While the world’s attention is naturally on the Olympics right now, the NCAA men’s hockey season is getting into the stretch run. Oh, and there is one current college player in Milano, as Minnesota-Duluth’s Adam Gajan, the Chicago Blackhawks prospect, is on Team Slovakia. Gajan hasn’t seen any action in the Olympics yet and there’s a very good chance he won’t get between the pipes at all, but just the fact he’s around this atmosphere and practicing with NHLers such as Juraj Slafkovsky and Simon Nemec is great experience for the youngster.
In the meantime, Boston College won the Beanpot earlier this week, defeating their archrivals from Boston University to claim the famed city-wide trophy. With Team USA’s Olympic squad featuring Eagles alum such as Matt Boldy and Noah Hanifin and former Terriers such as Jack Eichel, Brady Tkachuk and Charlie McAvoy, I’m going to assume it came up once or twice in the dressing room this week. Now let’s get to the rankings.
1. Michigan Wolverines (24-5-1)
Taking on a rested Penn State squad, the Wolverines came away with two more wins, though the first contest did go to a shootout. Nonetheless, Michigan continues to dominate the NCAA rankings. Free agent T.J. Hughes is still the top scorer on the team, while goalie Jack Ivankovic (NSH) is finding his range again after returning from injury.
2. Michigan State Spartans (22-6-0)
The Spartans had the weekend off, but remain in second spot based on their overall season. Michigan State’s final games of the regular season are against the three weakest teams in the Big Ten (Ohio State, Notre Dame and Minnesota), so they could run the table. Trey Augustine (DET) remains hot in net with a 1.96 goals-against average.
3. North Dakota Fighting Hawks (23-7-0)
A sweep of Miami means the Hawks continue to roll in a deep, difficult conference. Defenseman Abram Wiebe (CGY) had a beauty overtime winner against the Redhawks, while even defensive blueliner E.J. Emery (NYR) found the scoreboard. Needless to say, NoDak is a team that can beat you from all angles.
4. Western Michigan Broncos (22-8-0)
The Broncos blasted Arizona State over the weekend by a combined score of 13-4. That means they’ve still only lost two games since the calendar flipped over to 2026 and after an uneven start to the campaign, the defending national champions seem to be rounding into form at the right time. Junior Grant Slukynsky leads the offense with 33 points in 30 games.
5. Quinnipiac Bobcats (24-5-3)
While the Bobcats are still paced by scoring machine Ethan Wyttenbach (CGY), they’re not a one-man team by any means. Freshmen Antonin Verreault and Marcus Vidicek, both of whom came from the major junior ranks, have also been solid contributors to a team that is really looking dangerous this season.
6. Denver Pioneers (19-11-3)
Sweeping Omaha has the Pioneers continuing on the ascent and now Denver has just one regular-season series left, against Arizona State. Rieger Lorenz (MIN) has been red-hot with seven points in his past five games, while defenseman Eric Pohlkamp (SJ) still leads the team in overall scoring with 31 points in 33 games.
7. Providence College Friars (19-8-2)
Like Western Michigan, the Friars have lost only two games in 2026 – though one of them was this past weekend against a Northeastern team that has been dangerous. Providence has a decent lead atop Hockey East and with other programs exhibiting a lot of inconsistency, the Friars are in a good spot as the post-season nears.
8. Penn State Nittany Lions (18-9-1)
True, Penn State was swept by Michigan on the weekend – but at least they pushed one of the contests into the shootout. Gavin McKenna (2026 draft) was an obvious target for trolling by the Wolverines’ fans, but he did manage an assist. Reese Laubach (SJ) actually had a great weekend with four points against Michigan.
9. Boston College Eagles (17-10-1)
It feels like the Eagles are on the cusp of something, they just haven’t quite gotten over the hump so far this season. After winning the Beanpot (a big deal), they split with Merrimack this weekend, which is not ideal. On the positive side, freshman Oscar Hemming (2026) got his first NCAA goal and now has eight points in 12 games since joining the team midway through the year.
10. Connecticut Huskies (17-7-4)
The key to UConn’s success lately has been defense. The Huskies have given up just three goals total in their past three games – and they all came in a shootout win over Maine. Netminder Tyler Muszelik (FLA) can take a lot of the credit for that too, as he was the goalie of record in all of those matches.
