Final College Hockey Rankings Reaction and First Transfer Portal Commitments: Puck Drop

The Denver Pioneers have the national championship trophy, their third in five years, and on Monday they secured all the first-place votes in the two major polls to finish the 2026-27 season as the unanimous No. 1 team in the nation.

But did they have the best overall season of all the teams in college hockey? No, according to the National Collegiate Percentage (NPI) Index, which for the first time was used to select the at-large teams and seed the NCAA tournament.

The final NPI rankings, which don't include championships in its calculations in in stength of schedule, still had Michigan at No. 1 after the final game of the Frozen Four in Las Vegas was played. Meanwhile, Wisconsin, which reached the title game, moved up to No. 7.

Here's the final top 20, followed by the polls:

Final National Collegiate Percentage (NPI) Index

1. Michigan
2. Denver
3. North Dakota
4. Michigan State
5. Western Michigan
6. Minnesota Duluth
7. Wisconsin
8. Dartmouth
9. Providence
10. Quinnipiac
11. Penn State
12. Cornell
13. Minnesota State
14. Augustana
15. St. Thomas
16. Connecticut
17. Massachusetts
18. Boston College
19. Michigan Tech
20. Ohio State

Made Biggest Jump From Preseason: Wisconsin started out at No. 20, and finished No. 2 in the final polls. Both UMD and Dartmouth began unranked and worked their way up to the top 10.

Had Biggest Fall From Preseason: Boston University was No. 2 and didn't finish in the top 20. The Terriers were No. 29 in the final NPI.

Most underrated ranked team per NPI: Yep, even after all that, it's still Augustana, which was No. 17 in the polls, but No. 14 in NPI.

Most overrated ranked team per NPI: Merrimack was No. 15 in the final polls, but NPI had it at No. 22.

Final USCHO Men's Poll

April 13, 2026

Rank	Team	Record	Points (1st)	Prv.
1	Denver	29-11-3	1,000 (50)	4
2	Wisconsin	24-13-2	914	12
3	Michigan	31-8-1	913	1
4	North Dakota	29-10-1	856	2
5	Michigan State	26-9-2	769	3
6	Western Michigan	27-11-1	737	5
7	Minnesota Duluth	24-15-1	701	6
8	Quinnipiac	27-10-3	603	11
9	Providence	23-11-2	585	7
10	Dartmouth	22-8-4	549	8
11	Penn State	21-14-2	500	10
12	Cornell	22-11-1	462	9
13	Connecticut	20-13-5	416	13
14	Minnesota State	22-11-7	364	14
15	Merrimack	21-16-2	237	16
16	Massachusetts	22-13-1	229	15
17	Augustana	22-11-5	173	18
18	St. Thomas	21-12-5	164	17
19	Boston College	20-15-1	119	19
20	Bentley	23-11-5	106	20

Others receiving votes: Michigan Tech 30, Ohio State 21, Princeton 15, Colorado College 7, Maine 7, Miami 7, St. Cloud State 6, Union 5, Northeastern 2, Sacred Heart 2, Bowling Green 1

Final USA Hockey Men's Poll

April 13, 2026

Rank	Team	Points (1st)	Prv.
1	Denver	680 (34)	3
2	Wisconsin	627	4
3	Michigan	620	1
4	North Dakota	583	2
5	Michigan State	540	5
6	Western Michigan	500	6
7	Minnesota Duluth	485	7
8	Quinnipiac	400	8
9	Providence	374	9
10	Dartmouth	368	10
11	Penn State	349	11
12	Cornell	310	12
13	Connecticut	283	13
14	Minnesota State	237	14
15	Merrimack	161	16
16	Massachusetts	156	15
17	Augustana	118	17
18	Boston College	109	18
19	St. Thomas	93	19
20	Bentley	53	20

Others Receiving Votes: Michigan Tech 14; Ohio State 10; Princeton 10; Union 7; Maine, 4; Northeastern 2.

The most surprising item from the final rankings: Hockey East led all conferences with the most ranked teams in the polls with five.

Transfer Portal

Defeneseman Taner Hendricks was one of three St. Cloud State players to enter the transfer portal on the first day it was open Monday, and quickly excited to follow former Huskies head coach Brett Larson to Minnesota. Joining Hendricks, a fourth-round selection by the Blue Jackers in the 2024 NHL Draft, were forward Austin Burnevik, who scored 20 goals last season, and defenseman Finn Loftus. Also added to the Gophers' roster were goaltender Melvin Strahl (Michigan State) and defenseman Evan Murr (Minnesota State).

Also on the move was the leading goal-scorer at St. Lawrence to UNH:

Bentley: F James Duerr (from Massachusetts)
Colgate: F Elias Zimmerman (Massachusetts)
Holy Cross: F Jack Larrigan (Notre Dame)
Michigan State: F Cullen Potter (Arizona State)
Michigan Tech: F Giovanni Morneau (Lindenwood)
Minnesota State: D Sam Court (Arizona State); F Joel Lehtinen (Stonehill); D Will Shahan (Boston College)
New Hampshire: F Rasmus Svartstrom (St. Lawrence); F Nick Van Tassell (Massachusetts): D Malte Vass (Boston University)
North Dakota: D Brasen Boser (Arizona State)
Notre Dame: D Leo Gruba (Notre Dame); D Michael Quinn (Miami)
Omaha: D Jayden Jubenvill (North Dakota)
Penn State: D Caeden Herrington (Vermont)
St. Cloud State: D Finn McLaughlin (Minnesota)
St. Thomas: D Justin Kipkie (Arizona State)
Wisconsin: D Dylan Compton (Northeastern)

Puck Drop: Tuesday, April 14, 2026

• Former Massachusetts goaltender Jonathan Quick announced his retirement after 19 seasons in the NHL, and then made his final start. The 40-year-old won three Stanley Cups and has the most wins (410) and shutouts (65) of any United States-born goalie in NHL history. Prior to the game, everyone player on the New York Rangers had on a No. 32 jersey during warmups.

The @FlaPanthers made sure to congratulate Jonathan Quick on a wonderful career! 🤝 pic.twitter.com/aCdAFpdhiu
— NHL (@NHL) April 14, 2026

• Penn State forward Aiden Fink signed a three-year, entry-level deal with the Nashville Predators. He had signed an Amateur Tryout with the Milwaukee Admirals at the end of March. ... Denver defenseman Boston Buckberger signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets starting in the 2026-27 season.

• Jack Nesbitt, the 12th-overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft by the Flyers, is reportedly making the jump from the OHL and heading to Michigan next season. He had 58 points (25 goals, 33 assists) in 55 games with Windsor this season.

• The NCAA clarified that Denver freshman goaltender Johnny Hicks set a new NCAA single-season save percentage record at .957. He broke Jimmy Howard's single-season record set in 2004 at Maine (.956). His 1.20 goals against average was third all-time behind Howard (2004: 1.19) and Quinnipiac's Yaniv Perets (2022: 1.17).

• Former Connecticut defenseman Viking Gustafsson-Nyberg made his NHL debut with the Minnesota Wild.

• Former North Dakota forward Bock Nelson played in his 1,000th NHL game ... Patrick Kane (out of the U.S. Developmental Team Program) notched NHL point No. 1,400.

Patrick Kane's 1,400th career NHL point. 🎬 pic.twitter.com/KJf7woOKVZ
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) April 14, 2026

Countdown to the 2026-27 Season

It's not official, but the expected start date is Oct. 2, so 171 days.

Hockey Quote of the Day

“He had a very long fuse. But when he got to the end of it, look out.”
Nelson Emerson on Rob Blake

We'll Leave You With This ...

“We can only say so many things as coaches. Great teams, they are eventually led from within,” David
Carle

Winning doesn’t take one.
It takes everyone.
Collective responsibility is the standard of leadership. pic.twitter.com/1L2hYw0hQN
— The Winning Difference (@thewinningdiff1) April 12, 2026

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