All But One Conference Title Clinched, but NCAA Field Getting More Muddled: Puck Drop

Clarity and confusion. That seemed to the be the theme in college hockey over an upset-filled weekend as most leagues wrapped up their regular season, yet the potential 16-team field for the NCAA Tournament became more chaotic heading into conference tournaments.

We'll start with what we know, the clarity part, with every regular-season league title outside of the Big Ten having been decided:

CCHA: Alex Tracy made 20 saves for his 12th career shutout to lead Minnesota State to 3-0 victory and Northern Michigan, and clinched the extremely-tight CCHA by one point over idle Augustana and St. Thomas, which got taken to a shootout by Bemidji State, with Michigan Tech and Bowling Green just one point back. The CCHA quarterfinals will pair Ferris State at Minnesota, Bowling Green at Michigan Tech, Lake Superior at St. Thomas and Bemidji State at Augustana. It's the 10th time, and sixth straight, Minnesota State (18-9-7, 14-7-5 CCHA) won the MacNaughton Cup as CCHA regular season champions.

ECAC: Quinnipiac won its sixth straight Cleary Cup with a 4-1 victory at Harvard, to finish with 50 points in the standings, three more than Cornell and Dartmouth. With a bye, Princeton is in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2009. Freshman Ethan Wyttenbach finished the regular season leading the nation with 57 points, 10 more than Michigan's T.J. Hughes, who still has games to play. The Bobcats will have a bye and then face the lowest-remaining seed in the ECAC Tournament, which will see RPI at Clarkson, and St. Lawrence at Harvard on Friday, with Brown at Union, and Yale at Colgate on Saturday in the opening round.

Trophy lifts >>>#BobcatNation x #NCAAHockey pic.twitter.com/MCxaLVTzT0
— Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey (@QU_MIH) March 1, 2026

Hockey East: After securing at least a share of the regular-season title during a loss Friday night, Providence came back and won at UNH 3-2 to secure the regular-season crown for the first time in program history. Michael Simpson made 27 saves including 16 in the third period to hold off the Wildcats' comeback, as the No. 6 Friars improved to 22-9-2, 17-5-1 Hockey East for 51 points, while Massachusetts moved into second place with 40.

NCHC: No. 3 North Dakota clinched the regular-season title on Friday, but that didn't appear to even dent the drama in Saturday's game, won by Owen Michael's overtime goal for No. 4 Western Michigan for a 4-3 victory. The reigning national champions finished 24-9-1 overall and 16-7-1 in NCHC play, just behind Denver for second. Next weekend's NCHC quarterfinals will see Miami at Denver, Colorado College at Western Michigan, St. Cloud State at Minnesota Duluth, and Omaha at North Dakota.

AHA: Bentley had already clinched the regular-season title and top seed in the upcoming tournament. Tuesday's first round will see Mercyhurst at Canisius, and Army at Niagara, with the losers the first postseason eliminations in men's college hockey.

Big Ten: Coming off a loss and tie (but won the shootout ... in 13 rounds) to Ohio State, No. 1 Michigan State will head into the final weekend needing one regulation win at Minnesota to move past No. 2 Michigan in the standings.

As for the National Tournament picture, and the National Collegiate Percentage (NPI) Index that will be used to determine the at-large teams and seeding, here's some of what we learned:

• Michigan will go into the final Big Ten week at No. 1 in NPI, albeit barely over Michigan State. UND and Western Michigan are still on pace to be top regional seeds
• The difference between No. 6 Providence, No. 7 Quinnipiac, and No. 8 Denver is miniscule.
• There were so many upsets that Wisconsin improved its status and is up to No. 12 despite being off this weekend.
• Hockey East, which had six teams in the tournament last year, is in danger of only having one this time. Boston College dropped to No. 13, Connecticut fell to No. 15, while Maine and UMass are at No. 18 and 20, respectively.
• By having its top five teams all between No. 14 and 22 it's looking pretty likely that the automatic bid will be the CCHA's only NCAA participant.

Elsewhere ...

MSU Hockey Ties Ohio State, Takes Extra Point in Dramatic Shootout

What to Make of Minnesota's Series Split at No. 2 Michigan

No. 10 Boston College Men's Hockey Downed by Boston University 5-1

Puck Drop: Sunday, March 1, 2026

• Olympic gold medalist Abbey Murphy is now Minnesota's all-time leading goal scorer with 140 as the Gophers came back to tie their best-of-three series with St. Cloud State in the WCHA tournament. Murphy had two goals in the 4-1 victory.

• According to Variety, secondary ticketing markets are reporting massive spikes in NHL consumer demand following the Olympics. Gametime noted that online NHL ticket transactions surged to more than 10-times higher than a typical day, while get-in prices for the New Jersey Devils more than doubled after forward Jack Hughes scored the overtime game-winner against Canada. Meanwhile, SBJ reported that the NHL is on pace to set its fourth consecutive regular-season total attendance record.

• Former Michigan center Josh Norris scored two goals to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 6-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Former Connecticut forward Tage Thompson had a goal, giving him eight points (four goals, four assists) during a seven-game point streak.

Men's College Hockey Saturday Scores

AHA
Sacred Heart 4, Army 3
Canisius 5, Niagara 1
Air Force 2, Bentley 0
Holy Cross 3, RIT 2
Robert Morris 4, Mercyhurst 1

Big Ten
Notre Dame 4, No. 5 Penn State 3 (OT)
Ohio State 3, No. 1 Michigan State 3, (SO, Michigan State wins shootout 3-2)

CCHA
Bowling Green 4, No. 18 Michigan Tech 3, OT
No. 16 Minnesota State 3, Northern Michigan 0
No. 15 St. Thomas 2, Bemidji State 2, (SO, St. Thomas wins shootout 1-0)

ECAC
No. 20 Union 3, Brown 0
Colgate 7, St. Lawrence 3
No. 10 Cornell 2, Clarkson 1
Princeton 2, No. 11 Dartmouth 2, (SO, Princeton win shootout 1-0)
No. 7 Quinnipiac 4, Harvard 1
RPI 4, Yale, 2

Hockey East
No. 19 Massachusetts 3, No. 14 Connecticut 3, (SO, UMass wins shootout 2-1)
Vermont 4, Merrimack 4, (SO, Merrimack wins shootout 2-1)
No. 6 Providence 3, New Hampshire 2
Maine 3, Northeastern 2
Boston University 5, No. 12 Boston College 1

NCHC
No. 9 Denver 4, Arizona State 1
Colorado College 2, No. 8 Minnesota Duluth 2, (SO UMD wins shootout 2-1)
Miami 4, Omaha 2
No. 4 Western Michigan 3, No. 3 North Dakota 3, (OT)

Non-Conference
Alaska vs. Alaska-Anchorage (n)

Exhibition
Stonehill 5, Simon Fraser 2

Games between ranked opponents are bolded. All times are local to where the game is being played.

Men's College Hockey Sunday Schedule

No Games Scheduled

Women's College Hockey Conference Tournaments

WOMEN
AHA Tournament
Semifinals (Best of 3)
Friday’s Scores
No. 12 Mercyhurst 2, Lindenwood 1
No. 3 Penn State 7, Syracuse 0

Saturday’s Scores
No. 12 Mercyhurst 3, Lindenwood 2, 2OT
No. 3 Penn State 2, Syracuse 1

Championship
March 7
No. 12 Mercyhurst at No. 3 Penn State, 2 p.m. ET

ECAC Tournament
Quarterfinals (Best of 3)
Friday’s Scores
No. 11 Cornell 3, No. 13 Colgate 2 (OT)
No. 10 Princeton 1, Harvard 0
No. 8 Yale, Union 2
No. 6 Quinnipiac 6, Brown 3

Saturday’s Scores
No. 11 Cornell 3, No. 13 Colgate 1
Harvard 3, No. 10 Princeton 1
No. 8 Yale 6, Union 1
Brown 3, No. 6 Quinnipiac 2, OT

Sunday’s Games
Brown at No. 6 Quinnipiac, 2 p.m. ET
Harvard at No. 10 Princeton, 3 p.m. ET

Semifinals
At Lake Placid, N.Y.
Thursday’s Games
4 p.m. ET
7 p.m. ET

Championship
At Lake Placid, N.Y.
March 7
5 p.m. ET

Hockey East Tournament
Quarterfinals
Saturday’s Scores
Vermont 1, Boston College 1
Holy Cross 5, New Hampshire 4
No. 7 Connecticut 6, Maine 1
No. 5 Northeastern 2, Boson University 2, 2OT

Semifinals
Tuesday’s Games
Holy Cross at No. 7 Connecticut, 6 p.m. ET
Vermont at No. 5 Northeastern, 6 p.m. ET

Championship
March 7

NEWHA Tournament
Quarterfinals (Best of 3)
Friday’s Games
Assumption 2, Post 1 (OT)
Stonehill 3, Long Island 0
Franklin Pierce 8, Saint Michael’s 0
Saint Anselm 3, Sacred Heart 2

Saturday’s Games
Saint Anselm 3, Sacred Heart 1
Stonehill 4, Long Island 3, OT
Post 2, Assumption 1
Franklin Pierce 5, Saint Michael’s 1

Sunday’s Game
Post at Assumption, 7 p.m. ET

Semifinals
Wednesday's Games
TBD

Championship
March 7

WCHA Tournament
Quarterfinals (Best of 3)
Friday’s Scores
No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth 2, No. 15 Minnesota State 0
St. Cloud State 1, No. 4 Minnesota 0
No. 2 Ohio State 5, St. Thomas 1
No. 1 Wisconsin 7, Bemidji State 0

Saturday’s Games
No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth 3, No. 15 Minnesota State 2, 2OT
No. 4 Minnesota 4, St. Cloud State 1
No. 2 Ohio State 4, St. Thomas 1
No. 1 Wisconsin 3, Bemidji State 2, OT

Sunday’s Games
St. Cloud State at No. 4 Minnesota, 3 p.m. CT

Semifinals
At St. Paul, Minn.
Thursday’s Games
BTN, 4 p.m. CT
BTN, 7:30 p.m. p.m. CT

Championship
At St. Paul, Minn.
March 7
BTN, 2 p.m. CT

Hockey Quote of the Day

[The nickname after he notched six shutouts over his first eight NHL games] “Mr. Zero.”
Frank Brimsek (St. Cloud State)

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We'll Leave You With This ...

The really impressive thing about this is that two of the players in this had games today, and not near New York ...

Team USA hockey champs Jack and Quinn Hughes, Hilary Knight and Megan Keller joined Connor Storrie for his SNL monologue pic.twitter.com/QRmCAIOf9L
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) March 1, 2026

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