First Women's Bracketology of 2026 Shows Importance of Each Weekend: Puck Drop

When we last checked in on the women's hockey scene, the top WCHA teams were dominating like usual, and no one was sure which team was truly deserving to be No. 4 in the rankings. Case in point, last week Penn State held that spot, and didn't get knocked down after getting swept at No. 2 Ohio State, 5-1 and 4-1. The Nittany Lions are still No. 4 in the polls.

Yeah, the big three of Wisconsin, OSU and Minnesota are that far out in front of everyone else. It makes for a bit of a stagnant bracketology when the top teams almost never change. But the rest of the field remains in flux, and will likely remain that way the rest of the regular season.

Let's just say that there's a reason why the Badgers and Buckeyes have played for the last three titles, and at least one of the big three has played for the championship in every tournament minus one since 2010.

Regardless, we go through the process ...

Reminder, the brackets are different for the women. The 11 teams include five automatic qualifiers and six at-large selections. The first-round games and quarterfinals are held on campus locations, with the Women’s Frozen Four set to be played March 20-22 at Penn State's Pegula Ice Arena.

The five conferences receiving automatic bids are: Atlantic Hockey, ECAC, Hockey East, NEWHA, and the WCHA. Just like we do with the men we're going to project the teams based on the current standings: Penn State, Princeton, Northeastern, Saint Anselm and Wisconsin. Two of those changed from our last women's bracketology a month ago, and the same two would not be the projected conference champion if we went by the Women's National Collegiate Percentage (NPI) — Princeton and Northeastern, but both would still be in the tournament.

The NPI rankings, which will be used to determine the tournament field and seedings, has them, in order, at No. 4, 8, 7, 31 and 1. Nobody moved more than one spot given the few numbers of games that have been played in the past month.

The six at-large teams, would subsequently be: Ohio State, Minnesota, Connecticut, Quinnipiac, Minnesota Duluth, and Minnesota State. There's still five WCHA teams on target to make the tournament, and the next four out would be Clarkson, Cornell, Yale and Colgate.

Time for the seedings. The top four teams are placed so that if they all advance to the Women’s Frozen Four it’ll be 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3.

1 Wisconsin
4 Penn State

2 Ohio State
3 Minnesota

Note that the Nittany Lions will play on their home ice if they make the Frozen Four. Also, the No. 5 seed gets a first-round bye and automatically plays the No. 4 seed regardless of conference affiliation. That would mean Connecticut at Penn State, which in this scenario would have home ice for the entire tournament.

The next three teams are placed and have the opportunity to host first-round games. The remaining three teams are placed in order, but first-round conference matchups must be avoided if possible. That does not come into play here as we have an easy bracket:

First Women's Hockey Bracketology Projection of 2026

UMD at Princeton winner at 1 Wisconsin
Connecticut vs. 4 Penn State

Northeastern at Minnesota State winner at 2 Ohio State
St. Anselm at Quinnipiac winner at No. 3 Minnesota

So what's the big difference from a month ago? UMD, which is the point of this exercise. When it lost twice at the Friendship Series in Northern Ireland, the Bulldogs dropped from No. 4, and one win away from the Women's Frozen Four, to No. 8 in the polls and No. 9 in NPI. That's a big fall in an 11-team tournament.

In this scenario it would have to win at Princeton and then at No. 1 Wisconsin to make the semifinals. It's a perfect example of how one weekend can dramatically change a team's outlet.

Incidentally, UMD is hosting Wisconsin this weekend. Go figure.

Puck Drop: Friday, January 9, 2026

• Patrick Kane became the fifth U.S.-born player to score 500 goals in the NHL as he netted two during Detroit's 5-1 victory against visiting Vancouver. The 37-year-old joined joined Mike Modano (561), Keith Tkachuk (538), Jeremy Roenick (513) and Joe Mullen (502). The first goal came on a wrist shot at 19:31 of the first period, and the second was an empty-net goal during the final seconds. Per NHL.com: I'm Just kind of relieved to get it over with, to be honest with you," Kane said. "It's still a really cool feeling, obviously. Coming into tonight at 498 and scoring one in the in the first, and then I'm not usually on the ice when the net is empty. It was nice to get that opportunity and then hear the crowd erupt a little when I got on the ice was pretty cool. And then obviously getting the puck right away and having a chance to put it in the net for 500 was a great feeling."

"I couldn't be happier to be a Red Wing and do it in this uniform." 🥹 pic.twitter.com/k9cEP2OV6o
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 9, 2026

• Michigan announced adding forward Kason Muscutt as a midseason addition. This season he has 17 points, with five goals and 11 assists, in 29 games with Sioux City Musketeers (USHL). He originally hails from Bossier City, La.

• New Hampshire landed a commitment from 6-2 defenseman Cody Costello from the Woodbridge Wolfpack 16U, for 2028.

• BC Men's Hockey Receives Commitment From Latvian 2026 NHL Draft Prospect

• Gophers hockey dives back into Big Ten play with series at No. 9 Penn State

• PWHL to Make Madison Square Garden Debut

Thursday's Men's College Hockey Schedule

No Games Scheduled

Thursday's Women's College Hockey Schedule

AHA
RIT 3, Delaware 2

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

Men's College Hockey Friday Schedule

AHA
Sacred Heart at Niagara, 6 p.m. ET
Army at Mercyhurst, 7 p.m. ET
Bentley at Air Force, 7 p.m. MT
Robert Morris at RIT, 7 p.m. ET

Big Ten
Minnesota at No. 9 Penn State, BTen 6 p.m. ET
No. 2 Michigan State at Ohio State, 6:30 p.m. ET
Notre Dame at No. 1 Michigan, 7 p.m. ET

CCHA
Bowling Green at Ferris State, 7 p.m. ET
No. 17 Augustana at Northern Michigan, 7 ET
Michigan Tech at Bemidji State, 7 CT

ECAC
Clarkson at Brown, 7 p.m. ET
Harvard at No. 11 Dartmouth, 7 p.m. ET
RPI at No. 20 Princeton, 7 p.m. ET
Union at No. 8 Quinnipiac, 7 p.m. ET
St. Lawrence at Yale, 7 p.m. ET

Hockey East
UMass Lowell at No. 10 UConn, 7 p.m. ET
No. 19 Boston University at Massachusetts, 7 p.m. ET
No. 12 Maine at No. 18 Providence, NESN 7 p.m. ET
No. 16 Northeastern at Vermont, 7 p.m. ET

NCHC
No. 4 North Dakota at Colorado College, 7 p.m. MT
No. 6 Western Michigan at No. 7 Denver, 7 p.m. MT
St. Cloud State at Omaha, 7 p.m. CT
Miami at Arizona State, 7 p.m. MT

Non-Conference
Alaska at No. 14 Cornell, 7 p.m. ET
Lindenwood at No. 5 Minnesota Duluth, 7 p.m. CT
Alaska-Anchorage at No. 3 Wisconsin, 7 p.m. CT

Exhibition
Stonehill at No. 13 Boston College, 7 p.m. ET

Women's College Hockey Friday Schedule

AHA
RIT at Delaware, 2 p.m. ET
No. 4 Penn State at Mercyhurst, 3 p.m. ET
Syracuse at Robert Morris, 7 p.m. ET

ECAC
No. 11 Clarkson at No. 10 Cornell, 3 p.m. ET
No. 14 Yale at Dartmouth, 3 p.m. ET
St. Lawrence at No. 13 Colgate, 6 p.m. ET
Brown at Harvard, 6 p.m. ET
No. 7 Quinnipiac at Rensselaer, 6 p.m. ET
No. 9 Princeton at Union, 6 p.m. ET

Hockey East
No. 6 Northeastern at Providence, 2 p.m. ET
Boston College at Holy Cross, 6 p.m. ET
No. 5 UConn at Maine, 6 p.m. ET
Vermont at Merrimack, 6 p.m. ET

NEWHA
Assumption at Post, 1 p.m. ET
Saint Michael's at Long Island, 3 p.m. ET
Stonehill at Saint Anselm, 6 p.m. ET
Sacred Heart at Franklin Pierce, 7 p.m. ET

WCHA
No. 1 Wisconsin at No. 8 Minnesota Duluth, 3 p.m. CT
Bemidji State at St. Thomas, 5:02 CT
No. 2 Ohio State at No. 15 St. Cloud State, 6 p.m. CT
No. 3 Minnesota at No. 12 Minnesota State, 6 p.m. CT

This Date in Hockey History:

January 9, 1918: The NHL got rid of the rule making it illegal for goaltenders to leave their feet while making a save.

January 9, 1922: Men’s hockey officially became a varsity sport at the University of Minnesota.

January 9, 1945: Michigan State right wing Doug Volmar was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

January 9, 1958: Minnesota and Miracle on Ice center Rob McClanahan was born in St. Paul, Minn.

January 9, 1970: Maine left wing Scot t Pellerin was born in Shediac, New Brunswick.

January 9, 1982: Holliston (Mass.) High School player Steve D'Innocenzo scored three goals in 12 seconds.

January 9, 1983: Fomer Minnesota right wing Paul Homlgren had a goal and three assists as the Flyers beat the visiting Hartford Whalers, 8-4.

January 9, 1983: Former Minnesota and Miracle on Ice defenseman Mike Ramsey had two goals and two assists as the Sabres defeated the visiting Kings 7-2.

January 9, 1993: Former Minnesota defenseman Reed Larson notched four assists to tie a Red Wings record for most assists by a defenseman in a single game during a 4-3 win at Edmonton.

January 9, 1984: Minnesota State center Travis Morin was born in Minneapolis.

January 9, 1991: Lake Superior State defenseman Kevin Czuczman was born in Port Elgin, Ontario.

January 9, 1998: The Hockey News selected Wayne Gretzy as the best NHL player ever.

January 9, 2002: Connecticut left wing Chase Bradley was born in St. Louis.

January 9, 2003: Jeremy Roenick became the sixth U.S.-born player in NHL history to reach 600 career assists.

January 9, 2004: American goaltender Brian Boucher made 21 saves, as Phoenix won at Minnesota 2-0,

for this fifth-straight shutout to break the modern-era NHL record of four straight shutouts set by the Montreal Canadiens’ Bill Durnan in 1949. The streak ended during the next game, a 1-1 tie with Atalnta, as it reached 332:01 of game play.

January 9, 2010: Former St. Cloud State left wing Matt Hendricks scored in the 11th round of a shootout to give Colorado a 4-3 victory at Buffalo. Rookie Matt Duchene for the Avalanche.

January 9, 2011: Minnesota defenseman Jackson LaCombe was born in Eden Prairie, Minn.

January 9, 2014: Former Minnesota Duluth right wing Justin Fontaine became the first rookie in Minnesota Wild history to record a hat trick during a 4-1 victory at Phoenix. It was also his only NHL hat trick.

Hockey Quote of the Day

“The first call that I got was not from the Hall of Fame. It was from Wayne Gretzky, so I thought he was joking around, and it was the biggest surprise of my life.”
Glenn Anderson (Denver)

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We'll Leave You With This ...

Trick wants his dad to score 600 goals AND not retire until he's 75...

We think Patrick Kane can do it 😅 pic.twitter.com/9vg4txp42k
— NHL (@NHL) January 9, 2026