NFL
By Jason Gulden
Hello once again, NCHC fans. As we inch closer to the end of the Regular Season, things are getting exciting in the NCHC.
Last Weekend
Colorado College traveled to St. Cloud State. Friday night, the Tigers suffered a heartbreaking loss at the hands of the Huskies. St. Cloud State was down 3-1 in the second period before coming back and winning 6-5 in overtime. However, the Tigers would rebound on Saturday night with a 4-1 win.
Denver clung to hope of winning the Penrose Cup with a sweep over Omaha, winning 5-2 and 3-1. It was a significant sweep for Denver as they head into their bye week, now only 1 point behind North Dakota.
Speaking of North Dakota, they swept Miami (OH) by the scores of 1-0 on Friday and 4-3 in overtime on Saturday. North Dakota had to battle back in the 3rd period after being down 3-1 after 40 minutes of play.
Western Michigan took care of Arizona State with scores of 6-2 and 7-2.
Players of the Week
The Forward of the Week is Zaccharya Wisdom from Western Michigan. Its his second time winning the award this season. This past weekend, he scored the game-winning goals on the power play in both contests on his way to a 2-goal, 2-assist weekend against Arizona State.
The Defenseman of the Week is the same as last week. Abram Wiebe of North Dakota won the award for the second straight week. Friday night, he helped the North Dakota defense by allowing only 12 shots on goal. Saturday night, he would have an assist and score the game-winning goal in overtime.
The Goaltender of the Week is Johnny Hicks from Denver. This is his first Goaltender of the Week award of the season. On the weekend, he stopped 57 of the 60 shots he faced in helping the Pioneers sweep Omaha. He has looked impressive in his short time as the Pioneers’ goalie. He improves his record to 6-0-1. In 11 appearances this season, he has a 1.04 GAA and a .962 save percentage.
The Rookie of the Week is Connor Hvidston of Colorado College. He would have a goal and 2 assist on the weekend up at St. Cloud State. I won 13 faceoffs on the weekend. Finished the weekend with a +5 plus/minus.
USCHO Ranking
North Dakota would stand pat at #3. Western Michigan stands pat at #4. Denver stands pat at #8. Minnesota Duluth would move up 1 spot to #9. Miami (OH) would stand pat at #20.
Looking at Bracketology on the USCHO website this week, like I said last week, Denver is locked in on the Loveland region. They currently sit at the #2 seed. Minnesota Duluth joins them in the region at #3 seed. Things can change weekly, as last week, Minnesota Duluth was #3 in the Worcester region.
The Worcester region now has Western Michigan as the #1 seed and the #4 seed overall. Last week, Western was #4 in the Albany region.
The other NCHC team in the bracket right now is North Dakota. They are the #1 seed and #3 overall in the Sioux Falls Region. That didn’t change from last week.
Things can change as the playoffs across college hockey start and wrap up. Winners of the playoffs in the conference tournaments automatically get a berth in the NCAA tournament. As of now, those 4 teams are a lock for the tournament based on their resumes this season. Time will only tell if I’m correct.
Standings
Things are starting to take shape for home ice in the Frozen Faceoff. The top 4 teams get home ice. Currently, as it stands, three teams have locked it in. However, the seeds are still up in the air.
The top three teams are North Dakota with 47 points, with 20 games played. Denver has 46 points with 22 points played. Western Michigan has 41 points after 20 games.
Following the top three, spots four through nine are only separated by 10 points.
Minnesota Duluth has 28 points in 20 games. They are currently sitting in the 4th and final home ice spot in the first round.
St. Cloud State also has 28 points but has played 22 games; it currently sits in the 5th spot. If Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud finish tied in the standings, Duluth will get the tiebreaker because it won 3 of 4 from St. Cloud this season.
Miami has 25 points with 20 games played and is currently in 6th place.
Colorado College has 24 points with 20 games played and is currently in 7th place.
Arizona State has 19 points with 20 games played and sits in the 8th and final playoff spot in the conference.
Omaha has 18 points with 20 games and will see its season end on February 28th, when the regular season ends.
This Weekend
This weekend, the Penrose Cup, the league cup for the regular season champion, could be handed out. Denver is in a rough spot this week to gain ground in the standings, as they will be idle. For Denver to have any hope of winning the regular-season title, it will need help from multiple teams this weekend.
Western Michigan travels to Colorado to take on the Tigers. This is the only time these two teams have played this season. This is a big series for both the Broncos and the Tigers in terms of playoff positioning in the NCHC.
North Dakota welcomes St. Cloud State to Grand Forks. North Dakota swept St. Cloud the first weekend of December at St. Cloud State. This will also be St. Cloud State’s last 2 games of the regular season.
With a sweep this weekend over St. Cloud State in regulation and a loss by Western Michigan in regulation, North Dakota would clinch the #1 seed in the playoffs and would be the 2025-2026 Penrose Cup winner.
Miami (OH) welcomes Minnesota Duluth to town this weekend. This is also a big weekend for both teams as it could potentially determine who is home or away in the 1st round of the playoffs. This is also the first time these teams have faced off this season.
The final series of the weekend is a BIG series for both teams. It very well could determine who the season ends on the 28th. Omaha travels to the desert to faceoff against Arizona State. With this being the only time they face off this season, they trail each other by 1 point in the standings. With two regulation losses this weekend, Omaha would see its season end on the 28th.
Olympics
As we have been enjoying the NCHC action over here in America, the Men’s Hockey tournament has been taking place in Italy, featuring a total of 8 NCHC alums or current players on 4 different teams. Let’s look at how they have fared in Italy so far.
Team USA, with the most NCHC players on their squad, has looked very good so far. In the pool play, they went 3-0. Jake Guentzel from Omaha scored a goal in the round. Brock Nelson from North Dakota had two goals and an assist. Jake Sanderson, also from North Dakota, had 2 assists. Jaccob Slavin from Colorado College had 1 assist.
Denmark would feature two players from St. Cloud State. Oliver Lauridsen would have 1 assist, while Patrick Russell was kept off the score sheet. Denmark would go 1-2 in pool play.
Germany featured Frederik Tiffels from Western Michigan. He assisted on 2 goals while his team went 1-2 in pool play.
Slovakia has the only current NCHC player on its roster. Goaltender Adam Gajan wouldn’t be dressed in any of the 3 games during pool play. However, Slovakia went 2-1 in those games.
Heading into the playoff qualification round, Germany and Denmark would need to win to move on to the quarterfinals. Germany’s Frederik Tiffels would score a goal in the round to help Germany move on to the quarterfinals. Denmark was unable to move on to the quarterfinals. Both Patrick Russell and Oliver Lauridsen were both held off the score sheet in the game.
The quarterfinals were played on Wednesday, the 18th. The USA, Germany, and Slovakia all played. The USA would win in overtime to move to the medal round; none of the NCHC players had a point in the game. Frederik Tiffels would have a goal, but it was not enough as Germany would fall 6-2 to Slovakia.
Speaking of Slovakia, Adam Gajan was once again not dressed for Team Slovakia.
The Medal Round will take place on Friday with the USA playing Slovakia. The winner of that game will face the winner of the Canada/Finland matchup for the gold medal. The gold medal matchup will take place on Sunday. The losers of those two games will play for the bronze medal on Saturday.
I want to congratulate Team Germany and Team Denmark on a great showing in the Olympics. Thank you to Patrick Russell and Oliver Lauridsen from St. Cloud State and Team Denmark, as well as Frederik Tiffels of Germany and Western Michigan, for making the NCHC proud.
Next week’s article, we will recap what happens in the medal round. Will either the USA or Slovakia bring home the gold? Look for the answer in next week’s article.
Closing
As we enter the final weeks of the regular season, playoff spots are up for grabs this weekend. There is no better time to grab your favorite beverage and snacks, sit in your favorite chair, and enjoy some NCHC hockey this weekend.
Talk to you all next weekend as we look back at this coming weekend and look ahead to the final regular season weekend of the 2025-2026 hockey season, along with everything else NCHC related.
