It's Finally Time to Unveil New-Look North Dakota : All Things NCHC

NCHC hockey is back for another season with all nine teams starting or continuing non-conference play.

The games to watch in the NCHC this week are the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks vs. University of St. Thomas Tommies on Friday and Sunday, with the two teams having a home-and-home series. This series is a non-conference matchup, but St. Thomas will be joining the NCHC next season.

Both teams had lot of turnover from last season with St. Thomas having 16 players move on and North Dakota with 15. For UND it lost both of their starting goaltenders in Hobie Hedquist and TJ Semptimphelter. They also lost six of their top-ten point players in Sacha Boisvert, Cameron Berg, Owen McLaughlin, Jayden Perron, Jake Schmaltz, and Carter Wilkie.

The Fighting Hawks also brought in a new head coach in Dane Jackson after Brad Berry was let go of at the end of the 2024-25 season.

While UND did lose a lot of players, it picked up quite a few with a lot of skill and talent in 15 players. Most notably, goaltender Gibson Homer transferred from Arizona State, goaltender Zach Sandy and forward Anthon Menghini from Minnesota-Duluth, defenseman Keaton Verhoeff out of the WHL who is ranked in the top three for the 2026 NHL draft. As well as Will Zellers who in the 2024-25 season, led the USHL in goals and was named USHL Player of the Year, USHL Forward of the Year, and was named to the USHL First All-Star Team.

For the Tommies, they lost 16 players, most notably forwards Cooper Gay, Liam Malmquist, Ryder Donovan, and goaltender Jake Sibell. The Tommies are still fairly new to DI hockey, entering only their fifth season as a DI team.

While the Tommies are still new and lost quite a few players, they also gained quite a few over the offseason. The biggest transfer was goaltender Carsen Musser from Colorado College along with defenseman Nick Williams from Michigan Tech, forward Alex Gaffney from Harvard, and forward Charlie Schoen from Arizona State. The Tommies also got forwards Lucas Van Vliet out of the USHL and Nathan Pilling out of the WHL.

North Dakota had a down season in 2024-25 and missed the NCAA tournament while St. Thomas had a good season but was not yet eligible for the postseason. While both teams lost some skill, they also gained a lot and will be looking to earn a spot in the Frozen Four this season.

Overall, the series includes two teams who gained a lot on both the defensive and offensive areas, but now have to establish their identities. It could lead to a goaltenders duel or a scoring frenzy, both of which would be great to watch.

Players of the Week

Last week, five NCHC teams played in non-conference games while the other four played in exhibitions:

UMD’s Max Plante, Ty Hanson, Adam Gajan, and Miami’s Justin Stupka all stood out and received player of the week honors.

Plante earned Forward of the Week after putting up two goals and two assists for four points with a +4 in two games played. He has found a lot of success in his young college career playing on a line with his brother Zam Plante and Jayson Shaugabay, creating a very dangerous line for the Bulldogs. More on that in a moment.

Ty Hanson earned Defenseman of the Week after he put up a pair of points with a goal and an assist and a +5 in Duluth’s two games. While Adam Gajan earned Goaltender of the Week after he put up a 1.00 goals against average and .951 save percentage in two games, allowing only two goals on 41 shots faced.

Forward Justin Stupka had a pair of goals and a +1 in Miami’s two wins over Ferris State over the weekend, helping him earn Rookie of the Week.

Duluth’s First Line Dominance

UMD fell short of its ultimate goal last season, but one bright spot was the Plante-Plante- Shaugabay line. The three combined for a total of 75 points with 28 goals and 47 assists, making up three of the Bulldogs’ top five players.

They’ve already combined for a total of four goals and seven assists for 12 points in their two games this season. The good news for the Bulldogs, and bad news for their opponents, all three are entering only their sophomore season, so they could continue to tear it up for another couple more seasons.

Hot RedHawks

Miami is off to a good start after sweeping Ferris State with 6-4 and 3-1 wins. Last season, the Redhawks only won three non-conference games and were completely shut out in conference play.

The last time the Redhawks got off to a 2-0 start was in the 2018-19 season when they swept Alabama-Huntsville, where they won by scores of 5-1 and 4-0. Can they extend the winning streak at RPI this weekend?

SEE ALSO: All Things Hockey East

Beyond the Blue Line

The reigning NCAA champions Western Michigan Broncos will begin their regular season play this weekend against Ferris State… Arizona State is hosting the Ice Breaker Tournament over the weekend. Quinnipiac, Alaska and Notre Dame round out the field. … Don't be surprised if Nebraska-Omaha has goaltender duel this weekend with Simon Latkoczy facing Minnesota State’s Alex Tracy ... a total of 50 NCHC made NHL season-opening rosters, with another 11 on injured reserve and/or non-roster. The 50 set a conference record, topping last year's 48. North Dakota and St. Cloud State had the most with 10 each.

NCHC Players in the NHL 2025-26

ARIZONA STATE
*Joey Daccord, G, Seattle
*Josh Doan, F, Buffalo

COLORADO COLLEGE
Noah Laba, F, New York Rangers
*Jaden Schwartz, F, Seattle
Jaccob Slavin, D, Carolina

DENVER
Sean Behrens, D, Colorado (IR)
Bobby Brink, F, Philadelphia
Shai Buium, D, Detroit (IR)
Zeev Buium, D, Minnesota
Devin Cooley, G, Calgary
*Scott Mayfield, D, New York Islanders
Trevor Moore, F, Los Angeles
Logan O’Connor, F, Colorado (IR)
Troy Terry, F, Anaheim
*Jason Zucker, F, Buffalo

MIAMI
Blake Coleman, F, Calgary
Sean Kuraly, F, Boston
Kiefer Sherwood, F, Vancouver
*Reilly Smith, F, Vegas

MINNESOTA DULUTH
Joey Anderson, F, Chicago (IR)
Mikey Anderson, D, Los Angeles
Noah Cates, F, Philadelphia
*Justin Faulk, D, St. Louis
Alex Iafallo, F, Winnipeg
Wyatt Kaiser, D, Chicago
Cole Koepke, F, Winnipeg
Neal Pionk, D, Winnipeg
Dylan Samberg, D, Winnipeg (IR)
Carson Soucy, D, New York Rangers

NORTH DAKOTA
Jacob Bernard-Docker, D, Detroit
Jackson Blake, F, Carolina
Brock Boeser, F, Vancouver
*Derek Forbort, D, Vancouver
Tyson Jost, F, Nashville
Tyler Kleven, D, Ottawa (IR)
*Brock Nelson, F, Colorado
Shane Pinto, F, Ottawa
Jake Sanderson, D, Ottawa
Nick Schmaltz, F, Utah
Cole Smith, F, Nashville
Troy Stecher, D, Edmonton
*Jonathan Toews, F, Winnipeg (IR)

OMAHA
Jake Guentzel, F, Tampa Bay
Brandon Scanlin, D, New York Rangers (IR)
Nick Seeler, D, Philadelphia

ST. CLOUD STATE
Jack Ahcan, D, Colorado
Will Borgen, D, New York Rangers
Jonny Brodzinski, F, New York Rangers
Dennis Cholowski, D, New Jersey
Nic Dowd, F, Washington
Mikey Eyssimont, F, Boston
*Nick Jensen, D, Ottawa
Charlie Lindgren, G, Washington
Blake Lizotte, F, Pittsburgh
Nick Perbix, D, Nashville
Ryan Poehling, F, Anaheim

WESTERN MICHIGAN
Ronnie Attard, D, Colorado (IR)
Brandon Bussi, G, Carolina
Sam Colangelo, F, Anaheim
Paul Cotter, F, New Jersey
Mattias Samuelsson, D, Buffalo

NCHC players in the NHL teams

ANAHEIM
Sam Colangelo, F, Western Michigan
Ryan Poehling, F, St. Cloud State
Troy Terry, F, Denver

BOSTON
Mikey Eyssimont, F, St. Cloud State
Sean Kuraly, F, Miami

BUFFALO
*Josh Doan, F, Arizona State
Mattias Samuelsson, D, Western Michigan
*Jason Zucker, F, Denver

CALGARY
Blake Coleman, F, Miami
Devin Cooley, G, Denver

CAROLINA
Jackson Blake, F, North Dakota
Brandon Bussi, G, Western Michigan
Jaccob Slavin, D, Colorado College

CHICAGO
Joey Anderson, F, Minnesota Duluth (IR)
Wyatt Kaiser, D, Minnesota Duluth

COLORADO
Jack Ahcan, D, St. Cloud State
Ronnie Attard, D, Western Michigan (IR)
Sean Behrens, D, Denver (IR)
*Brock Nelson, F, North Dakota
Logan O’Connor, F, Denver (IR)

DETROIT
Jacob Bernard-Docker, D, North Dakota
Shai Buium, D, Denver (IR)

EDMONTON
Troy Stecher, D, North Dakota

LOS ANGELES
Mikey Anderson, D, Minnesota Duluth
Trevor Moore, F, Denver

MINNESOTA
Zeev Buium, D, Denver

NASHVILLE
Tyson Jost, F, North Dakota
Nick Perbix, D, St. Cloud State
Cole Smith, F, North Dakota

NEW JERSEY
Dennis Cholowski, D, St. Cloud State
Paul Cotter, F, Western Michigan

NEW YORK ISLANDERS
*Scott Mayfield, D, Denver

NEW YORK RANGERS
Will Borgen, D, St. Cloud State
Jonny Brodzinski, F, St. Cloud State
Noah Laba, F, Colorado College
Brandon Scanlin, D, Omaha (IR)
Carson Soucy, D, Minnesota Duluth

OTTAWA
*Nick Jensen, D, St. Cloud State
Tyler Kleven, D, North Dakota (IR)
Shane Pinto, F, North Dakota
Jake Sanderson, D, North Dakota

PHILADELPHIA
Bobby Brink, F, Denver
Noah Cates, F, Minnesota Duluth
Nick Seeler, D, Omaha

PITTSBURGH
Blake Lizotte, F, St. Cloud State

SEATTLE
*Joey Daccord, G, Arizona State
*Jaden Schwartz, F, Colorado College

ST. LOUIS
*Justin Faulk, D, Minnesota Duluth

TAMPA BAY
Jake Guentzel, F, Omaha

UTAH
Nick Schmaltz, F, North Dakota

VANCOUVER
Brock Boeser, F, North Dakota
*Derek Forbort, D, North Dakota
Kiefer Sherwood, F, Miami

VEGAS
*Reilly Smith, F, Miami

WASHINGTON
Nic Dowd, F, St. Cloud State
Charlie Lindgren, G, St. Cloud State

WINNIPEG
Alex Iafallo, F, Minnesota Duluth
Cole Koepke, F, Minnesota Duluth
Neal Pionk, D, Minnesota Duluth
Dylan Samberg, D, Minnesota Duluth (IR)
*Jonathan Toews, F, North Dakota (IR)