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After leading Minnesota State to MacNaughton Cup, Mason Cup titles in ’24-25, Strand tabbed CCHA coach of the year

Luke Strand has had success this season behind the Minnesota State bench (photo: Minnesota State Athletics).

The CCHA has announced that Minnesota State’s Luke Strand has been voted 2024-25 CCHA coach of the year.

The Mavericks claimed both the MacNaughton Cup (regular season) and Mason Cup (playoff) titles in his second year at the helm.

Strand brought No. 14 Minnesota State back to the NCAA tournament in 2024-25, winning the MacNaughton Cup and Mason Cup after an 18-5-3 record in conference play. The Mavericks led the CCHA in goals (77), goals against (37), penalty kill (85.3%) and save percentage (.947), second in shots (759) and short-handed goals (2), and third in shutouts (3), points (202) and assists (125).

The Mavericks jumped out to a substantial lead in the CCHA standings by the midway point and were able to hold off Augustana, Michigan Tech and Bowling Green to claim their ninth MacNaughton Cup title and third since 2021-22. Minnesota State swept Lake Superior State in the Mason Cup quarterfinals before defeating Bemidji State and St. Thomas to win the Mason Cup.

Overall, Minnesota State is 28-7-3 – the third-most victories in the nation – entering the NCAA tournament. The Mavericks face Western Michigan in the opening round of the Fargo Regional on Thursday. If they win, they take on the winner of the Minnesota-Massachusetts matchup on Saturday

Voting for the CCHA year-end awards was conducted by the nine head coaches at each CCHA school, based on CCHA conference games only. Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own players or themselves.

Women’s Division I College Hockey: The PodKaz Episode 44 – Looking back on an incredible Frozen Four and Wisconsin’s late rally for its 8th NCAA title

Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com are back from the Frozen Four in Minneapolis, where Wisconsin won its eighth NCAA championship with a last-minute rally to force overtime and a 4-3 win over Ohio State.

The show looks back at Friday’s semifinal games, where Ohio State defeated Cornell and Wisconsin ousted host Minnesota.

Then we have some thoughts on the presentation of the Patty Kazmaier Award on Saturday, won by Badgers forward Casey O’Brien.

And we wrap up with a long look back at the NCAA championship game, including a memorable penalty shot equalizer by Wisconsin’s Kirsten Simms, who also scored the overtime winner.

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for our mailbag? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].

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Make your picks in the USCHO NCAA College Hockey Bracket Challenge!

The 16-team field is set!
Time for the USCHO NCAA College Hockey Bracket Challenge. Deadline is Thursday, March 27 at 1 p.m. ET.
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Kopff leaves Brown after two seasons, signs NHL contract with Sabres

Tyler Kopff spent two seasons with Brown (photo: Tamar Kreitman).

Brown sophomore forward Tyler Kopff has signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres.

A third team all-ECAC and first team all-Ivy selection, Kopff will join the AHL’s Rochester Americans to finish the 2024-25 season on an amateur tryout before his contract kicks in for the 2025-26 season.

The Ridgewood, N.J., native skated in all 32 games this season for the Bears and compiled nine goals and 19 assists for 28 points to rank second on the team in scoring.

Kopff tallied six multi-point games for the Bears in 2024-25 and notably posted a four-assist and five-point game in Brown’s 6-5 overtime win at Rensselaer on Jan. 31. He was the first Bears player since 2016 to record five points in a single game. He also posted a two-goal and four-point effort in Brown’s 5-1 win over Yale on Feb. 9.

Northeastern’s Williams signs NHL deal with Columbus, leaves Huskies after three seasons

Jack Williams was a consistent offensive performer in three seasons at Northeastern (photo: Jim Pierce).

The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed Northeastern junior captain Jack Williams to a two-year, entry-level contract beginning with the 2024-25 NHL season.

Williams is expected to join the team later this week.

Williams recorded 39 goals and 55 assists for 94 points with 37 penalty minutes and a cumulative plus-11 plus/minus rating in 106 career appearances over three seasons with the Huskies.

“Jack Williams is a skilled, hard-working player with a passion for the game, who was a very productive player and leader during his time at Northeastern,” said Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell said in a statement. “We think he has great potential and are excited to welcome him to the Blue Jackets family.”

A native of Biddeford, Maine, Williams registered 16 goals and 25 assists for 41 points with a plus-6 rating in 37 games this season.

He was named to Hockey East’s all-academic teams in 2022-23 and 2023-24. He set a single-season career-high in goals and was named Northeastern’s most improved player in 2023-24 after recording 17 goals and 36 points in 34 appearances during his sophomore campaign. He was named the team’s unsung hero as a freshman after finishing with six goals and 17 points in 35 contests in 2022-23.

TMQ: The NCAA tournament field set, so what teams are left remaining after regionals? And what do we make of North Dakota firing Berry?

Albin Boija has had a solid season between the pipes for Maine (photo: Anthony DelMonaco).

Each week during the season, we look at the big events and big games around Division I men’s college hockey in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.

Jim: Ed, it’s difficult for me to believe because yesterday seems like October 1, but we’re already at the NCAA tournament. And what a tournament field it is.

This might be the most competitive field I can recall with all 16 teams ranked in the top 22 of the PairWise. I can’t look at a single 1 vs. 4 matchup in any region and not believe that the four seed has some modicum of belief that it can win.

To me, though, the 2 vs. 3 matchups in each region are elite. Boston University vs. Ohio State will kick off the entire tournament on Thursday afternoon our in Toledo before Minnesota takes on UMass in Fargo, Providence against Denver in Manchester, and the first-round game I think might be the best, Connecticut against Quinnipiac.

The Bobcats lost again in Lake Placid but have perennially rebounded well in the NCAA tournament reaching three Frozen Fours since 2013. And while I think UConn can beat this Bobcats team, this is also a Huskies club making its first tournament appearance and may be a little wide-eyed on this stage.

To me, that’s the best first-round game, but all eight will entertain. What game has your attention in the opening round?

Ed: I agree with you about this being a terrific field. You detailed the 2 vs. 3 games. I’ll take a look at the 1 vs. 4, which all have my attention. I just can’t pick one.

Western Michigan has a formidable opponent in Minnesota State, a team that has allowed just 1.5 goals a game this season. Will the Mavericks prevail, or will the Broncos run them over with their 4.1 goals scored per game?

Can Cornell contain Michigan State? If they can, Mike Schafer can keep coaching for one more game. That will be a strong first-round tilt in Toledo.

Meanwhile, Maine as the overall No. 3 seed has the honor of taking on the host in Allentown, Penn State. I think that could be the most entertaining game of the 1 vs. 4 match ups.

Then there’s huge underdog Bentley taking on Boston College. BC is a prohibitive favorite, but I don’t expect the Falcons to roll over easily. They’ve played a disciplined, system-driven brand of hockey under second-year coach Andy Jones, and they won’t be intimidated by the Eagles. I mean, the two programs have played twice in the last seven seasons, and Bentley has won both on the road and at home.

Jim, it wasn’t long after the selection show on Sunday that news came from North Dakota that the Fighting Hawks were parting ways with coach Brad Berry after 10 seasons. Berry led them to a national championship in his first season.

As others have mentioned, I remember the news conference after that 2016 win in Tampa when captain Gage Ausmus, alternate captain Drake Caggiula and goalie Cam Johnson were excused after answering questions from reporters. Berry paused things to give each player a hug before they left. Many on social media have mentioned acts of kindness from Berry over the years.

Were you surprised by Berry’s dismissal? And what does that portend for his replacement?

Jim: I was very surprised by Berry’s dismissal but it certainly proves North Dakota is a “what have you done for me lately?” school.

Berry is a coach who won a national championship, five regular season trophies, an NCHC championship and appeared in five (would’ve been six if not for COVID) NCAA tournaments. By most standards, that’s a world class coach.

But North Dakota is different. My question is who wants the job? If you can have success by most standards and still be in position to be fired, it’s a job that always feels in peril.

Do you feel like this is a search that will be expansive or is this a situation where the next coach has already been identified?

Ed: I don’t know how long this has been in the works, but I doubt it was a rash decision. So we should expect a well-planned process. It’s indeed possible they have someone in mind.

Going back almost 70 years, only two head coaches have not been North Dakota alumni, and one of those was Dean Blais, a Minnesota grad.

I guess the question has to be what the Fighting Hawks are looking for in a coach. If he needs to be a North Dakota alum, that really narrows the field a lot. But there are a few candidates who would fit that description. We also don’t know if an assistant within the program will be considered, as Berry was.

If it’s a non-North Dakota selection, I would think that it would have to be someone with significant experience as a head coach and someone who could stand constant scrutiny. I used to think that the most difficult place to be in the spotlight as a coach was Minnesota, but if a head coach with Berry’s record is not sufficient for that university, its fans, and its alumni, then maybe I need to rethink that.

Is this a position that an up-and-coming top assistant from outside the program could step into, or would you agree that it requires someone with head coaching experience at a high level (not to mention a super-thick skin)?

Jim: The next North Dakota coach needs to have flame-retardant skin, in my humble position. It is a tough job to manage but success in Grand Forks has to feel like something beyond imagine.

Before we close, I wanted to get your take on the 10 Hobey Baker finalists. I spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with the Hockey East staff that was understandably upset than none from the group of Cole O’Hara, Jacob Fowler and Albin Boija. I don’t disagree as the league produced 6/16th on the NCAA field but only produced one of the top 10 players.

But then I step back and wonder which of the top 10 should be left off. And that’s where I have a difficult time.

You’re a little less biased in this case, Ed. How did you feel about the top 10?

Ed: I completely understand why the folks at Hockey East feel that way.

I think it’s a lot harder for goalies with the existence of the Richter Award, and so that may have figured in Fowler and Boija – two very deserving players – not getting in.

As far as O’Hara, perhaps he’s not as well known outside Hockey East as some of the others in the top 10. (Or perhaps it’s because of another point I’ll make after describing the selection process.)

We know the steps for selecting candidates to some extent. First, the 64 programs all were able to nominate up to three players. Then coaches voted for those who in their opinion were the top three from their league and the top three nationally. That’s 99% of the vote for the Top 10, with the other 1% from fans.

Then the voting committee members each cast ballots for their top three next week after the NCAA regionals, with a fan component included as in the previous round.

What is not public is how votes are weighed. And I think it’s possible that a league with a lot of deserving talent might dilute its vote compared to another with only a couple of standouts. Plus, you’d expect coaches to vote for their conference’s player of the year, and all six players of the year are in the Hobey top 10.

So that leaves just four spots left.

I’m not going to suggest who comes off the list, but I guess we should look at this like the tournament bracket. You get six conference winners and the rest are sort of “at large.”

Someone is going to get left out, and there will no doubt be one or two of these 10 who fans will say were snubbed for the Hobey Hat Trick.

Michigan State the No. 1 team in March 24 USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll heading to NCAA regionals

Michigan State heads to regionals as the top-ranked team in the USCHO.com D-I Men’s Hockey Poll (photo: Michigan State Athletics).

Michigan State is again the top-ranked team in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll, picking up 32 first-place votes this week.

Boston College, with 13 first-place votes, stays No. 2, while Western Michigan holds steady at No. 3 with the remaining five first-place votes.

USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll – March 24, 2025

Maine is again No. 4 and Minnesota stays fifth.

Denver, UConn, Boston University, Ohio State and Providence sit sixth through 10th, respectively, all unchanged from last week.

Two previously unranked teams, Cornell (16th) and Bentley (20th) enter the rankings this week.

In addition to the top 20 teams, 10 others received votes in this week’s poll.

The USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll is compiled weekly and consists of 50 voters, including coaches and media professionals from across the country. Media outlets may republish this poll as long as USCHO.com is credited.

After three seasons with Dartmouth, Haymes inks NHL contract with Maple Leafs

Luke Haymes played three seasons up front for Dartmouth (photo: Dartmouth Athletics).

Dartmouth forward Luke Haymes has signed with the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs after three seasons in Hanover, N.H.

Over the last three seasons, the Ottawa, Ont., native skated in 83 games while scoring 41 goals and adding 29 assists for the Big Green.

He took the ECAC by storm as a freshman in 2022-23 by scoring 11 goals and adding five assists and was named an all-Ivy honorable mention. As a sophomore, he solidified himself as a top player in ECAC Hockey by scoring 18 goals and adding 18 assists en route to being named first team all-ECAC. Following his sophomore season, he was named a New England all-star as well. Prior to the 2024-25 season, he was named to the all-ECAC preseason team. Despite missing 11 games to start the season due to injury, he still finished second on the team in goals in 24-25 with 12. He added six assists in 22 games. His four first goals led Dartmouth this season while he added two game-winning goals.

Haymes will join the AHL’s Toronto Marlies for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.

NHL’s Stars sign Clarkson blueliner Taylor, who leaves Golden Knights after junior season

Trey Taylor had three solid seasons on the Clarkson back end (photo: Clarkson Athletics).

The NHL’s Dallas Stars have signed Clarkson junior defenseman Trey Taylor to a two-year, entry-level contract that will begin in 2025-26.

Taylor will report to the AHL’s Texas Stars for the remainder of the year.

Taylor recently finished his junior season at Clarkson where he totaled 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) in 39 games and served as his team’s captain. His 29 points were a career high, ranked fourth on his team and were tied for ninth among all NCAA defensemen this season. Taylor’s 2024-25 campaign also tied for the eighth-highest scoring by a defenseman in program history and also set NCAA career highs in goals, assists and power-play goals (4). His performance this season earned him ECAC Hockey best defensive defenseman honors for the second consecutive season.

Over three seasons for the Golden Knights, the undrafted Taylor recorded 55 points (16 goals, 39 assists) in 110 games.

Dartmouth junior Flinton forgoes senior season, signs NHL contract with Lightning

Cooper Flinton spent three seasons up front with Dartmouth (photo: Dartmouth Athletics).

Dartmouth junior forward Cooper Flinton has signed an NHL contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning following three seasons with the Big Green.

Flinton was selected by the Lightning in the seventh round (211th overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft prior to joining the Big Green.

The Auburn, N.H., native played three seasons with the Big Green and appeared in 89 games while scoring 32 goals and adding 32 assists.

He played in 27 games as a freshman in 2022-23 and scored six goals while dishing out nine assists. As a sophomore, he was second on the team in goals and points as he scored a career-high 15 points with 10 assists. In his final season with the Big Green in 2024-25, he scored 11 goals and added 13 assists. This season, he scored four power-play goals along with two short-handed goals.

In his career with Dartmouth, he tallied 11 power-play goals and five game-winning goals.

Flinton will join the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch for the remainder of the season.

Say leaves Notre Dame crease after one season with Irish, two with Mercyhurst, signs NHL contract with Calgary

Owen Say earned 10 wins in goal this season for Notre Dame (photo: Notre Dame Athletics).

After a successful junior campaign for Notre Dame, which included 10 wins in goal and a .920 save percentage, Owen Say has signed a one-year, two-way, deal with the NHL’s Calgary Flames.

Say led the team to the Big Ten tournament semifinals after backstopping the Irish to a series win on the road against then-No. 3 Minnesota behind a 99-save weekend versus the Golden Gophers. The London, Ont., native followed it up with a career-best 45 saves at then-No. 2 Michigan State in a 1-0 loss, holding one of the nation’s top offensive threats to just one power-play goal.

“I can’t thank everyone at Notre Dame enough for all the support I received throughout this past year,” Say said in a statement. “Ranging from Coach (Jeff) Jackson and the rest of the coaching staff to our trainer Kevin Ricks, strength and conditioning coach Tony Rolinski and especially my teammates, I am truly blessed to have been a part of the Fighting Irish and will cherish this year for the rest of my life. I’d also like to thank my family for everything they’ve done for me throughout my life. Without them, I wouldn’t be in this position. With that being said, I’m beyond excited to announce that I have signed with the Calgary Flames and can’t wait for what’s in store.”

In 25 starts for the Irish this past season, Say registered 829 saves and boasted a .920 save percentage. His 10 wins on the year include four over ranked opponents, all of whom were ranked in the top 10 at the time of the game.

Say joined the Irish after two years at Mercyhurst and concludes his collegiate career with a .914 save percentage and 3.09 goals-against average. In his year with the Irish, Say recorded a career-low 2.82 goals-against average and a collegiate-best save percentage. The junior was named a Mike Richter Award nominee this past season and earned co-goalie of the month honors in October by the Hockey Commissioners Association.

Looking at NCAA regional matchups, Hobey 10, Berry’s unexpected departure: Weekend Review college hockey podcast Season 7 Episode 24

Hosts Jim Connelly, Derek Schooley, and Ed Trefzger review the games of the weekend and news of the week.

We begin with the unexpected firing of North Dakota head coach Brad Berry following his team’s loss in the NCHC semifinals. The discussion highlights Berry’s impressive career and the pressures inherent in coaching at North Dakota. We then shift focus to the NCAA Men’s Division I Tournament, analyzing each regional matchup and sharing insights on top teams, players, and possible upsets. We also discuss the Hobey Baker Award top 10, debating snubs and standout players. And Ed goes on an unusual (for him) rant.

This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men’s Division I Frozen Four, April 10 and 12 in St. Louis. Get your tickets now at ncaa.com/frozenfour

Times are approximate:

00:00 Introduction and sponsorship announcements
00:40 USCHO Bracket Challenge
01:07 Breaking News: Brad Berry’s departure
02:21 Brad Berry’s legacy and iImpact
02:43 Coaching challenges at North Dakota
07:19 Potential candidates for North Dakota coaching job
13:41 NCAA Tournament Regionals Preview
13:53 Toledo Regional breakdown
17:39 Fargo Regional breakdown
20:27 Manchester Regional breakdown
26:30 Allentown Regional breakdown
31:15 Rejuvenation of Top Programs
34:31 Women’s National Championship Recap
35:52 Hobey Top 10 Discussion
50:14 Ed’s Hobey Baker Award rant
54:58 Regional Winners Predictions
56:45 USCHO Bracket Challenge

Find our podcast archive at USCHO.com/podcasts

Monday 10: Recapping weekend conference tournament highlights with NCAA regionals dropping the puck this coming weekend

Bentley won the first Atlantic Hockey championship in program history with a 6-3 victory over Holy Cross at the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass., on Saturday night and earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament (photo: Ryan DeSantis).

Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.

1) Let’s have a tournament

The NCAA tournament bracket unveiling on Sunday afternoon carried the fanfare of a nationally-televised audience, but little drama existed about the 16-team field or their regional placements. Quinnipiac’s loss to Cornell in the ECAC Hockey semifinals removed the doubt that began the weekend swirling around the at-large bubble, and each of the six conferences crowned their respective champion without creating waves on the national radar.

Boston College wasn’t involved in the weekend, but the Eagles locked themselves into the No. 1 overall seed long before their Hockey East quarterfinal loss to Northeastern. As expected, BC earned its way to Manchester, N.H., while Michigan State, Maine and Western Michigan gained the remaining No. 1 seeds. From there, slotting teams into regionals became easy.

2) Black Bears roar

Hockey East built its reputation around its Massachusetts-centric heartbeat. Even in its initial expansion phase, the league only nominally spread away from the radial highways surrounding Greater Boston, and it took the 21st century additions of Vermont and Connecticut to create longer bus trips outside of Maine’s outlier status. As a result, the championship banner hanging in Boston’s TD Garden often held teams from the Hub’s area, and this year began with a 20-year drought for a championship born outside of the Bay State’s borders.

That long layoff was guaranteed to end after Connecticut and Maine won their respective semifinal games, but the tradition wrought by Black Bear hockey commandeered North Station to the tune of a decisive 5-2 rout. The team twice held three-goal leads and spent a marginal 10-plus minutes in a scoreless tie throughout the first period before claiming its sixth Hockey East championship.

Maine last won the title when Ben Murphy scored a triple-overtime goal to defeat UMass, so being forced to advance through a double overtime game against Northeastern at least provided an homage to the team’s past.

Goaltender Albin Boija, meanwhile, won his third and fourth Hockey East Championship tournament games. Now the No. 3 overall seed, the Black Bears head to the Allentown Regional and a first-round matchup with fourth-seeded and host Penn State.

3) Spartan spirit

Few things match the intensity of an overtime playoff winner. Fewer things match that intensity in front of a home crowd. Fewer things still match the feeling of a championship won in overtime in front of a home crowd.

Isaac Howard fully understands that feeling. His high slot slam past Logan Terness gave Michigan State its second straight Big Ten championship in front of Munn Arena’s white-cld crowd and sent the Spartans into the national tournament as the highest-ranked conference champion.

Going to double overtime only occurred because of a third period comeback capped by a late goal from Gunnarwolfe Fontaine. Having previously trailed twice by two goals, Ohio State scored late in the first period to halve Michigan State’s initial 2-0 lead before goals by Damien Carfagne and Fontaine moved the Buckeyes into overtime. From there, it was Howard’s second goal of the night that ended the dramatic theater and sent East Lansing into delirium.

4) Falcons fly

Another two-goal deficit in the first period occurred in Atlantic Hockey America, but Bentley’s rally to take a 3-2 lead in the second period anchored the Falcons to a 6-3 win and their first-ever Division I conference tournament championship and the only title clinched over the weekend by a true road team.

Holy Cross had opened the game with a pair of power play goals, but adding a third power play goal in the third period did little to stop the third-seeded Falcons from motoring through the Hart Center. Billed as a top matchup between the league’s preeminent goaltenders, the six goals scored by Bentley topped the Crusaders’ defensive allotment for the season.

Both programs previously met for the 2006 championship, but Holy Cross was playing in its second championship game in three years. Bentley, meanwhile, finished in one of the league’s two bottom spots in 2023 and was previously voted to finish dead last ahead of the 2023-2024 season. Having now capped their season turnaround, the Falcons moved into the No. 16 spot among qualified teams, which in turn guaranteed a game against No. 1 Boston College.

5) One for the Big Red road

Mike Schafer infamously began his head coaching career at Cornell by winning back-to-back championships. As his career wound down in Ithaca, the longtime leader of the defending champion Big Red sought to replicate that success before bowing out of the national spotlight.

Achieving the mountaintop required the sixth-seeded team to eliminate the league’s first and second place teams in the semifinal and championship rounds. Having first vanquished Quinnipiac, the Big Red scored twice in the first period to stake a 2-0 lead over Clarkson in Saturday’s championship game, and Ryan Walsh’s late third period goal sealed a 3-1 win that allowed Schafer to hoist the Whitelaw Cup for a second consecutive – and final – year.

Winning the championship had a downstream impact on the Pairwise Rankings because the Big Red vaulted into the No. 15 spot among qualified teams. As a result, Michigan fell out of the tournament, and Cornell drew No. 2 Michigan State in the Ohio-based regional in Toledo.

6) Controversy avoided

The draconian rules facing St. Thomas turned the CCHA’s championship into a bit of an anticlimactic affair, but whatever controversy could have arisen from a victory for the tournament-ineligible Tommies ended when Minnesota State claimed a 4-2 victory in Mankato.

The Mavericks, for what it’s worth, didn’t lead until the latter stages of the third period, and the game produced a back-and-forth affair throughout the second period. A scoreless first was a 0-0 stalemate, but Matthew Gleason staked his team to a 1-0 lead in the first half of the second period. Luigi Benincasa’s power-play goal evened things up three minutes later, but Kaden Bohlsen’s goal with under seven minutes remaining didn’t last into the locker room because of Liam Malmquist’s own power play goal.

Ending the second period in another tie game, Minnesota State grabbed the lead on Evan Murr’s goal at the halfway point before sealing the CCHA title with another late one.

It was Minnesota State’s third championship in the four-year span since the conference’s reformation and sent the Mavericks towards their aforementioned tournament berth. They now face No. 4 Western Michigan in the Fargo regional hosted by North Dakota.

7) Speaking of North Dakota

The next axe of the offseason coaching carousel swung on Sunday night when the University of North Dakota announced that head coach Brad Berry would not return after 10 seasons in Grand Forks. The leader of the 2016 national champion, the announcement caught plenty of people by surprise but came on the heels of North Dakota missing the national tournament for the second time in three years.

The former assistant coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets was in his second stint with North Dakota after twice returning to his alma mater as an assistant coach. The top assistant to Dave Hakstol became the head coach when Hakstol departed for the NHL, and his first season completed a mission that began when the program achieved consecutive Frozen Four appearances in Hakstol’s last two years.

A five-time regular-season champion of the league, he was twice named Herb Brooks Coach of the Year as the NCHC’s best bench boss and shared the Spencer Penrose Award with Cornell’s Mike Schafer as the best coach in college hockey in 2020.

8) Meanwhile, Western went No. 1

Lost in that shuffle was Western Michigan’s first-ever NCHC championship win. The two-time CCHA champions from the pre-realignment era were bound to the No. 1 seed when the conference’s final field traveled to the Twin Cities, but it took a three-goal comeback in the third period and a double overtime winner by Alex Bump to eliminate Denver and clinch sweet revenge for 2022’s loss to Minnesota Duluth.

Bump scored twice in the 4-3 win, but the real impact occurred when the Broncos leapfrogged Minnesota for the No. 4 overall seed in the tournament. Granted No. 1 status, their movement to Fargo as the top seed guaranteed a matchup against Minnesota State where remaining as a No. 2 seed would have flipped them into a game against third-seeded UMass. Instead, it’s Minnesota’s turn to play the Minutemen while the Broncos draw the Mavericks in the first round.

9) Who’s in and who’s out?

Boston College, Minnesota and Penn State all failed to advance to their conference semifinal round, but little drama forced the three teams to sweat out results throughout the week after it became apparent that too few low seeds advanced to their respective championship games. BC was already the No. 1 seed, and the lone storyline encompassing Minnesota flip-flopped the Gophers with Western in the Fargo regional.

Penn State entered the week with an outside possibility at missing the national tournament, but the Nittany Lions remained in the field after Northeastern lost its semifinal game to Maine. They remained as the No. 4 seed but were already locked into the Allentown regional as the host site.

Quinnipiac, meanwhile, survived to advance to the tournament as a No. 4 seed after both Arizona State and North Dakota lost in the NCHC semifinals, though the Bobcats lost to Cornell and ended another ECAC postseason without trophy hardware.

Michigan wasn’t so lucky. Already on tenuous ground, the Wolverines needed Hockey East, the NCHC and ECAC to advance their top seeds to the championship game. When Quinnipiac lost the ECAC semifinal, the Wolverines were effectively out of the tournament while ECAC indirectly became a two-bid league – the same number as the NCHC.

10) Eight ball, side pocket

Wisconsin women’s hockey head coach Mark Johnson leaned over his bench and asked which player wanted to take a penalty shot with under 20 seconds remaining in the third period of the 2025 NCAA Division I women’s national championship game against Ohio State.

Almost immediately, Kirsten Simms raised her hand. A Buckeye player had closed her hand over the puck on the goal line in a one-goal game, and the moment would hang the national championship in the balance.

Simms deked around Amanda Thiele to score the game-tying goal, but she etched her name into the college hockey annals by later scoring a put-back rebound in overtime to touch off the celebration of a 4-3 win.

The Badgers previously trailed by a 3-1 deficit but used a second period goal to cut into the lead ahead of the third period.

The win handed Wisconsin its eighth national championship, the most among women’s hockey programs.

NCAA D-III Men’s Ice Hockey Quarterfinal Wrap-up – March 23, 2025

Hobart’s Luke Aquaro rifled the game-winning goal past the Trine netminder in overtime to give the Statesmen a 3-2 win over Trine in the NCAA quarterfinals (Photo by Kevin Colton/HWS Athletics)

The quarterfinal round shaped up with the top two seeds joining the action in the tournament while three of the four contests featured east v. west matchups that was expected to and did create a lot of excitement. They say the worse lead in hockey is a two-goal lead and the teams from the west all held that advantage or more in their games that eventually saw the east teams rally for wins that make the Frozen Four a full east playoff featuring Curry, Geneseo, Hobart and Utica. Amazing and exciting hockey that included intense third period rallies and an overtime game to determine a winner. Here is the wrap-up for the full slate of NCAA quarterfinal action in chronological order from Saturday:

St. Norbert v. Utica

The Green Knights traveled to Utica for a 1 PM matinee game on Saturday and both teams showed up in full force for the early start in a contest that featured pace, physicality and amazingly, zero penalties.

It was the visitors who drew first blood early with Brock Baker’s unassisted goal giving St. Norbert an early 1-0 lead. Despite pressure by both teams at both ends of the ice, the score stood until the final minute of the period when Jakob Breault tied the score for Utica to level the game after one period at 1-1.

Like Baker, Calvin Hansen gave the lead back to the Green Knights just over three minutes into the idle period and Carter Hottman extended the advantage to 3-1 with a goal assisted by Logan Dombrowsky and Liam Fraser with less than five minutes remaining in the second period. Just over one minute later Breault setup Drake Morse for a goal to cut the deficit to one goal setting up an exciting third period of action.

Breault again solved St. Norbert netminder Hunter Garvey to tie the score at 3-3 at the eight minute mark of the final period with both teams applying sustained pressure looking for the advantage on the scoreboard. With over ten minutes remaining in regulation, Gabriel Lundberg gave Utica their first advantage of the contest and goaltender Ryan Piros and a stout defense held on with Aiden Hughes scoring an empty-net goal for the final 5-3 margin.

“It was an emotional win,” stated Utica head coach Gary Heenan. “So fun.”

Garvey finished with thirty-three saves for St. Norbert, including twenty in the second period while Piros stopped twenty-four St. Norbert attempts to pick up the victory. Utica will host the Frozen Four and has a semifinal date with top seed Curry who advanced with a win over Utica.

Hamilton v. Curry

Top seed Curry took to the ice against first round winner Hamilton and the visitors came out with jump and the advantage early on the shot count. Hamilton launched eighteen shots at Shane Soderwall in the opening period that saw the Colonels kill three penalties and escape the period tied at 0-0.

In the second period it seemed the action was all slanted towards the same end of the ice as Curry found some jump in their game and an aggressive forecheck led to a turnover that Tauron Haddon-Harris rifled a shot short side off the post in past Hamilton netminder Charlie Archer for a 1-0 lead just over two minutes into the period. Less than five minutes later Nolan McDonough skated into the zone cut across the slot and buried a backhand shot just over Archer’s pad on the glove side for a 2-0 lead that closed out the scoring in the second period.

Hamilton came out determined to score in the final period and NESCAC Player-of-the-Year, Luke Tchor finally solved Soderwall just over a minute into the third period with assists from Ben Zimmerman and James Philpott to close the gap to one goa at 2-1. The visitors continued to press but Soderwall and the Colonels held Hamilton at bay before Haddon-Harris extended the lead to   3-1 and Grady Friedman iced the contest with an empty-net goal and over three minutes remaining in regulation time.

“We really took advantage of the week off to get healthy and rest,” stated Crry head coach Peter Roundy. “We started out a little slow, a step behind and took some uncharacteristic penalties but Shane [Soderwall] was great and the penalty kill came up big to keep the game scoreless which felt like a win for us after the first twenty minutes. We got things going in the second period and held them off in the third period for a big win. It is special that this is our first Frozen Four at Curry in this our 50th season with college hockey.”

Curry skated off with the 4-1 win and advances to their very first Frozen Four and a date with Utica on Friday.

Trine v. Hobart

The NEHC and defending national champions were also coming off a bye week and facing a Trine team that took care of business on home ice against Oswego in the first round.

After a scoreless first period that saw both teams feeling out the game and each other, it was the visiting Thunder that scored first on a power play goal by Logan Furstenau less than four minutes into the game action. Despite chances at both ends that goaltenders Ronnie Petrucci (Trine) and Damon Beaver (Hobart) held out of the net, Sam Antenucci scored for a 2-0 Trine advantage that stood as the margin entering the third period.

Hobart’s Luke Aquaro wasted no time scoring just twenty-seven seconds into the third period and Dominic Schimizzi leveled the game at 2-2 just three minutes later to get the “Cooler Crazies” back into the game as both teams challenged the opposition netminders with great chances in the second half of the third period. No one could net the deciding goal sending the contest to overtime.

Last season it took Hobart four overtimes to win over Curry in the quarterfinal round, but this year the winning goal was found in the first overtime with Luke Aquaro taking the puck off a defensive turnover and firing the winning goal past Petrucci over his shoulder on the short-side for a 3-2 win just under ten minutes into bonus hockey.

“Luke stepped up in a big way for us,” said Hobart head coach Mark Taylor. “Not the way we planned it but hopefully will add to us moving forward.”

Petrucci finished the game with thirty-eight saves for Trine while Beaver recorded twenty-three to earn the win for the Statesmen.

Hobart will face Geneseo in the second semifinal on Friday, March 28.

Geneseo v. Aurora

In the final quarterfinal game hosted by Aurora, Geneseo fell behind by a 3-0 margin with Chase Broda, Luciano Santalucia and Landry Schmuck pacing the Spartans to an early lead with less than four minutes remaining in the second period. Alex Dameski and Luke Panchisin answered late in the middle period to close the gap to 3-2, setting up a dramatic third period between two offensive powerhouse teams.

“I think the two quick goals at the end of the second period was a turning point for us,” said Geneseo head coach Chris Schultz. “I liked the way we were playing even when we got down 3-0.”

In the third period, Aurora extended the advantage to 4-2 as Andrew Schultz scored just over four minutes after the puck drop of the final period. Panchisin wasted no time in answering just forty-three seconds later and Jack McDonald tied the game at 4-4 midway through the period. Dameski, with an assist from MacDonald gave the Knights their first lead of the night and two empty net goals from Filip Wiberg closed out the scoring for a 7-4 Geneseo win.

Dameski, Panchisin and Wiberg each scored two goals while goaltender Adam Harris recorded twenty-six saves to earn the win. JaCob Mucitelli stopped twenty-eight shots for Aurora in the loss.

Three Biscuits

Luke Aquaro – Hobart – the senior forward scored two goals including the overtime winner to rally Hobart to a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Trine on Saturday night.

Tauron Haddon-Harris – Curry – scored a pair of goals to pace the Colonels’ attack in a 4-1 win over Hamilton on Saturday leading Curry to their first Frozen Four.

Jakob Breault – Utica – paced the Pioneer attack in a 5-3 comeback victory over St. Norbert on Saturday. Breault scored two goals and added an assist in the win over the Green Knights.

Bonus Biscuit

Alex Dameski – Geneseo – scored two goals, including the eventual game-winner as the Knights rallied from a 3-0 deficit to post a 7-4 win over Aurora on Saturday night.

Two-goal leads are the most dangerous lead in hockey and we saw three of four such leads slip away on Saturday leading to an all-east Frozen Four this upcoming weekend hosted by Utica and including fellow New York State teams Geneseo and Hobart to challenge top seed Curry. That should be a great finale to what has been a truly amazing season.

While I have given past kudos to the NCAA for setting up a terrific tournament bracket this year, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the challenge that a non-pre-determined host for the Frozen Four creates on the eventual host with less than a week to plan. No team or their coaching staff should have to be challenged by the short timeframe, availability of hotel accommodations actually with proximity to the event location or the stress of trying to do what is best for the student athletes who should be enjoying the accomplishment and thrill of playing on the ultimate national stage for a championship. Here’s hoping that soon we get the complimentary great bracket and pre-determined site to eliminate external distractions from what has been a terrific post-season on the ice – just like all the fans hoped it would be!

Committee chair Troville says seeding this year’s NCAA tournament bracket was ‘straightforward’ compared to most years

The Minnesota Golden Gophers dropped to a two seed in the Fargo Region and will face Massachusetts on Thursday evening in the NCAA Tournament. The tournament field was announced on Sunday (File photo: Jim Rosvold)

Seeding this year’s NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey championship was “pretty straightforward,” that according to Tim Troville, senior associate director of athletics at Harvard and Chair of the NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey committee.

Despite some midweek concern that potential intraconference first-round matchups would be either unavoidable or cause a major shift in the bracket integrity, the committee was able to seed this year’s tournament making minimal changes to the ideal bracket (i.e. 1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, etc.).

“It was pretty straightforward compared to previous years,” said Troville, now in his third season as a member of the committee and first year as chair. “That’s where the PairWise and the way we try to maintain bracket integrity help us out a lot.”

Always one of the biggest concerns of the NCAA is the attendance of regionals. In recent tournaments, attendance has been up which has quelled the vocal calls for opening-round tournament games to be played on campus.

But Troville said ticket sales for this year’s regionals have been decent and the fields at each site include a team or teams whose fanbases will help drive attendance.

“College hockey is reaching a peak of popularity across the board,” Troville said. “We feel pretty good going into today where we are in regional [attendance]. We’re looking forward to venues that are lively.”

Because there was little the committee needed to do to increase attendance, there were fewer swaps of teams. One swap that did not occur but was being tossed around in social media channels on Saturday evening was the thought of sending Maine to the Manchester Region and shipping top seed Boston College to Allentown.

Friday’s Hockey East championship game at TD Garden where more than 10,000 (possibly more) of the 17,000 plus fans in attendance were clad in Black Bears gear proved that fan base is still one that can mobilize. SNHU Arena in Manchester lists a capacity of 10,019 for hockey. With Maine there that is almost guaranteed a sellout.

But shifting Maine to Manchester and sending top seed Boston College to Allentown to face region host Penn State would have been beyond unfair to the tournament’s top overall seed.

“We considered everything and some things more briefly than others,” said Troville. “For us, having Maine in Allentown was the best solution. We really wanted to consider doing a great service for our membership by considering the bracket before we issued it.”

The start times for the games will once again be staggered, beginning at 2 p.m. each weekday (Thursday and Friday) with slots at 2:00, 5:00, 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. ET each day. Regional final times are listed as to be determined by the NCAA at this point.

All 15 games of the tournament will air on the ESPN family of networks with 13 of those 15 games available linearly on ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews.

Rankings roundup: How the top 20 NCAA D-I men’s hockey teams fared, March 21-22

Denver and Western Michigan met in Saturday night’s NCHC championship game with the Broncos winning in double overtime (photo: Tim Brule).

Here is a rundown of how the top 20 teams in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Hockey Poll of March 17 fared in games over the weekend of March 21-22.

No. 1 Michigan State (26-6-4)
03/22/2025 – No. 9 Ohio State 3 at No. 1 Michigan State 4 (2OT, Big Ten Championship)

No. 2 Boston College (26-7-2)
Did not play.

No. 3 Western Michigan (30-7-1)
03/21/2025 – No. 17 North Dakota 2 vs No. 3 Western Michigan 4 (NCHC Semifinal, St. Paul, Minn.)
03/22/2025 – No. 6 Denver 3 vs No. 3 Western Michigan 4 (2OT, NCHC Championship, St. Paul, Minn.)

No. 4 Maine (24-7-6)
03/20/2025 – RV Northeastern 3 vs No. 4 Maine 4 (2OT, Hockey East Semifinal, Boston)
03/21/2025 – No. 7 Connecticut 2 vs No. 4 Maine 5 (Hockey East Championship, Boston)

No. 5 Minnesota (25-10-4)
Did not play.

No. 6 Denver (29-11-1)
03/21/2025 – No. 6 Denver 4 vs No. 11 Arizona State 2 (NCHC Semifinal, St. Paul, Minn.)
03/22/2025 – No. 6 Denver 3 vs No. 3 Western Michigan 4 (2OT, NCHC Championship, St. Paul, Minn)

No. 7 Connecticut (22-11-4)
03/20/2025 – No. 7 Connecticut 5 vs No. 8 Boston University 2 (Hockey East Semifinal, Boston)
03/21/2025 – No. 7 Connecticut 2 vs No. 4 Maine 5 (Hockey East Championship, Boston)

No. 8 Boston University (21-13-2)
03/20/2025 – No. 7 Connecticut 5 vs No. 8 Boston University 2 (Hockey East Semifinal, Boston)

No. 9 Ohio State (24-13-2)
03/22/2025 – No. 9 Ohio State 3 at No. 1 Michigan State 4 (2OT, Big Ten Championship)

No. 10 Providence (21-10-5)
Did not play.

No. 11 Arizona State (21-14-2)
03/21/2025 – No. 6 Denver 4 vs No. 11 Arizona State 2 (NCHC Semifinal, St. Paul, Minn.)

No. 12 Quinnipiac (24-11-2)
03/21/2025 – RV Cornell 3 vs No. 12 Quinnipiac 2 (OT, ECAC Semifinal, Lake Placid, N.Y.)

No. 13 Penn State (20-13-4)
Did not play.

No. 14 Massachusetts (20-13-5)
Did not play.

No. 15 Minnesota State (27-8-3)
03/21/2025 – RV St. Thomas 2 at No. 15 Minnesota State 4 (CCHA Championship)

No. 16 Michigan (18-15-3)
Did not play.

No. 17 North Dakota (21-15-2)
03/21/2025 – No. 17 North Dakota 2 vs No. 3 Western Michigan 4 (NCHC Semifinal, St. Paul, Minn.)

No. 18 Clarkson (24-12-3)
03/21/2025 – RV Dartmouth 1 vs No. 18 Clarkson 4 (ECAC Semifinal, Lake Placid, N.Y.)
03/22/2025 – RV Cornell 3 vs No. 18 Clarkson 1 (ECAC Championship, Lake Placid, N.Y.)

No. 19 Holy Cross (24-14-2)
03/22/2025 – RV Bentley 6 at No. 19 Holy Cross 3 (AHA Championship)

No. 20 UMass Lowell (16-16-4)
Did not play.

RV = Received Votes

After 10 seasons, 227-119-35 overall record, 2016 national championship, Berry not returning behind North Dakota bench

Brad Berry coaches his last game with North Dakota, March 21, 2025 during the NCHC Frozen Faceoff at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. (photo: Jim Rosvold).

North Dakota announced on Sunday evening that Brad Berry, who just completed his 10th season behind the Fighting Hawks bench, will not return next season.

Dane Jackson will serve as the interim head coach.

“Coach Berry has had a tremendous decade run at his alma mater,” said UND director of athletics Bill Chaves in a statement. “Not many coaches win a national title and he’s one of a very few. His time will be cherished, but today was the right time to move in a new direction for UND hockey.”

Berry guided North Dakota to 10 winning seasons, amassing a 227-119-35 overall record to rank fourth all-time in program history in wins. He also captured five NCHC Penrose Cups, one NCHC Frozen Faceoff crown, five NCAA tournament appearances and became the first and only head coach in NCAA Division I men’s hockey history to win a national title in his first season in 2015-16.

This past season, North Dakota lost in the NCHC semifinals to eventual champion Western Michigan and didn’t qualify for the NCAA tournament, finishing with a 21-15-2 record (14-9-1 NCHC).

The national search for the program’s next head coach will commence immediately.

Women’s Division I College Hockey: The Wisconsin Badgers are 2025 National Champions!

MINNEAPOLIS — The Wisconsin Badgers earned their eighth title on Sunday, coming from behind to defeat Ohio State 4-3 in overtime at Ridder Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

The Badgers tied the game on a penalty shot with just 18.9 seconds left on the clock after Mark Johnson’s coaches challenge revealed Ohio State’s Maddi Wheeler had covered the puck with her hand in the crease.

Kirsten Simms buried the penalty shot to force overtime.

The game broadcast showed Johnson asking his team “Who wants it?” in reference to the penalty shot and Simms’ hand shooting up, but after the game she said her initial inclination was not to put herself in that situation.

But her teammates were chanting her name and hyping her up.

“We know she’s the best goal scorer on the team, so we had to let her know and remind her and tell her she’s clutch,” said Laila Edwards.

Johnson said he put the question to the players on who wanted to shoot because he knew confidence was the most important part of the equation.

“I wanted to see who wanted to step up and own it and who felt comfortable in this setting, because you can’t have one ounce of negativity in your mind as you pick the puck up. It’s got to be all positive,” he said.

Though she didn’t start there, the support from her teammates got Simms there and had her shooting her hand up when the question came from her coach.

Both goalie Ava McNaughton and Johnson admitted after the game that they did not watch Simms take the shot.

“I knew that she she has so many moves up her sleeve and it’s so difficult to defend her on a shoot out. I knew that she had everything she needed in her toolbox and I didn’t need to look. All I needed to hear was the crowd and I knew that it was going to go in,” said McNaughton.

Simms said she didn’t overthink what move she was going to use on the play, but it turns out the last successful penalty shot the Badgers scored was put in by Kirsten Simms – and she scored it on Thiele with a move that looked similar to Sunday’s – with one exception. On Sunday, Simms pulled the puck back across to her forehand to score.

The shot in 2023. 

Sunday’s game-tying penalty shot. 

It was Edwards that alerted Johnson to the fact that he should call for a challenge on the play.

“Harvey gave me a really good feed. I tried to put it in the net, but didn’t. I saw the puck was loose somewhere and then I saw one of their players put their hand over it in the crease. I started yelling at the ref ‘She’s covering it, she’s covering it’ and they said ‘no, no,’ so as soon as the whistle blew I went right to the bench and said, ‘Coach you have to challenge that,'” said Edwards.

In the extra frame, Lacey Eden’s shot was kick saved by Amanda Thiele, but the puck came out to Simms, who put it into the net to give UW the win.

After the game, Johnson was still processing the chaos of the final few minutes of the game.

“I’m still trying to process the whole last 18 seconds of the third period, and then over time, and obviously, we found a way to win. I don’t think we played one of our better games, but as they told the team a few minutes ago, they figured out how to get to the finish line. I’ve always said, ‘Monday always comes.’ Well, Monday’s coming tomorrow, and you’ve got the national championship trophy back in Mad-town, so it’s a good day,” he said.

The game was a showcase of what makes NCAA women’s hockey great and it took every bit of the 62:49 minutes to decide a winner. The game was fast and frenetic, with skilled goals, great goaltending and a finish that Hollywood wishes it could write.

For all the joy of the Badgers, it was an exceptionally tough way for the Buckeyes to lose a game they all but had wrapped up. A too many skater penalty had Wisconsin on the power play to close out regulation, which allowed them to pepper the net and led to the play where Wheeler put her hand on the puck.

“There’s not a lot to really say after a tough loss. These are fantastic human beings. I think they played phenomenal tonight. It’s the way we lost with 18 seconds left. It was an unfortunate outcome,” said OSU coach Nadine Muzerall.

Ohio State played the game they wanted to play for 59 minutes Sunday. Their call-word is “relentless” and it was on full display. They dominated the neutral zone and stopped Wisconsin from ever really getting settled into their game. They forced turnovers, kept them from the zone and absolutely check the top offense in the country in check.

Muzerall wondered after the game if she should have challenged Simms’ penalty shot. The Ohio State staff felt like Simms pulled the puck backwards, something the rules prohibit, but she said she didn’t feel like there was clear video evidence and having already used her timeout, would have been in a six-on-three situation if she failed, serving two penalties and with Wisconsin having pulled their goalie for an extra attacker.

“Going in overtime with them tying it so late, it was hard. We knew that there was a momentum shift. We talked about that all weekend, but we knew that right from the jump we had to get on it. We had to get that momentum back. And unfortunately, we couldn’t grasp it,” said Buckeye defender Emma Peschel.

Joy Dunne opened the scoring just seconds into the first power play of the game, taking a pass from Jenna Buglioni and skating through the entire Badger team on her way to the net. She pulled UW goalie Ava McNaughton to her right before switching the puck back to her left and pushing it around McNaughton and into the net.

On the ensuing play and with her team still on the power play, Laila Edwards won the puck in the neutral zone and took it straight to net, beating Amanda Thiele to tie the game 1-1. They were the fastest consecutive back to back goals from opposing teams in women’s Frozen Four history.

Ohio State took a 2-1 lead into the first break thanks to Sloane Matthews, who stole the puck off Edwards at center ice and headed straight at McNaughton, beating her top shelf, far corner with about five minutes left in the frame.

They extended it just 10 seconds into the second as Makenna Webster’s centering shot from behind the net deflected into the circle where Emma Peschel stepped up and smoked a shot to give OSU a 3-1 lead.

Harvey brought the lead back down to one a few minutes later on a rocket of her own after Kirsten Simms used some fancy stick work to hold on to the puck in traffic and lay it off to Harvey.

In a season where she sometimes struggled with finding her role after being the team’s leading scorer last season, Simms came up big in two massive situations to carry her team to the title. But continuing a theme from the Badgers throughout the season and especially in the NCAA Tournament, Simms said it wasn’t about her and more about the fact that the team completed their goal.

“It still hasn’t really totally set in with me, and at the end of the day, I’m just super happy that we’re bringing that trophy back to Madison. I mean, no matter how the job got done, it got done, and we’re taking that trophy home with us,” said Simms.

The win was the culmination of the best seasons in Wisconsin women’s hockey history. They finish the season 38-1-2, setting a new program record for wins in a season. They have the Patty Kazmaier winner and the other top two finalist. They have four first-team All-Americans and the Goaltender of the Year. They didn’t always play their best games, Johnson said, but they were consistent and consistently got results.

“You start with this blank canvas at the beginning of the year, and then you start to paint this picture of what the year is going to look like and what’s going to transpire. We get to the end, and we’re playing the national championship game… and Today, we got a masterpiece.”

 

 

 

Selection Sunday special analyzing six conference champs, initial takes on NCAA brackets: Weekend Review college hockey podcast Season 7 Episode 23

Hosts Jim Connelly, Derek Schooley, and Ed Trefzger review the championship games of the weekend and look at the 2025 NCAA men’s D-I hockey brackets.

Notable tournament outcomes include Maine’s victory in Hockey East, Cornell’s success in the ECAC, and Western Michigan’s NCHC title. They discuss the implications of the bracket setup, team matchups, and potential underdog threats. The episode concludes with a preview of their upcoming in-depth analysis of the four regions and matchups in Monday’s regularly-scheduled episode.

This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men’s Division I Frozen Four, April 10 and 12 in St. Louis. Get your tickets now at ncaa.com/frozenfour

Find our podcast archive at USCHO.com/podcasts

Boston College is top seed in 2025 Men’s Division I ice hockey championship as tournament field is unveiled

Boston College enters the 2025 NCAA Division I ice hockey championship as the top seed and will face Bentley in Manchester, N.H., on Friday (File photo: Boston College athletics)

The field for the 2025 NCAA Division I men’s national championship is set with very few surprises. Boston College, Michigan State, Maine and Western Michigan are the four regional top seeds, while Bentley and Connecticut and both making the first appearances in their program’s history.

Complete Men’s NCAA D-I Tournament Bracket with ESPN channels

Top-seed Boston College will face Bentley in the opening game in Manchester, N.H., on Friday at 2:00 p.m. ET. Providence and defending national champion Denver will meet in the other semifinal at 5:30 p.m. ET, setting up a potential rematch of last year’s national title game between BC and Denver.

The tournament will begin in Toledo, Ohio, which is hosting its second NCAA regional. Boston University and Ohio State will square off on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. ET. Big Ten champion Michigan State will take on ECAC tournament champ Cornell at 5:30 p.m.

The other Thursday/Saturday region in Fargo, N.D., features NCHC champion Western Michigan as its top seed. They will face CCHA champion Minnesota State at 5:00 p.m. ET while Minnesota and Massachusetts square off in the nightcap at 8:30 p.m.

The final region to get underway will play Friday-Sunday in Allentown, Pa. Connecticut and Quinnipiac play in the early semifinal at 5:00 p.m. ET, while Maine and region host Penn State will battle at 8:30 p.m.

The four regional champions will advance to the Frozen Four in St. Louis on April 10 and 12. Game times for the Frozen Four will be announced at a later date.

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