With the calendar turning to a new year, the college hockey season is hitting full speed, with conference games heating up and the NCAA Tournament about two months away.
There are a few different teams than we've seen in recent years near the top of the national standings and their respective leagues, with traditional powerhouses and old teams also in the mix.
Conference tournaments will begin around March 8, and league champions will be crowned on March 23. The 16-team NCAA field will be announced on March 24, with regional play beginning on March 28. Frozen Four will take place April 11-13 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
To catch you up on what's happened in the first half of the season and what's to come, we asked ESPN college hockey analysts Colby Cohen, Andrew Raycroft and Sean Ritchlin about their favorite players to watch, the biggest surprises of the season, the most intriguing players. league races and their Frozen Four selections.
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Which team has given the biggest surprise so far this season?
Ritchlin: Mike Hastings had an incredible decade of dominance at Minnesota State, turning that program into a proven winner during his tenure, including a berth in the national championship game at the 2022 Frozen Four in Boston. Then came Hastings' move to Wisconsin after finishing last season. After finishing last in the Big Ten with a 13-23-0 record, the Badgers already have 19 wins and have allowed just 39 goals (1.63 per game), by far the best in the conference (Minnesota is the next at 2.73 goals allowed per game). The attention to detail in the neutral zone and defensive zone has completely changed this program.
Raycroft: Sean is right. Hastings was hired with a great pedigree, but he didn't expect the turnaround to be so quick. At 19-4-1, Wisconsin has the most wins in the country along with an impressive 10-2 Big Ten record. This team will have a difficult exit in March.
Cohen: I don't think any of us expected to see Maine and Wisconsin near the top of the peer rankings to start 2024, but this is great for #Cawlidgehawkey. In Maine, it's great to see Alfond Arena back and energized again and it's amazing how coach Ben Barr has brought the Black Bears back in his second year in Orono. College hockey is better and more exciting when the Black Bears make noise. The same thing happens in Madison, but the difference is that we all wait for the magic of Mike Hastings. Hastings brought in several new recruits and players from the transfer portal and has Wisconsin back in the conversation to compete for the national championship. It will be really interesting to see if these schools can continue the upward trend in the second half of the season.
Which league race do you find most intriguing?
Raycroft: Hockey East is stacked, with the two best teams in the country (Boston University and Boston College) and four of the top nine (Maine, Providence) based on the current pairing rankings. They will fight to the end for the league title, but the fight in the middle of the league will be equally compelling. Matchups will be a big key come playoff time, and any of the top seven teams could make a run at winning the conference tournament and, more importantly, the automatic berth in the NCAA regionals.
Cohen: As Andrew said, Hockey East is an absolute challenge this season. In addition to the teams he mentioned, New Hampshire and UMass are in the top 15 as a pair, and the conference is loaded with top NHL draft picks, strong goaltenders and excellent coaches. The BU-BC series on Jan. 26-27, followed by a Beanpot first-round matchup on Feb. 5, could tell us a lot about how the conference will play out.
Ritchlin: Every conference has some drama, but CCHA and Atlantic Hockey do not currently have a team in the top 16 on Pairwise. If that's true, only the conference tournament champion in those leagues will make the 16-team NCAA tournament, so home ice becomes crucial: Regular-season games will take on a playoff-like atmosphere. facing the final stretch.
Who is your favorite player to watch?
Cohen: This is tough, but Macklin Celebrini and Lane Hutson blow me away every time they put on that BU sweater. Hutson is the most dynamic defenseman I've seen at the NCAA level and what Celebrini has done when she was 17 years old has been tremendous. The line of freshmen on BC Street isn't that bad to see either. I could also list a few others…what a great year for college hockey.
Raycroft: Gauthier cutter. As Colby alluded to, there have been a lot of rumors about BC's freshman line, which played intact for Team USA at the World Juniors, but the team's biggest offensive driver is Gauthier. His size, speed, power and shot are NHL ready and it is evident every time he steps on the ice. Between his presence on the ice and the commotion off the ice, Cutter Gauthier is not to be missed.
Ritchlin: Teams want players who can put the puck in the net. Don't get me wrong, watching someone create open ice and hang three guys is exciting, but the talent of finding the thread is special. There are plenty of great pure scorers this year in the NCAA (Gauthier, Minnesota's Jimmy Snuggerud, Western Michigan's Dylan Wendt), but none better than Denver's Jack Devine, who always seems to find the puck in front of the net. He has 18 goals in 22 games in the difficult NCHC. He will go to the dirty areas to score, but he can also attack from outside. His development from a 17-year-old freshman on the third or fourth line to where he is today is impressive; The Florida Panthers found a gem in the seventh round of the 2022 draft.
Which team is poised to have a second half surge?
Cohen: Keep your eyes on West Michigan. The Broncos never get publicity, but Pat Ferschweiler's group has played high-quality hockey this season. They seem to have improved with each passing week and will certainly have a chance to test themselves down the stretch of the NCHC season.
Raycroft: Quinnipiac. The defending national champions have gone about their business, staying in the top 10 all season, and I think they're moving into another gear. The ECAC is light this season, which should set the Bobcats up for a big second half of preparation to defend their title.
Ritchlin: Michigan is off to a slow start at 10-7-3 and will need to have a sense of urgency in the second half to make the NCAA tournament. Four players (Rutger McGroarty, Seamus Casey, Frank Nazar and Gavin Brindley) return from the World Juniors with a lot of confidence after winning the gold medal; They will be leaned on heavily to move the Wolverines in the direction coach Brandon Naurato envisioned. The team's defense will be key. Offensively they are deep and can score from many areas, but they will need to combine that scoring touch with a strong defensive game to advance.
Who do you hope to see in Frozen Four?
Cohen: Boston University, Boston College, North Dakota and Denver
Raycroft: I'm also going to be blue blood: BC, BU, Denver and North Dakota.
Ritchlin: BC, BU, Denver and Quinnipiac. I think Wisconsin, with that great defense, also has outside shooting. BC and BU have incredible talent and several players from both teams will be wearing an NHL jersey sooner rather than later. We haven't seen a team with that composition win it in a while; maybe this will be the year.
