NFL
By Jason Gulden
Welcome back, NCHC fans. Hope everyone made it through the nasty weather we experienced across the United States last weekend. Hope you were able to catch some of the action. We had a successful weekend with 8 teams competing.
Last Weekend’s Games
Colorado College traveled to Omaha, Nebraska, to take on the Mavericks. Both games ended 3-1. Omaha won the Friday night game. Colorado College would take the Saturday night matchup.
St. Cloud State would travel to Denver, Colorado, to take on the Pioneers. Friday night, St. Cloud State secured a 4-2 victory. Denver secured a 6-0 victory on Saturday night.
There were two sweeps this past weekend. North Dakota would travel down to Tempe and manhandle Arizona State, with the scores of 7-4 and 5-3.
The other sweep took place in Duluth, Minnesota, as the Broncos from Western Michigan won both games against the Bulldogs. Both games ended 4-3, with Saturday night’s matchup requiring the extra 5 minutes to decide the winner.
Rankings
After many weeks with 4 teams ranked in the top 20 in the USCHO poll, we have another member joining the top 20… more on that in a second.
The previous 4 teams are still ranked. Western Michigan stays at #3. North Dakota stays at #4. Minnesota Duluth stays at #7. However, Denver would fall to #11 after being ranked #9 last week.
The new team that cranked the top 20 came to me as a slight surprise. St. Cloud State is now ranked # 20.
Of the 5 ranked teams, only Western Michigan, North Dakota, Denver, and Minnesota Duluth are currently listed as NCHC teams in the latest NCAA bracket, according to Bracketology Xtra on the USCHO website.
Players of the Week for January 19th-25, 2026
The Goaltender of the Week goes to Simon Latkoczy of Omaha. This is the second time this season that Simon has won Goaltender of the Week honors. In the games, he stopped 57 of the 60 shots he faced from Colorado College. Saturday night was a milestone for Simon as he played in his 100th career game in net for Omaha. He joins Colorado College netminder Kaiden Mbereko as the only active NCHC netminders to achieve that.
The Forward, Defenseman, and Rookie of the Week awards all went to North Dakota players for helping the Fighting Hawks with the sweep down in Tempe this past weekend.
The Forward of the Week went to Ellis Rickwood. He had an amazing weekend. He finished the series with the Sun Devils with 6 points. One goal and 5 assists.
The Defenseman of the Week went to Keaton Verhoeff, who also had an amazing weekend. He finished with 5 points on the weekend. He scored two of North Dakota power play goals on the weekend. One each night.
The Rookie of the Week was Will Zellers. He scored three North Dakota goals and assisted on another one. He is second with 21 points and is on top in goals among NCHC freshmen this season.
All North Dakota players earned their first NCHC weekly honors of the year.
Standings
As we head into the final five weeks of the regular season, the standings are going to be very important in the race to the Penrose Cup.
Reminder of a couple of things. First, by February 28th, the ninth-place team will end its season. Regulation wins count as three points. Overtime or shootout wins count as two points. Overtime or shootout loss counts as one point. The top four teams will host the first-round best-of-3 series, while the bottom four teams will travel to one of those sites.
We have a change in the top four heading into this weekend’s games. North Dakota remains in first place with 38 points after 16 games. Denver has also played 16 games and has 30 points, which is good for second place. The change in the standings from last week is that Western Michigan jumps Minnesota Duluth. Western Michigan now has 28 points, and Minnesota Duluth has 25 points. However, Western Michigan has two games in hand: it has played only 14, while Duluth has played 16.
The Bottom four teams stay the same. St. Cloud State has 20 points with 16 games played. Arizona State has 17 points with 14 games played. Miami (OH) has 16 points with 14 games played, and Omaha has 15 points with 16 games played.
Colorado College is still on the outside looking in with 15 points with 14 games played.
Once again, each weekend offers teams an opportunity to earn up to six points in the standings, so things can shift rapidly.
Will anything change in the standings following the games this weekend? Only time will tell.
Weekend Games
This weekend, the idle team is in 1st place, North Dakota. With North Dakota being idle, the top four teams can inch closer to the Fighting Hawks.
In Denver, Minnesota Duluth travels to face the Pioneers. This is the only matchup between these two teams this year. Duluth looks to turn its fortunes against Denver this weekend, as the last 10 matchups between the teams have favored Denver 8-2.
In St. Cloud, Minnesota, Miami (OH) travels to take on St. Cloud State. These two teams split the contest at Miami (OH) earlier this season. Miami (OH) also looks to change its fortune against St. Cloud this weekend, as it has gone 1-7-2 against them in its last 10 matchups.
Omaha travels to Kalamazoo to take on Western Michigan. Earlier this season, Western traveled to Omaha and swept Omaha. After starting the conference play, 1-3-0, Western Michigan has a 9-1-0 record in its last 10 games. Do they inch closer to North Dakota this weekend as they look to win their second consecutive conference championship?
The final game of the weekend takes place in Colorado Springs, home not only to Colorado College but also to the NCHC conference headquarters. Arizona State travels to Colorado College this weekend. Earlier this season, in Tempe, Arizona, needed a shootout to earn the extra point on Friday night, while Colorado College earned the 3 points on Saturday night.
This is a big series for Colorado College. They only trail Arizona State by two points for 6th place in the conference.
Closing
Well, NCHC fans, things are getting exciting in the league. We have five weekends remaining before the playoffs. What will things look like when we talk again next week? Only time will tell.
Grab your favorite snacks, beverages, and get comfy in your favorite chair, and enjoy some NCHC hockey this weekend and cheer your favorite team on to victory, like I will be doing with my Colorado College Tigers.
The Race for the Penrose Cup is in full swing. Talk to you all next week.
