Top Teams Toppled Means New No. 1s in Men's and Women's College Hockey: Puck Drop

The mighty fell Saturday night as both teams ranked No. 1 in men's and women's college hockey took a solid loss against their biggest challenger for the top spot.

It'll make things extremely difficult on all the voters in the polls, who will have a tough decision on picking a first-place team. The gap between No 1 and No. 2 in both was narrow to begin with, and as a result we may not see a unanimous selection again until at least the conclusion of the conference tournaments. However, there's already been a change in the National Collegiate Percentage (NPI) Index that will be used to determine the teams and seeding in the upcoming national tournaments.

On the mens' side, No. 2 Michigan State won its third straight Duel in the D rivalry game against No. 1 Michigan, with a 5-2 victory in front of 19,515 fans at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. The Spartans out-shot Michigan 37-27 overall, and kept the Wolverines from putting anything on net during all three of their power-play attempts, while never trailing.

Yes, the series went down as a split. However, Michigan's win on Friday night was at home in Yost Arena, and went to overtime. Two other things that might sway the polls is that the Spartans have moved back into first place in the Big Ten by one point, and coming off the weekend sweep at Penn State including the outdoor game at Beaver Stadium in front of approximatley 75,000 fans. So MSU won both college hockey's biggest game in overall attendance this season, and the one played in the biggest area, one week apart. Thats pretty impressive.

"We're excited," Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale said after receiving the Iron D trophy. " I just think for our guys to be able to play in this type of environment … we just got to play that outdoor game — it was an awesome event, we got to play in the GLI and in a packed house at Van Andel Arena, and then to play here; I think this is the best building in the NHL. I think just in general for our guys and our alums right, they're proud and we had a lot of people that came out in support of us. It's a big win for our team, a big moment for sure, but there's still a lot of hockey left here, and we've got to keep focused on getting better."

Michigan (23-5-0, 14-4-0 Big Ten) had received 48 out of 50 first-place votes in the USCHO.com poll last week, and all 34 votes in the USA Hockey Men's Poll ahead of Michigan State (22-6-0, 13-5-0 Big Ten) with three weekends remaining. There's no way to guess how many may be swayed to switch, but after the final weekend games were played Saturday night the NPI had the top 5: 1. Michigan State, 2. Michigan, 3. North Dakota, 4. Western Michigan and 5. Penn State.

Think @MSU_Hockey might be playing angry tonight? 😳

🎥: @MSU_Hockey x @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/gslR0hYQk2
— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) February 8, 2026

Meanwhile, the decision on the women's side may be easier due No. 2 Ohio State playing at Wisconsin on Sunday after the Buckeyes took the first game of the series 4-1.

Both teams have three losses on the season, and the Buckeyes have a one-point lead in the WCHA standings. The Badgers got a sweep at Ohio State earlier this season, and only had one loss before having five players head to Italy to play in the Olympics. OSU also has five players participating in the Winter Games.

The NPI rankings after Saturday night were 1. Ohio State, and 2. Wisconsin, but it seems pretty obvious that the team which wins Sunday will have the top spot regardless of the Olympians.

No. 2 takes down No. 1 😤

Watch each of No. 2 @OhioStateWHKY's goals from a 4️⃣-1️⃣ win over reigning national champ and No. 1 Wisconsin 👇 pic.twitter.com/ZsmtkI2PJh
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 7, 2026

The great thing about having both both No. 1-2 teams in the same leagues that they obviously could play again in their conference tournaments with essentially winner-takes-all championship games.

Puck Drop: Sunday, February 8, 2026

• The surprise of Saturday night was Michigan goaltender Jack Ivankovic starting for the Duel in the D. He'd been out since suffering an injury against Notre Dame on Jan. 10, when head coach Brandon Naurato said Ivankovic was going to be out for “a long time.” He made 32 saves in the loss to Michigan State. Meanwhile, with Friday's overtime win freshman Stephen Peck improved to 6-0 in Ivankovic's absence.

• AJ Francisco tallied the game-winning goal 1:20 into overtime to help the U.S. National Under-18 Team secure the 2026 U18 Five Nations Tournament with a 3-2 win over host Switzerland. Casey Mutryn and Dayne Beuker also scored while goaltender Brady Knowling got the win. Team USA will wrap up the 2026 U18 Five Nations Tournament against Team Finland on Sunday morning.

• The U.S. National Under-17 Team took a 3-2 loss to Sweden in the final game of the Five Nations Tournament at USA Hockey Arena. Rocco Pelosi and Braden Horton scored for the U.S., which had already wrapped up first place with a 6-4 comeback victory over Czechia on Friday.

Men's College Hockey Saturday Scores

AHA
Mercyhurst 2, Sacred Heart 1
RIT 3, Army 2 (OT)
Niagara 4, Air Force 2
Holy Cross 4, Bentley 1
Robert Morris 6, Canisius 4

Big Ten
No. 2 Michigan State 5, No. 1 Michigan 2
No. 13 Wisconsin 5, Notre Dame 4
Ohio State 2, Minnesota 1

CCHA
No. 19 Michigan Tech 4, No. 16 Augustana 3
Bemidji State 4, Ferris State 3 (OT)
Bowling Green 3, No. 15 St. Thomas 1

ECAC
Clarkson 8, Union 7 (OT)
Colgate 3, No. 9 Cornell 2 (OT)
Princeton 5, Brown 3
No. 5 Quinnipiac 8, Yale 0
St. Lawrence 7, RPI 3

Hockey East
No. 19 Massachusetts 5, UMass Lowell 2
No. 7 Providence 6, Vermont 1

NCHC
St. Cloud State 4, Arizona State 3
No. 4 Western Michigan 3, Miami 1
No. 3 North Dakota 4, No. 10 Minnesota Duluth 1
No. 8 Denver 4, Colorado College 1

Non-Conference
Alaska-Anchorage 3, Alaska 2 (OT)
Stonehill 5, Lindenwood 1

Women's College Hockey Saturday Scores

AHA
No. 4 Penn State 5, Lindenwood 0
RIT 4, Syracuse 2
Robert Morris 6, Delaware 0

ECAC
Brown 4, No. 11 Clarkson 1
Colgate 2, Rensselaer 1 (OT)
No. 12 Cornell 5, Union 0
No. 8 Quinnipiac 3, Dartmouth 0
Harvard 3, No. 7 Princeton 2
Yale 4, St. Lawrence 1

Hockey East
No. 6 UConn 6, Boston College 2
Maine 2, Boston University 0
No. 5 Northeastern 3, Vermont 2 (OT)
New Hampshire 3, No. 13 Holy Cross 2
Merrimack 3, Providence 2

NEWHA
Franklin Pierce 5, Stonehill 2
Long Island 3, Saint Anselm 2 (OT)
Assumption 9, Saint Michael's 0
Sacred Heart 1, Post 0 (OT)

WCHA
St. Thomas 1, No. 3 Minnesota 1 (Minnesota wins shootout, 1-0)
No. 10 Minnesota Duluth 5, Bemidji State 0
No. 2 Ohio State 4, No. 1 Wisconsin 1
No. 15 Minnesota State 4, St. Cloud State 1

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

Men's College Hockey Sunday Score

No Games Scheduled

Women's College Hockey Sunday Score

WCHA
No. 2 Ohio State at No. 1 Wisconsin, 2 p.m. CT

Olympic Hockey Update

• Former Wisconsin forward Hilary Knight tied the record for career goals by an American at the Olympic Winter Games, as the U.S. Women topped Finland 5-0 in the preliminary round at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena. Team USA outshot Finland, 49-11. It was her 14th career Olympic goal, tying Natalie Darwitz and Katie King for the most in U.S. history.

• Also leading Team USA was Megan Keller (former Boston College) with a goal and two assists, Abbey Murphy (Minnesota) had a goal and an assist, while both Laila Edwards (Wisconsin) and Britta Curl-Salemme (former Wisconsin) both had two assists. The other goals were scored by Alex Carpenter (former Boston College) and Taylor Heise (former Minnesota) For more see "Team USA Continues Dominance in Women's Ice Hockey Olympic Tournament" on BreakAway On SI.

That's the tying goal for the all-time #WinterOlympics record for Hilary!pic.twitter.com/oTPYa0NkBo
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 7, 2026

• After having its opener against Finland postponed, Canada finally played its first game and defeated Switzerland 4-0. Scoring for the reigning Olympic champions were Natalie Spooner (former Ohio State), Sarah Fillier (Princetgon), and Julia Gosling (St. Lawrence) all with power-play goals, and Daryl Watts (Boston College and Wisconsin). Emerance Maschmeyer (Harvard) made six saves. Canada doesn't have any active college players on its roster.

Olympic Women's Hockey Saturday Scores
Group A
United States 5, Finland 0
Canada 4, Switzerland 0
Group B
Germany 5, Japan 2
Sweden 6, Italy 1

Olympic Women's Hockey Sunday Schedule
Group A
Czechia vs. Finland, Fiera Milano, Milan, 5:10 p.m.
Group B
France vs. Sweden, Fiera Milano, Milan, 10:40 a.m.

SEE ALSO: Women's College Hockey Players in Olympics

Hockey Quote of the Day

“Everybody's got to play their game in the game.”
Martin St. Louis (Vermont)

Check Us Out On:

• Twitter/X
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Instagram
• Threads
• Blue Sky

We'll Leave You With This ...

No, the score is not a typo.

This Celly 🔥

Owen Van Steensel wins it in overtime!

Clarkson: 8
Union: 7
pic.twitter.com/TEpHjABfhO
— EVERYTHING COLLEGE HOCKEY (@TeamECH) February 8, 2026