NFL
Welcome, NCHC fans, to the final month of the regular season. As we get closer to crowning a regular-season champion, each week we have looked back at the previous week and get ourselves ready for another fun NCHC weekend. Let’s go ahead and look back at last week’s games, the standings, rankings, players of the week, and players of the month. Lastly, we will look ahead to this weekend’s games and wish the Olympians good luck.
Last week’s results
Last weekend delivered the action.
Newly ranked #20 St. Cloud State welcomed Miami (OH) to town. Unfortunately, for the Huskies fans, it wasn’t a great weekend. The Red Hawks from Miami (OH) came into town and took all 6 points on the weekend with scores of 2-1 and 3-1.
The Mavericks from Omaha would travel up to Kalamazoo to take on the defending regular-season champion, the Broncos from Western Michigan. Friday night, the Brocos took care of business against the Mavericks with a 5-2 victory. Friday night, the Mavericks returned the favor to the Broncos by beating them 4-1. Each team earned 3 points on the weekend.
The last two games take us to the beautiful state of Colorado. In Denver, we had a battle of the top 11 teams in the nation when the Bulldogs from Minnesota Duluth would take on the Pioneers of Denver. For Denver, it was a great weekend for them as they try to stay close to the idle North Dakota Fighting Hawks. Denver would win Friday night by the score of 4-3. Saturday night’s game needed the extra 5 minutes to determine the winner, as the Pioneers would take the game 1-0 in overtime to earn 5 of the possible 6 points.
About 50 miles south of Denver, we had a battle between the Arizona State Sun Devils and the Colorado College Tigers. Coming into the series, Colorado College trailed Arizona State 2 points in the standings. Friday night was an exciting game. Colorado College needed 3 goals in the 3rd period to force overtime. Unfortunately, for Tigers fans, the magic ended as they lost in overtime 6-5. Saturday night, Colorado College would get its revenge and win 4-1. The Tigers earned the much-needed points, securing 4 of the 6 available.
Rankings
Following the games, there is a change in the top 20 USCHO rankings heading into this weekend.
North Dakota would move up to number 3 after being previously ranked 4 last week.
Western Michigan would drop down 1 spot from 3 to 4.
After its sweep in Denver, Denver moves up 3 spots to number 8 from 11.
Following their rough weekend, Minnesota Duluth drops 3 spots to No. 10 after previously ranking 7th.
St. Cloud State, after being ranked 20th last week, would drop out of the rankings.
The four teams ranked are still currently projected to make the NCAA tournament in March, according to the Bracketology Podcast on the USCHO website.
Players of the Week
This week, we have a new honorary recipient this season and some previous winners.
The Forward of the Week goes to Bennett Schimek from Arizona State, who wins his second Forward of the Week this season and third of his career. He would have a goal and four assists in the series split against Colorado College.
Speaking of the Colorado College series, that’s where our Defenseman of the Week comes from. Mats Lindgren wins his first Defenseman of the Week honor, but his second weekly award, as he won Rookie of the Week earlier in January. He would have 2 goals and 1 assist in the game on Friday night. More on him coming up in the next section.
For the fourth time this season, Matteo Drobac from Miami (OH) earned Goaltender of the Week. During the weekend against St. Cloud State, Matteo stopped 61 of the 63 shots he faced and helped Miami secure its first conference road sweep in NCHC play since January 2021.
The Rookie of the Week goes to Denver University’s Johnny Hicks. It’s his first time earning a weekly award from the NCHC. Johnny was a brick wall against Minnesota Duluth. On the weekend, he would stop 48 of the 49 shots he faced. He has filled in nicely for the Pioneers since Quinten Miller went down with an injury and has a 3-0-0 record this season.
Players of the Month for January
The Forward of the Month goes to North Dakota Ellis Rickwood. He would have four goals and nine assists during the month. Helped conference-leading North Dakota to a 6-2 record in January. He would also go 88-59 on faceoffs during the month.
As I mentioned in the Players of the Week section, the Defenseman of the Month goes to Mats Lindgren from Colorado College. In his first month of college hockey, as he came to Colorado College during the holiday break, he would have 4 goals and 4 assists. He would also have a +4 plus/minus during the month to go along with his 23 shots on goal during the month. Colorado College had a 3-4-1 record during the month, far from the fault of Mats Lindgren.
The Goaltender of the Month goes to Hampton Slukynsky from Western Michigan. He would post a 7-1-0 for the red-hot Broncos during January. He stopped 241 shots during the month. He opened the month of January with back-to-back shutouts.
The Rookie of the Month was David Deputy of Miami (OH). He had a hot month as he would score 5 goals for the Red Hawks, including his first career hat trick on January 17th. He helped Miami (OH) to a 5-1-0 record in the month.
Standings
Like I said in the opening, we are in the final month of the regular season for the 2025-2026 NCHC hockey season. With us in the final month, some hardware will be awarded at some point during the month. Heading into this weekend’s games, the race for the Penrose Cup is as follows.
North Dakota remains in first place after being idle last weekend. They have 38 points in 16 games played.
Following their sweep this past weekend, Denver is now only 3 points behind North Dakota at 35 points. However, they played 18 games.
Western Michigan continues its push toward the top, now at 31 points with 16 games played.
Minnesota Duluth wraps up their top 4 in the conference with 26 points, with 18 games played.
The bottom 4 are as follows. Miami (OH) now has 22 points with 16 games played.
St. Cloud State has 20 points with 18 games played.
Colorado College and Arizona State are tied for 7th with 19 points, with 16 games played. Colorado College holds the tiebreaker over Arizona State due to them winning the season series over the Sun Devils.
Heading into the weekend, Omaha is the team that would miss the playoffs if the season started this weekend. They currently have 18 points after 18 games.
The top 3 teams in the conference are starting to pull away from the pack. 8 points separate the remaining teams from #4 to #9.
This weekend, Omaha will be the idle team. Therefore, next week, check the standings; they will still be in 9th place.
Things are heating—time to strap in and enjoy the final month of the regular season.
This weekend
St. Cloud State will make its first trip to Arizona State since 2016. This will be their first matchup of the season. They played last season, with Arizona State sweeping St. Cloud State in January.
Western Michigan travels to Miami (OH). Previously this season, Miami (OH) traveled to Kalamazoo and was swept by the Broncos. Does Miami return the favor this weekend?
North Dakota travels to Duluth to take on the Bulldogs. This will be a big series for Duluth if they have any hopes of winning the Penrose Cup, and they will have to do it with their backup goalie. More on that in the next section. Early this season, each team won a game in North Dakota, with Duluth’s victory coming in overtime.
The final matchup this weekend goes to the most-played rivalry in college hockey. It’s Colorado College and Denver facing off for the 350th and 351st time in school history. Early in the season, Denver won both games but needed overtime on Friday night. Colorado College still has a chance to win the rivalry trophy, The Gold Pan, if they win both games this weekend in regulation.
National Honors
Over the next couple of weeks, we also have the Olympic Men’s Hockey taking place in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
Four NCHC teams will have alums playing for the USA in the tournament. Omaha has Forward Jake Guentzel, who played for them between 2013 and 2016. North Dakota has Forward Brock Nelson and Defenseman Jake Sanderson. Brock played between 2010 and 2012, and Jake played between 2020 and 2022. Colorado College has Defenseman Jaccob Slavin, who played for them between 2013 and 2015. Of those USA players, only Brock Nelson didn’t play in the NCHC. He played for North Dakota when they were still in the WCHA.
Two NCHC teams will have alums playing for European teams. St. Cloud State had Oliver Lauridsen play from 2008 to 2011. He played for St. Cloud State when the program was still in the WCHA. They also have Patrick Russell, who played for them between 2014 and 2016. Both players will be representing Denmark. Representing Team Germany and Western Michigan is Frederik Tiffels, who played for the Broncos from 2014 to 2017.
As I mentioned in the preview of games this weekend, Minnesota Duluth will be using a backup goalie for the next couple of weeks. That’s cause there #1 goalie, Adam Gajan, will be playing for Team Slovakia. He is the only present NCHC player representing his country in the Olympics.
Even though I want Team USA to win, I will be cheering on all the NCHC players these next couple of weeks.
Good Luck, guys, in the tournament. Make the NCHC proud!!!!
Closing
Well, NCHC fans, the clock is ticking. Before we know it, the season will be over. Grab your favorite beverages and snacks and catch some NCHC hockey this weekend. If you can’t watch any NCHC action this weekend, tune in to the Olympics and cheer on our NCHC boys in action. Talk to you all next week.
