First Preseason College Hockey Poll is Out; Why Being No. 1 Isn't Good News for Denver: Puck Drop

Similar to the women's side, the 2026-27 preseason USCHO.com rankings have the reigning national champion exactly where they finished, at No. 1. On Monday, Denver received 35-first place votes, while three other teams received between two and seven first -place votes of which finished in the top five last year.

While its obviously high praise and well deserved for the Pioneers, who have won three national titles over the last decade and would like nothing better than to cement their dynasty status, the ranking may not be a good thing.

Granted, no one should be surprised Denver being the preseason choice as the team to beat, or that the Pioneers have a big-time target on their back — which comes in every sport with that kind of success. College hockey history gives us some other reasons why, especially over the last 25 championships (Note: No title was awarded in 2020, so that season is included here unless otherwise noted):

Yes, Denver has won six national championships since 2000. But staying on top is always tougher than getting there. The Pioneers were able to repeat with the 2004 and 2005 titles, but haven't been able to do it again. That's nothing against them, it's just that hard to do.

Only one program has managed to repeat since Denver last did it more than 20 years ago, Minnesota Duluth in 2018-19.

Over the same time period, only twice has the preseason No. 1 team finished in the same spot, UMD during the 2018-19 season, and Minnesota in 2002-03. That’s 8 percent.

This is the sixth time in 25 seasons that the Pioneers are starting atop the poll. Only once during those five subsequent seasons did the Pioneers make it back to the Frozen Four.

With that in mind, here's the first preseason top 20, with the preseason USA Hockey Poll in conjunction with the American Hockey Coaches Association set to be released on Monday. Last week the USCHO.com women's preseason poll had reigning champion Wisconsin at No. 1 even though the WCHA coaches poll had Ohio State first in the conference rankings. The NCHC coaches had Denver leading the league voting, but only by just two votes over North Dakota.

2026-27 USCHO Preseason Men's Hockey Poll

Rank	Team	Points (First)	Previous
1	Denver	973 (35)	1
2	Michigan	915 (6)	3
3	Michigan State	886 (7)	5
4	North Dakota	859 (2)	7
5	Minnesota Duluth	737	7
6	Wisconsin	709	2
7	Quinnipiac	692	8
8	Western Michigan	653	6
9	Providence	629	9
10	Massachusetts	453	16
11	Dartmouth	436	10
12	Boston College	378	19
13	Cornell	319	12
14	Minnesota	285	NR
15	Connecticut	272	13
16	Boston University	254	NR
17	Penn State	243	11
18	Minnesota State	176	14
19	Michigan Tech	145	NR
20	Merrimack	82	15

Others receiving votes: Augustana 70, Ohio State 59, St. Thomas 50, Miami 49, Bowling Green 39, Colorado College 39, Bentley 24, Sacred Heart 17, Clarkson 12, Northeastern 11, Maine 9, Princeton 7, Harvard 6, Arizona State 5, Notre Dame 5, Brown 1, New Hampshire 1

Some other items of note from the initial rankings:

Only once during the last 25 years has a team that began the season unranked in the USCHO.com poll went on to win the title, Yale in 2012-13 (4 percent).

The ranking that has gone on to win the national title the most: No. 4, six times (24 percent), including by Denver last season. That bodes well for North Dakota this season.

Percentage of teams in the top four preseason poll made it to the Frozen Four: 33 percent.

Only four times since 2000 has the USCHO.com preseason poll had four Western teams ranked in the first four. Two of those national championships were won by Eastern teams (Quinnipiac in 2022-23, and Boston College in 2011-12). However, the other two were won by the reigning national champion (UMD and Minnesota).

If you're wondering about the Covid year, when the 2019-20 season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cornell was No. 1 when everything came to a halt. The Big Red was preseason No. 5. Only one team in the top four of the preseason poll, Minnesota State, was on pace to make the Frozen Four.

Note: Come back tomorrow for more on the preseason rankings.

Puck Drop: Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Former Boston College forward Kevin Hayes announced his retirement from playing hockey after 12 NHL seasons. You may remember that the 34-year-old recently signed a one-year contract with Ak Bars Kazan in the Kontinental Hockey League. He didn’t have a point during his first five games. As for his NHL career, he was a first-round selection in 2010 (No. 24 overall), played in 805 games, notched 446 points (185 goals, 261 assists), and was the 2019-20 winner of the Gene Hart Memorial Award.

After 861 games in NHL and 5 games in KHL, Kevin Hayes 🇺🇸 announced his retirement.

"I have decided to end my hockey career. I can no longer play at the level I am capable of because my body does not allow me to perform at my best. And I cannot accept not being in top form." pic.twitter.com/ItcQb18FA0
— KHL (@khl_eng) September 21, 2026

Because there were only a couple of regular season games over the weekend the women’s polls were not updated. On Sunday, No. 13 Colgate defeated St. Lawrence 3-1 in an exhibition, while Union and Bishop’s (Quebec) skated to a 2-2 tie. The next regular season games are scheduled for Thursday, with most non-Ivy League teams playing over the weekend.

Wisconsin landed a commitment from defenseman Landon Knott from the USA Hockey's National Development Program (NTDP), U17 Team. He had previously been at Bemidji (Minn.) High School, and is the nephew of Badgers associate head coach Todd Knott.

Don’t tell Cole Caufield (Wisconsin) that it’s only the preseason. On Monday he scored two goals, including at 3:19 of overtime, to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-2 win against the against the Ottawa Senators in the Hockeyville preseason game at Colisee Videotron in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. That came two days after scoring with 38 seconds left in overtime gave Montreal a 4-3 win against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs in a split-squad game at Bell Centre.

COLE CAUFIELD WINS IT IN OVERTIME! 🚨#KraftHockeyville pic.twitter.com/VWQwdhtgNF
— NHL (@NHL) September 22, 2026

Countdown to the 2026-27 Season

… 10 days

This Date in Hockey History

September 22, 1934: The original Ottawa Senators moved to St. Louis and were renamed the Eagles. They went 11-31-6 during the 1934-35 season and then ceased operations.

September 22, 1946: Minnesota center Gary Gambucci, who played on Team USA at four world championships, was burn in Hibbing, Minn. He also served in the U.S. Army was

September 22, 1957: Wisconsin and Miracle on Ice center Mark Johnson was born in Minneapolis.

September 22, 1965: Denver defenseman Craig Redmond was born in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.

September 22, 1966: Wisconsin goaltender Mike Richter was born in Abington, Penn.

September 22, 1972: The Soviet Union scored five third-period goals to beat Canada 5-4 as the Summit Series resumed after a 13-day break in Moscow. With the win, the Soviets took a 3-1-1 lead in the eight-game series.

September 22, 1978: Harvard center Steve Moore was born in Windsor, Ontario.

September 22, 1983: Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame together along with former Cornell goaltender Ken Dryden and Harry Sinden.

September 22, 1991: In a trade involving a pair of former college standouts, the Philadelphia Flyers sent Ron Sutter and defenseman Murray Baron (North Dakota) to the St. Louis Blues for forwards Rod Brind’Amour (Michigan State) and Dan Quinn.

September 22, 2000: Former Clarkson player Mike Smith, who earned his doctorate from Syracuse, was named general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks.

September 22, 2016: Hall of Fame administrator Walter Bush, who was president of USA Hockey for nearly two decades and was key in the NHL in adding the Minnesota North Stars, died in Naples, Fla. He was 86. He attended Dartmouth and Minnesota Law School. He was instrumental in Herb Brooks being the head coach of Team USA for the Miracle on Ice, and women’s ice hockey becoming an Olympic sport.

Hockey Quote of the Day

“Just seeing all the little kids. When you're younger, it's so cool to see NHL (players) every day and for this community to kind of experience that, I think it's a special time for them. You try to give back to them because I was once that little kid. It's always a cool game that they do here. Hopefully we put a show on for the fans."
Shane Pino (UND) on Hockeyville Game

Winning @hockeyville was a remarkable moment for the community of Saint-Boniface, Quebec! 🙌 #KraftHockeyville pic.twitter.com/sv9psrgDM9
— NHL Media (@NHLMedia) September 21, 2026

We'll Leave You With This ...

I want to give an exceptional shoutout to Preds players, present and past.

The entire team was in the front row at Brent Peterson's celebration of life, with an impressive gathering of Preds alumni sitting behind them. The biggest names in franchise history were all there https://t.co/tqg2BpAZmP
— Max Herz (@MaxHerzTalks) September 21, 2026

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