Grand Forks – The National Collegiate Hockey Conference had its worst non -conference record in a decade this season.
This meant that two teams qualified for the NCAA tournament.
Once the NCAA tournament started, it was the same old.
Western Michigan won the national NCAA championship on Saturday evening, beating the University of Boston 6-2 in the final.
He scored the seventh national championship in the last nine NCHC tournaments. Und, Minnesota Duluth and Denver also won titles during this period.
The NCHC went 6-1 in the NCAA tournament this season. His only loss was for herself. West Michigan eliminated Denver in the semi-finals.
It has been more than 40 years that a conference of male university hockey has been carried out like this. The Old Western Collegiate Hockey Association won 10 of the 11 national titles from 1973 to 1983.
Over the past decade, the only other conferences to win a national championship are ECAC and East hockey. They each won one.
The Big Ten, with all its wealth, its power and its advertising, has not yet won a title of the NCAA since the formation of the League in 2013-2014. The last time one of its members won a national title was 18 years ago when the state of Michigan did. The captain of this team is now 43 years old.
There have been concerns through university hockey that Big Ten is about to take over with all the money from football that took place in hockey.
Several experts proclaimed that the time had arrived after the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2023, where the Big Ten expressed beats at all levels. The Minnesota beat Canisius 9-2, Michigan beat Colgate 11-1, Penn State Beat Michigan Tech 8-0 and Ohio State beat Harvard 8-1.
But since this round, Big Ten is a modest 9-12 of the NCAA tournament.
Only one Big Ten team has even reached the championship match in the past seven years (six tournaments).
There are underlying reasons for which other schools are wary of big ten and their money.
Big Ten has recently won many recruitment battles for the best hopes.
Since 2019, Big Ten has had 24 first round choices in the NHL. Hockey East had 16. The NCHC had five – and two transferred after a year to Big Ten and Hockey East.
Some Big Ten teams spent the second half of this season trying to shake the NCHC for its best players.
Some key players will go to Big Ten. The choice of second round of St. Cloud State Colin Ralph is transferred to the state of Michigan. Und the third round Jayden Perron goes to Michigan. Omaha’s third round, Tanner Ludtke, left for Minnesota.
Some Big Ten schools are launching major money in the best players in the Canadian Hockey League, which will be eligible for university hockey from this fall.
The Superstar Gavin McKenna, the overall choice n ° 1 planned in 2026, offers offers of name, image and massive resemblance. If he goes to university, he will probably enter next season as the first prize of the Hobey Baker – who says something given the 2025 winner, Isaac Howard, of the State of Michigan, plans to return to school.
Lots of attention is paid to the higher prospects of NHL in university hockey – and for a good reason. They are often the best players.
Four of the last five winners of the Hobey Baker Prize have been first -round choices in the NHL – Howard (n ° 31 in total), Macklin Celebrini from the University of Boston (n ° 1), Adam Fantilli du Michigan (n ° 3) and Cole Caufield of Wisconsin (n ° 15).
This year’s hobey hat tip has been all the first round choices – Howard, Ryan Leonard du Boston College (n ° 8) and Zeev Buium de Denver (n ° 12)
But there is an interesting paradox in university hockey at the moment. The teams responsible for better NHL prospects were good – sometimes very good – but none has yet won the national title.
There were 16 university hockey teams with more than four NHL rounds on their list. Five reached the four frosts. Three missed the NCAA tournament. Only one reached the final and he lost.
Michigan has had 12 first rounds since 2019 – including four of the top five choices in 2021 – but the Wolverines have never won the title of the Big Ten Conference with this group. Their last NCAA championship took place 27 years ago.
The small schools of Michigan – Western Michigan and Ferris State – played for NCAA titles more recently than adults.
The last team with several NHL first round choices to win an NCAA title was und in 2016. This team had two: Nick Schmaltz and Brock Boeer.
The only choices of the first round that have won a national title in the past eight years (and seven tournaments) are Riley Tufte du Minnesota Duluth and Zeev Buium de Denver.
Two of the last three national champions had no player selected in the TOP 65 of the NHL recovery.
The list of four most exceptional frozen players of the last decade: Owen Michaels (not drafted), Matt Davis (not repeated), Jacob Quillan (not repressed), Mike Benning (fourth round choice), Bobby Trigno (unpublished), Parker Mackay (Undrafted), Karson Kuhlman (Undrafted) Lukosevcius), Karson Kuhlman (Undrafted), Jarid Lukosevius (not drafted) and Drake Caggiula (not recovered).
Thomas Vanek of Minnesota is the last choice of first round to win Frozen four most remarkable players. It was 22 years ago.
This does not mean that the teams responsible for NHL prospects cannot win.
The Minnesota, with three first rounds, came within two minutes in 2023. The Boston College was near in 2024.
But year after year, university hockey teams continue to prove that you can build championship lists without storing the most coveted recruits in the country.
Western Michigan did this year this year, ending the Trifecta. The Broncos have won the NCHC regular seasonal title, the eliminatory title and the national title. Their only choice of the Top 100 in the NHL on the list was the first year striker Zach Nehring, who went n ° 82.
The last team to finish the trifecta was the union in 2014. The Dutch people had a NHL choice on this list – the third round Shayne Gostisbehere.
It is important to note that Big Ten has recently leaps big jumps in the game of the regular season with its best hopes.
The NCHC obtained five times the best record for university hockey in six years from 2014-2015 to 2019-2020. But Big Ten has held the best record of non-conference every four years from the pandemic.
He just couldn’t overcome the bump in the playoffs.
It was, once again, the NCHC.
It was perhaps not really a year down after all for the League. It may have been bad circumstances.
Five teams played most of their non-conference calendar without a better offensive player.
Und was without Cameron Berg front line center. The Colorado College was without the front line Noah Laba. The Arizona State was without the front line Artem Shlaine, player of the NCHC year player. Omaha was without Ludtke, his front line winger. Minnesota Duluth was without Max Plant, his point manager per game.
West Michigan and Denver remained relatively healthy thanks to non-conference and went through the national tournament.
It was another victory and another national championship for the NCHC.
The concerns of Big Ten money – fueled by football and basketball programs – will persist. It is difficult to compete with money with regard to recruitment. But this is not new. Big Ten has been recruiting the best NHL choices for some time.
At some point, does that be equivalent to the national championships? Time will tell us.
But for a decade, the NCHC owns the national tournament.
