NFL
By Jason Gulden
Well, the NCHC season is officially over following the conference championship game on March 21st. However, college hockey is still underway, with NCHC teams featured.
Championship Game
The action took place at Magness Arena in Denver on Saturday, March 21st. After years of the NCHC Final Four being played in Minnesota, this year it moved to campus sites. Boy, that was an exciting change that NCHC made this year. This year, it was Minnesota Duluth facing off against the University of Denver.
Denver would come out on fire as they didn’t take long to find the back of the net multiple times during the first period. Their first goal came at the 3:33 mark of the first when Rieger Lorenz would find the back of the net. The helper came from Samu Salminen.
Then, just over 3 minutes later at 6:37, Clake Caswell would find the back of the net to put Denver up 2-0. Helpers came from Cole Ashcroft and Brendan McMorrow.
Denver would go up 3-0 at 13:02 when Boston Buckberger finds the back of the net. Garrett Brown and Reiger Lorenz would provide the helpers.
Minnesota Duluth would finally find the back of the net at the 18:40 mark of the first period. Max Plante would get Duluth on the board, with helpers from his brother, Zam Plante, and Adam Kleber.
After 20 minutes, Denver was up 3-1.
Minnesota Duluth must have thought the game started at 7 pm local time instead of 6 because they were a completely different team in the second period.
At the 4:19 mark, Grayden Siepmann would score Duluth’s second goal of the game. The helpers would come from Scout Truman and Hunter Anderson. At 18:05, Duluth would tie the game with a goal from Hunter Anderson. The helpers came, Kyle Gaffney and Scout Truman.
After 40 minutes, the game was tied at 3.
Teams would play 40 more minutes of no-goal action. We fast forward to the 2nd overtime. That’s when, at the 1:54 mark, our conference champion was crowned. Kristian Epperson would give the Denver Pioneers an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the conference winner. The helpers came from Clarke Caswell and Garrett Brown.
Denver wins 4-3 in Double Overtime.
All-Tournament Team
Following the game, the NCHC would announce its all-tournament team with an on-ice ceremony. The winners were as follows.
- Forward- Max Plante. Minnesota Duluth
- Forward- Reiger Lorenz, Denver
- Forward- Zam Plante, Minnesota Duluth
- Defenseman- Boston Buckberger, Denver
- Defenseman- Eric Pohlkamp, Denver
- Goaltender- Johnny Hicks, Denver
The NCHC would also hand out the Most Outstanding Player. That honor goes to Denver University’s Johnny Hicks. He would stop 38 of the 41 shots he faced in the game.
NCAA Tournament
On Sunday, March 22nd, the NCAA announced the 16 teams that will make up the 2026 NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament. The four sites hosting the regional round, as I mentioned in previous articles leading up to this, are as follows:
- Worchester
- Albany
- Sioux Falls
- Loveland
This year, as I mentioned in previous articles, will feature 4 NCHC teams. The regionals start on Thursday, the 26th, and go until Sunday, the 29th.
Heading into the selection show, I was hoping that one NCHC team would be sent to each region, with the hopes that we have an ALL-NCHC Frozen Four in Las Vegas on April 9th and 11th.
The Number 1 seeds in each region are as follows
- University of Michigan from the Big Ten
- North Dakota from the NCHC
- Michigan State from the Big Ten
- Western Michigan from the NCHC
The first region to be announced would be the Albany region
- University of Michigan from the Big Ten
- Bentley from the Atlantic Hockey
- Minnesota Duluth from the NCHC
- Penn State from the Big Ten
The Albany region will play on Friday, with Michigan playing Bentley and Duluth taking on Penn State. The winners of those games will face off on Sunday for a berth in the Frozen Four. We will discuss the Minnesota Duluth game from Friday and hopefully the Sunday game in the next article.
The second region to be announced would be Sioux Falls.
- North Dakota from the NCHC
- Merrimack from the Hockey East
- Providence from the Hockey East
- Quinnipiac from the ECAC
The Sioux Falls region will play on Thursday, with North Dakota playing Merrimack and Providence playing Quinnipiac. The winners will play on Saturday for a berth in the Frozen Four. We will discuss the North Dakota game on Thursday and, hopefully, the championship game on Saturday in the next article.
The third region announced would be the Worcester Region.
This region will not feature an NCHC team. The teams playing for a berth are as follows.
- Michigan State from the Big Ten
- UConn from Hockey East
- Dartmouth from the ECHC
- Wisconsin from the Big Ten
Those will take place on Thursday, with Michigan State taking on UConn and Dartmouth taking on Wisconsin. Berth to the Frozen Four will be determined on Saturday. I will give you a brief recap in the next article.
The final region announced would be the Loveland Region
- Western Michigan from the NCHC
- Minnesota State from CCHA
- Denver from the NCHC
- Cornell from the ECAC
Those games will take place on Friday, with Western Michigan facing Minnesota State and Denver facing Cornell. The final will be on Sunday between the two winners. In the next article, we will discuss both the Western Michigan and Denver games from Friday and, hopefully, a matchup between the two on Sunday for the regional championship.
The winners of each region move on to Las Vegas on April 9th and April 11th for the Frozen Four.
The NCHC looks to become the NCAA Champion for the 8th time out of the last 10.
Closing
It’s NCAA tournament time. All games will be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN+. It’s time now to find your favorite snack, favorite beverage, sit in your comfy chair, and cheer on all four NCHC teams as they contend for the NCAA National Championship in Men’s Hockey.
I will be back with you guys next week to recap the regional games featuring the NCHC.
We will continue this journey until there is no NCHC team standing. Hopefully not until Saturday, April 11th, when one of our 4 teams lifts the NCAA trophy as the 2025-2026 NCAA Men’s Hockey National Champions.
Talk to you all next week
