NFL
By Jason Gulden
NCHC fans, welcome back. The first weekend of the 2026 portion of the schedule is in the books. Moving forward, there will be league games every weekend. During the next two weekends, one team will participate in a non-conference series while the other will play an exhibition game. League competition is intensifying as we progress toward determining the Penrose Cup champion for the regular season.
Before discussing this weekend’s games, let’s review last weekend’s non-conference matchups for all teams.
First weekend of 2026
As the 2026 portion of the schedule would get underway this past Friday night, teams were looking to come out of the gates strong after having multiple weeks off between previous games.
Minnesota Duluth would finish the NCHC exhibition sweep of Manitoba, winning 4-0.
Following their exhibition win over Manitoba on Tuesday, Omaha headed to Ithaca, New York, to take on Cornell. The journey proved to be challenging for the Mavericks, who returned to Omaha after being swept with defeats of 6-4 and 3-2.
It was also a rough weekend for Colorado College as they traveled to Sioux Falls to take on Augustana. The NCHC is likely relieved they won’t have to play against Augustana again this season, as Augustana had a strong 5-1-0 record against the league after defeating the Tigers with scores of 3-2 and 4-2. Let’s hope we don’t face them in the NCAA tournament if the Vikings from Augustana make it.
NCHC had multiple sweeps by our teams this weekend. North Dakota took care of Mercyhurst 2-0 on Friday and 6-1 on Saturday. Western Michigan took care of Notre Dame 4-0 both Friday and Saturday.
Denver welcomed Maine to Magness Arena and struggled with them. Friday night, they were manhandled 5-2 by the Black Bears. Saturday night, they would skate to a 3-3 tie with Maine winning in the shootout 2-1.
Two of our teams enjoyed a weekend of celebration after winning the tournaments they participated in. Arizona State would win the Desert Hockey Classic for the third straight time with wins over Alaska Anchorage 7-2 on Friday and a 5-2 victory over Air Force on Saturday. St. Cloud State participated in the Cactus Cup, defeating Yale on Friday night with a score of 6-2, followed by a 3-2 victory over UMass-Lowell on Saturday.
Rankings
The NCHC currently occupies positions four through seven in the most recent USCHO hockey poll. North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth would stay put at four and five. This week, Western Michigan moves up to sixth place, and Denver drops to seventh, swapping their rankings from last week.
Players of the Week for December 30th – January 4th
Forward of the Week goes to Cullen Potter of Arizona State. Let’s say he had a dominant weekend for the Sun Devils. In the Desert Hockey Classic, of the Sun Devils’ 12 goals on the weekend, 4 of them would come off his stick, including 3 on Friday night. He would get the assist on 2 other goals while posting a +5 plus/minus for the tournament.
The Defenseman of the Week also helped his team win its tournament. Finn Loftus of St. Cloud State would earn the honor this week. During the Cactus Cup, he scored the game-winning goal on Friday night against Yale and contributed assists on two goals in the championship match versus UMass-Lowell.
The Goaltender of the Week comes as no surprise when you post back-to-back shutouts on the weekend over Notre Dame. That’s exactly what Hampton Slukynsky would do for Western Michigan. He would stop all 51 shots he faced and would improve his record to 14-6-0, earning his second and third shutouts of the season.
The Rookie of the Week goes to Jack Kernan of North Dakota. He would have 4 points on the weekend. On Friday night, he helped set up North Dakota’s first goal and later secured the win for the Fighting Hawks by scoring his third goal of the season. Saturday night, Jack would top his Friday night performance by scoring his fourth and fifth goals of the season.
Standings
Before we get into this weekend’s games, let’s refresh ourselves on how the standings look in the NCHC.
Weekends Games
As I stated at the beginning of the article, we only have two teams that have three non-conference games the rest of the season. Those first two games take place this weekend, as Minnesota Duluth welcomes Lindenwood to Minnesota.
St. Cloud State travels to Omaha this weekend. This is the only regular-season matchup between these two teams this year. This is a key matchup for both teams as they are only separated by 2 points in the standings.
Miami (OH) travels down to Tempe to take on Arizona State. Earlier this year, when Arizona traveled to Miami (OH), the two teams would split the weekend series with Arizona State winning on Friday.
Western Michigan travels to Denver to take on the Pioneers. In their previous matchup this season, Denver would take care of the Broncos in their own barn by the scores of 3-1 and 6-3. Since that series, Western Michigan has been on a roll, going 9-1 in its last 10 games, while Denver has gone 6-3-1 in the same stretch.
58 miles south of where the Western Michigan/Denver series is taking place, we will find our last conference series for the week. North Dakota travels to Colorado Springs to take on Colorado College. This is the only matchup between these two teams this season. It’s a big weekend for both teams for different reasons. North Dakota currently holds a 1-point lead over Denver for the league lead. They will be looking forward to extending that lead this weekend.
However, for Colorado College, if they have any hopes of being at home for the first round of the NCHC tournament (7 points behind 4th place), they need to start putting together wins now before it gets too late.
Closing
Well, NCHC fans, the exciting time is here. With both Minnesota Duluth games this weekend and the Colorado College exhibition on Saturday, the 17th, there will be no more non-conference games until the NCAA tournament. Those standings are going to change.
Something I haven’t mentioned yet is that the 1-4 teams will host the weekend series in the first round of the NCHC playoffs, with teams 5-8 going to those sites to play in a best-of-3 format. Unfortunately, if you finish in last place (9th place), your season will be over by the end of February.
As one of my favorite wrestlers, John Cena, and his entrance song goes “The Time is Now,” is true for all NCHC teams as they fight towards the finish line.
Buckle up, hockey fans, grab your favorite snack and beverage, and enjoy some hockey from the best college hockey conference in the United States, the NCHC.
Talk to you all next week.
