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Hockey Takes a Day to Celebrate, Honor and Mourn: Puck Drop

Your daily briefing on what's going on in college hockey, everything from the assists on the ice to the Zamboni.
Christopher Walsh|
The 2026 Women's College Hockey National Champion Wisconsin Badgers.
The 2026 Women's College Hockey National Champion Wisconsin Badgers. | Wisconsin Athletics
  1. Puck Drop: Tuesday, March 24, 2026
  2. 2026 NCAA Tournament Schedule
  3. Hockey Quote of the Day
  4. We'll Leave You With This ...
  5. Bonus

They danced, and sang, even though neither was on the program schedule. Most of all, though, they celebrated.

Just a day after defeating Ohio State to secure the program's record-setting ninth national championship, the Wisconsin women's hockey team was back at LaBahn Arena for a "Welcome Back" ceremony Monday, and all of their fans were invited to join in.

The proceedings included some speeches and honoring Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner Caroline Harvey, while Lacey Edens, the first player in NCAA women's hockey history to win four NCAA titles, showed off her growing ring collection.

But fittingly the celebration went off-script a few times as well like when Rachel Gorbatenko grabbed the microphone for an impromptu singalong/karaoke session.

The ceremony included, trophies, lots and lots of trophies, while giving the team a final event together while thanking their fans.

The State Journal reported that the players carried their latest national championship trophy all around Madison while celebrating Monday, and to Lake Mendota where Eden launched herself into the water while wearing rollerblades (a personal tradition after winning each title).

Wisconsin released the following video about the national championship. Check it out:

Puck Drop: Tuesday, March 24, 2026

• Minnesota made it official, promoting Greg "Boom" May to women's head coach, "When we conducted a nationwide search, the name we kept having come back to us was ... Boom." athletic director Mark Coyle said while introducing him.

• According to College Hockey News, current St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson is the leading candidate to be the next head coach at Minnesota, and could be named this week. Ironically, he replaced Bob Motzko as St. Cloud State head coach in 2018. The other finalist was former Gophers player and assistant coach Grant Potulny, the current head coach of the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League . For the latest check out Minnesota Gophers On SI.

• The Boston Bruins have announced that Boston College's James Hagens will sign an AHL amateur tryout agreement (ATO) and report to the Providence Bruins. The Bruins selected him No. 7 overall in the 2025 NHL Draft. For more see Boston College Eagles On SI.

• The Minnesota Wild and NHL continue to mourn the loss of hockey journalist Jessi Pierce and her three young children from an early-morning house fire on Saturday. Pierce, 37, covered the Wild for the past 10 seasons for NHL.com and other outlets. "Words just can't express how devastated we all are," Wild general manager Bill Guerin said. "But as I mentioned to some of you the other night, it doesn't matter if you're in the media, if you're a player, if you're in management, a coach, we are all in the sports world and the hockey world and we're all in this together."

• The NHL will return to Helsinki, Finland, next season on Nov. 12 and 14 when the Carolina Hurricanes and Seattle Kraken play two regular-season games in the 2026 NHL Global Series. The league had already announced that the Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators will play in Dusseldorf next season.

• The Maryville Saints received a commitment from goaltender Louis-Felix Charrois out of Quebec, who is playing this season with the Chicago Steel of the USHL.

• Frank Zawrazky of The Hockey News is reporting that the PWHL will add a team in Chicago next season, and play "at the new USHL rink."

The 2026 Atlantic Hockey America champion Bentley Falcons celebrate after winning the conference tournament title game.
The 2026 Atlantic Hockey America champion Bentley Falcons celebrate after winning the conference tournament title game. | Gabe Herman/Atlantic Hockey America

2026 NCAA Tournament Schedule

All times Eastern
Regional semifinals
Thursday, March 26
No. 3 Michigan State vs. Connecticut, ESPN2, 1:30 p.m.
Dartmouth vs. Wisconsin, ESPNU, 5 p.m.
Providence vs. Quinnipiac, ESPN+, 5 p.m.
No. 2 North Dakota vs. Merrimack, ESPN2, 8:30 p.m.

Friday, March 27
No. 4 Western Michigan vs. Minnesota State, ESPNU, 2:30 p.m.
No. 1 Michigan vs. Bentley, ESPNU, 5:30 p.m.
Denver vs. Cornell, ESPN+, 6 p.m.
Minnesota Duluth vs. Penn State, ESPN2, 9 p.m.

Regional finals
Saturday, March 28
Sioux Falls Regional final
Worcester Regional final

Sunday, March 29
Albany Regional final
Loveland Regional final

Men's Frozen Four
At Las Vegas
Thursday, April 9
Semifinals, ESPN2
Saturday, April 11
Final, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2

Minnesota State celebrates winning the Mason Cup and securing the 2026 CCHA league championship.
Minnesota State celebrates winning the Mason Cup and securing the 2026 CCHA league championship. | Mansoor Ahmad/CCHA

Hockey Quote of the Day

“A line of limousines would stretch from Columbus Avenue to Central Park West on 66th Street. A most fashionable audience would be inside, drawn solely by [Hobey] Baker's appearance. Men and women went hysterical when Baker flashed down the ice on one of his brilliant runs with the puck. I have never heard such spontaneous cheering for an athlete as greeted him a hundred times a night and never expect to again.''
Lawrence Perry

We'll Leave You With This ...

Bonus

The New York Rangers celebrated NHL game No. 1,000 for center Mika Zibanejad and got his family involved. In addition to the traditional silver stick for reaching the milestone, they were presented with a video narrated by his wife Irma, a diamond (for Irma), a min silver stick for their daughter Ella, and had his parents on hand for the ceremony. This is Ella:

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Christopher Walsh
CHRISTOPHER WALSH

Christopher Walsh is the founder and publisher of Alabama Crimson Tide On SI, which first published as BamaCentral in 2018, and is also the publisher of the Boston College, Missouri and Vanderbilt sites . He's covered the Crimson Tide since 2004 and is the author of 27 books including “100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die” and “Nick Saban vs. College Football.” He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.

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