against Franklin Pierce and haven’t played a ‘countable’ game since February 3rd against Keene State. Digging deeper, they’ve only played three hockey games since January 20th… Their NPI numbers have been all over the place as they continued to rise as they defeated inferior opponents and were left on the bubble after their road loss to MASCAC winner Anna Maria, but after conference championship weekend and the benefit of sitting home for a month, they rose up into the home-game territory of the NPI and here we are.
The Seahawks will welcome Norwich in round one who’re coming off their Little East Conference championship win against Babson and if they find themselves on top, they’ll either host Neumann (MAC winner) or visit Hamilton College who has lost three of their last four games entering the NCAA tournament, all of these games were at home in Sage Rink.
Salve is a skilled hockey team that under the circumstances deserves credit for getting to where they currently are, but when you play nearly 1/3 fewer games than the rest of the field, have been on the couch since February 10th, and played the 87th ranked SOS, leaving teams such as Adrian (20-7-1) out of the mix, there’s problems…
Salve’s best win this season came against Bowdoin back in mid-December, while their three (four) losses came to Connecticut College, Geneseo, Anna Maria, & Saint Michael’s (NE-10).
We’ll see if they can get the rust off early in the game to get their groove back and advance to the quarterfinals with a win over the Cadets, don’t write them off just yet as they’re plenty capable. Their biggest threat is their goaltender Selby Warren, who boasts a .950 save-percentage and a GAA of 1.28.
#7 Aurora University Spartans (23-5-1)
NCHA – At-Large
Aurora pulled off a feat this season that’s almost auto-bid worthy in itself, defeating Adrian College not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE TIMES. The Spartans under Head Coach Jason Bloomingburg have become a power in the NCHA in the past few seasons, once again winning 20+ games and making their second-straight NCAA tournament. The Spartans made it to the quarterfinals last season before falling to Geneseo 7-4 after holding a commanding lead.
This season, the Spartans were led by their offensive firepower Hassan Akl (13G, 25A) and four other players with 30+ points. These players include Jakson Kirk (21G, 13A), freshman Jaden Davis (12G, 19A), & Lukas Sedlacek (17G, 13A). In net, Matt O’Donnell posted a record of 20-3-1, 2.12 GAA & a save-percentage of .926.
Aurora had a few slips ups this season including a loss to Lawrence and then needing overtime to defeat Dubuque after trailing late. Then, late in the season, they had their weekend from you-know-what as they fell to MSOE 7-5 & tied 2-2, but won shootout. The Spartans would then sweep MSOE in the conference quarterfinals, outscoring them 14-2 in both games.
The Spartans host Saint John’s who defeated the reigning MIAC champions Gustavus and will play for the right to visit Endicott in Beverly, MA for a matchup that’ll be in foreign territory as Endicott’s never faced either Aurora or the Johnnies.
#8 St. Norbert College Green Knights (21-6-2)
NCHA – Auto
As St. Norbert’s Athletics X account ‘tweeted’ this past Saturday following the Green Knights 3-1 victory over Aurora, “Death. Taxes. Cogs in March.“, we’re once again reminded why even when St. Norbert has more struggles than normal during the season, never count them out. Head Coach Tim Coghlin won his 700th game earlier this season at the helm of the Green Knights and looks to win his sixth national title this season (2008, 2011, 2012, 2014 & 2018). For me, Coach Coghlin’s the greatest coach Division III Men’s hockey has ever had, I don’t care if he doesn’t have the most national championships, the entire body of work and accolades he’s achieved is simply historic and incredible, in my opinion.
St. Norbert needed to defeat Aurora to earn an auto bid into the dance as they weren’t high enough on the NPI scale for an at-large bid at the time of their NCHA title game, looking just outside the ‘cut line’.
This season, the Green Knights have been led by their goaltender Hunter Garvey who comes in with a 19-5-2 record, 1.92 GAA, & .919 save-percentage. In the scoring department, their star forward Logan Dombrowsky leads in points with 13G & 24A for 37 points. Calvin Hanson leads in goals with 16.
St. Norbert ended their season on an eight game winning streak en-route to their Harris Cup title and will host Univ. New England, a team they’ve never faced before and will be the last ever game in their current rink as they’re expected to open their new multimillion dollar facility next season against a team I’ll hold off on announcing for now.
#9 Univ. New England Nor’Easters (21-6-0)
CNE – At-Large
University of New England… Congratulations on earning your at-large bid after the Sunday scaries kicked in as the NPI scale shifted a few times and finally rested with the Nor’Easters in the 9th position. For all your hard work this season, you’ve been rewarded with one of the hardest tournament paths you could’ve drawn… First, you’ll fly to Green Bay and face St. Norbert, if you win that game, you’ll then fly home and embark on a seven-hour drive to Hobart who’s won three straight titles and 68 straight home games… If you win that one, you’ll potentially face Utica University in their home arena in the Frozen four or a possible Wisconsin-Stout, but let’s play the hypothetical game and say Utica for fun-sakes in their home arena. Then, you’ll have a national title to play for against I’d like to think, another incredible opponent who’s made it all the way to the finals…
If the Nor’Easters can make a little run in the tourney, it’ll be one for their history books and they’ve been dealt an extremely difficult road to the Frozen Four.
This season, UNE has had an up-and-down season similar to Curry, except the Nor’Easters put things together at the right time unlike the Colonels. Leading UNE in the points category is their tandem of junior forwards Drew Oliveri (19G, 22A) & Dominic Murphy (10G, 29A). Their goaltender who’s started all but two games this season is Harrison Chesney who enters with a record of 20-6-0, GAA of 1.63, & a save-percentage of .924. Chesney transferred this season from Northeastern University (NCAA D-I).
The Nor’Easters will fly into (I’d presume Green Bay or Appleton) this week and look to shock the Green Knight faithful and set themselves up for a date with the back-to-back-to-back national champion Hobart Statesmen. If anyone can do it, it’s Head Coach Kevin Swallow who’s won everywhere he’s been.
#10 Norwich University Cadets (18-5-4)
LEC – Auto
Norwich University had a coaching change this past season on both the Men’s & Women’s sides. Dominick Dawes ’04 took over at his former stomping grounds during his playing career and has led the Cadets back to the NCAA tournament, a position they haven’t been in since 2023 and twice since 2020.
Dawes led the Cadets to a 18-5-4 season including their most recent win over Babson College in the inaugural LEC title game this past weekend. In their last 17 games, the Cadets went 13-1-3, finishing the season strong and really seeming to catch a groove come year-end.
Norwich now gets rewarded for winning a conference tournament by jumping on the bus and heading to Salve Regina who yes, still plays hockey, they’ve just been waiting since February 10th as their Independent-status season ended over a month ago. The Cadets will want to get off to a fast start before Salve gets the rust off if they want to advance to the next round against either Hamilton or Neumann. Assuming they win, they would either visit Hamilton or host Neumann, time will tell if Kreitzberg gets to see a playoff game.
This season, the Cadets have been led on offense by Ben van Waterschoot (great name), putting up 29 points (8G, 21A). Their leading scorer is Zach Ophoven who’s found the back of the net 14 times while dishing out 9 assists to go along with it. In net, Sami Molu holds a 12-5-4 record with a 2.06 GAA & .930 save-percentage.
#11 Saint John’s Johnnies (17-6-4)
MIAC – Auto
Saint John’s won the MIAC regular season title and then made the comeback against Gustavus to win the MIAC conference championship 4-3 in overtime after trailing 3-0 early in the 2nd period.
The Johnnies this season were extremely balanced scoring-wise, having five players with 20+ points and four more with 15+. Leading the scoring was Logan Lyke (12G, 11A) and the point leader was Jack Wandmacher (7G, 18A) for 25 points. In terms of goaltending, the Johnnies are led by Jon Howe who rocks a record of 16-5-4, 2.40 GAA, & a save-percentage of .932.
Saint John’s’ signature non-conference wins this season include a sweep over Trine & a win over UW-Eau Claire. In MIAC play, they finished 10-3-3 in the heavily contested MIAC as it always is. The Johnnies ended the season with on a seven-game win streak, 9-1-0 in their last 10 games.
As mentioned, SJU will visit Aurora just outside of Chicago to play for the right to fly to Endicott for a potential Frozen Four ticket. The Johnnies I think can be an overlooked team being from the MIAC, we’ll see if they can get past Aurora and potentially shock Endicott as again, I’m going to go off on a limb here and assume most Endicott fans haven’t watched much Saint John’s this season unless it’s St. John’s (NYC) basketball coached by Rick Pitino in Madison Square Garden.
#12 Anna Maria AMCATS (20-5-2)
MASCAC – Auto
With the departure of Plymouth State from the MASCAC, we would be guaranteed to see a new team (or a team that hasn’t been in some time) from the MASCAC in the NCAA tournament. Anna Maria defeated Westfield State 3-0 in the conference championship game after finishing conference play in the regular season a near-perfect 12-1-1, ending their season on a 11-game win streak dating back to January 22. Their signature win this season came against the NPI #6-ranked team Salve Regina, defeating the Seahawks 1-0.
This season, the AMCATS have been led by their goaltender Matthew Hennessey (I imagine he had some after their MASCAC title) who boasts a 1.83 GAA & .95 save-percentage. In terms of scoring, Braeden McKinnon put up 15G & 14A for 29 points on the season,
The AMCATS will fly to most likely MSP or MKE then drive over to central Wisconsin to Menomonie (for the record I’ve driven from MKE to Menomonie). It’s the first-ever NCAA tournament appearance for Anna Maria and as I said on X, “Gotta be honest, Anna Maria flying to play Wisconsin-Stout wasn’t on my bingo card at the start of the year“. If they shock the Blue Devils and the entire western region of D-III hockey, they’ll host Williams if the Ephs shock the Pioneers, or they’ll visit the Pioneers of Utica, the site of the Frozen Four.
#13 Williams College Ephs (12-13-2)
NESCAC – Auto
Head Coach Bill Kangas finally got over the hump and won his first-ever NESCAC championship in his 36 years at the helm of the Ephs, dating back to the 1989-90 season and getting Williams into the dance for the second time in program history (2015-16).
The Ephs shocked the top-seeded Hamilton Continentals as mentioned in the semifinals at Sage Rink Saturday afternoon, then watched Middlebury upset Bowdoin, setting us up for an unexpected bid coming from the NESCAC. Williams had Hamilton’s number in all three matchups this season, winning & losing 4-3 in overtime in the two regular-season games, then shocking them 5-4 in overtime. Not a single game between these two this season were settled without extra time.
This season, Williams were led by freshman Jackson Krill & sophomore Jake McManus who each put up 28 points, Krill with 14G,14A & McManus with 8G, 20A. The talk coming into this season for Williams (and Middlebury for that matter), were their extremely strong recruiting classes which have clearly shown out this season and in the playoffs for both teams as they found themselves in the NESCAC title game. Their goaltending has been the one weak side of things, but lately has been quite good, if they can get solid play between the pipes, then the Ephs can definitely go into Utica and make things interesting.
Williams will visit Utica and play for the right to either visit Wisconsin-Stout or Anna Maria if the Ephs can shock the world once again this Saturday.
#14 Neumann University Knights (17-8-2)
MAC – Auto
Neumann University, the team that praised their own penalty minutes and yearn for after-the-whistle fights on social media, finds themselves in the dance after defeating Stevenson with a mere 12 penalty minutes after averaging nearly 27 midway through the season (wild concept I know).
The MAC only plays four non-conference games so they really didn’t have a signature non-conference win as they went 1-3-0 in non-conference games, getting outscored 17-8 in the four games. Their biggest game was against Utica where they fell 4-1.
This season, the Knights have been led largely by their freshman goaltender Christian Green, Green has a record of 13-1-2, GAA of 1.78, & save-percentage of .942. Scoring wise, Max Donohoe led with 18 goals and 11 assists for 29 points, while Lucas Culhane led the team in points with 7G & 27A for 34 points. Leading the team in penalty minutes was Judd Katz with 22 penalties for 77 minutes. The Knights have 10 players with at least 24 penalty minutes this season and seven with 34+.
The Knights are getting Hamilton at probably the best possible time as we mentioned the Continentals have dropped their last three of four games (all at home) and struggled the last month or so. Neumann on the other hand despite lesser competition, has been winning games as of late. They’ll play for the right to either visit Salve Regina or Norwich with a win at Hamilton.
