USCHO Weekend Review

The 2026 NHL Draft begins tonight in Buffalo, and college hockey could be headed for a historic first round. In this USCHO NHL Draft Special, Jim Connelly looks at the growing number of first-round prospects with college hockey ties, including current NCAA players and incoming college-bound players from the CHL, USHL, NTDP and international paths. The episode features insight from NHL Central Scou...

Episode 3 of our 2026 NHL Draft Preview series looks at two Hockey East forwards who are drawing NHL Draft attention: Tynan Lawrence of Boston University and Oscar Hemming of Boston College. Each joined their respective teams in January. Lawrence finished his freshman season at BU with 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points in 18 games, while Hemming posted 1 goal and 7 assists for 8 points in 19 game...

Gavin McKenna is one of the most talked-about players in the 2026 NHL Draft, and after a season at Penn State, his college hockey experience adds important context to his evaluation. Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky joins Jim Connelly and USCHO’s 2026 NHL Draft Special to discuss what stood out about McKenna from the start, how his game developed over the season, what college hockey demanded fro...

The 2026 NHL Draft is just days away, and USCHO kicks off its draft coverage with Dave Gregory, Associate Director of NHL Central Scouting. In this conversation, Gregory explains how NHL Central Scouting’s rankings come together, what fans should understand about the evaluation process, and how scouts compare prospects across college hockey, junior hockey, international leagues and other developme...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) review major off-season topics that have surfaced in the month since the end of the season. They begin by focusing on the NCAA’s proposed five-year-to-play-five-seasons eligibility model that would start at high school graduation (or a player’s 19th birthday) and could reduce eligibility for future...

In a special offseason USCHO Report, Jim Connelly interviews ECAC commissioner Doug Christiansen about an NCAA proposal to change the eligibility window to align with high school graduation or a player’s 19th birthday. In this episode, Christiansen explains that this would have major consequences for college hockey, with 75% of players potentially losing a year of eligibility given the sport’s ave...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) review games of the weekend and news of the past week. In Part 1, we look at how Denver, Michigan, North Dakota, and Wisconsin made it to the Frozen Four. And we comment on the unfortunate news of the announced cancellation of men's hockey program at Mercyhurst. In Part 2, we analyze the story lines...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) are joined by Todd Milewski (@ToddMilewski) to give a quick Sunday night take on the NCAA Men's D-I regional finals and the field for the Frozen Four: Denver, Michigan, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Frozen Four, April 9 and 11 in Las Vegas. Tickets: https://ncaa.com/mfrozenfour Find all of...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) review games of the weekend and news of the past week. In our first segment, we review the six conference championships that were decided over Friday and Saturday nights. In our second segment, we look forward to the NCAA men's D-I ice hockey regionals in Albany, Loveland, Sioux Falls, and Worcester...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) analyze the NCAA's 2026 Men's D-I ice hockey bracket as announced on March 22, 2026. Final bracket: Albany Region Michigan (1) Minnesota Duluth Penn State Bentley Loveland Region Western Michigan (4) Denver Cornell Minnesota State  Sioux Falls Region North Dakota (2) Providence Quinnipiac Merrimack  Worcester Region Michigan State (...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) look at our final projected bracket after the games of Saturday, March 21, on this special episode of Bracketology XTRA . The tournament bracket will be announced at 3 p.m. ET on ESPNU. Here is the final projected bracket: Albany • Michigan (1) • Minnesota Duluth • Cornell • Bentley (AHA autobid) Loveland • Western Michigan (4) • De...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) review games of the weekend and news of the past week. In our first segment, we look at a weekend in which four conference No. 1 seeds were ousted from their league tournaments. Then we analyze what's at stake this weekend. In our second segment, we look at how each conference's playoffs work, and t...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) look at where things stand on Monday, March 16, 2026 after a weekend of upsets in this episode of Bracketology XTRA . Here is the updated bracket: Albany • Michigan (1) • Providence • Cornell • Bentley (AHA autobid placeholder) Loveland • Western Michigan (4) • Denver (host) • Wisconsin • St. Thomas Sioux Falls • North Dakota (2) •...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) unpack the March 11, 2026 Bracketology column on USCHO.com with this weekly episode of  Bracketology XTRA . Here is this week's updated bracket: Albany • Michigan (1) • Minnesota Duluth • Cornell • Bentley (AHA autobid placeholder) Worcester • Western Michigan (4) • Providence • Wisconsin • Massachusetts Loveland • Michigan State (3...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) look at sometimes controversial or overlooked topics in our midweek episode called Upon Further Review . In this episode, we consider 10 candidates for the Hockey Commissioners Association's Tim Taylor rookie of the year award, including two tiers of forwards, a defenseman, and three goalies. This e...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) review games of the weekend and news of the past week. In our first segment, we look back at a mostly quarterfinal weekend in college hockey that saw a lot of overtime, but with every higher seed advancing. In our second segment, we look at five NPI bubble teams, why they are on the bubble, and how...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) unpack the March 4, 2026 Bracketology column on USCHO.com with this weekly episode of Bracketology XTRA . Here is this week's updated bracket: Albany • Michigan State (2 overall) • Quinnipiac • Minnesota Duluth • Connecticut Worcester • Western Michigan (4) • Penn State • Dartmouth • Boston College Loveland • Michigan (1) • Denver •...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) look at sometimes controversial or overlooked topics in our midweek episode called Upon Further Review . In this episode, Jim takes over hosting duties as Derek and Ed try to guess bubble teams from their resumé and statistics. This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Frozen Four, April 9 and 11...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) review games of the weekend and news of the past week. In our first segment, we look at a weekend that saw the top 10 go 8-9-3 and the top 20 barely squeak above .500. And we note regular-season conference champions. In our second segment, we analyze the chances for the 10 Mike Richter award semifin...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) unpack the February 25, 2026 Bracketology column on USCHO.com with this weekly episode of  Bracketology XTRA . Here is this week's updated bracket: ALBANY REGION Michigan State (1) Minnesota Dulth Cornell Bentley (AHA rep) WORCESTER REGION Western Michigan (4) Providence Dartmouth Connecticut LOVELAND REGION Michigan (2) Quinnipiac...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) look at sometimes controversial or overlooked topics in our midweek episode called Upon Further Review . In this episode, we consider teams who are outside the NPI "bubble," meaning they almost certainly will need to win their conference championship to make the NCAA tournament, but have a reasonabl...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) review games of the weekend and news of the past week. In our first segment, we look at the USA gold medal in men's olympic hockey, including how USA Hockey's NTDP and development model helped make it happen, and the impact of it on hockey in the U.S. In our second segment, we look at important week...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) unpack the February 18, 2026 Bracketology column on USCHO.com with this weekly episode of  Bracketology XTRA . Here is this week's updated bracket: LOVELAND REGION Michigan State (1) Denver Minnesota Duluth Bentley (AHA rep) WORCESTER REGION Western Michigan (4) Penn State Connecticut Boston College SIOUX FALLS REGION North Dakota (...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) look at sometimes controversial or overlooked topics in our midweek episode called Upon Further Review . In the NPI, four teams from the CCHA stand at Nos. 16 through 19: Minnesota State, Augustana, Michigan Tech, and Bowling Green, with many games against each other. What does each team need to do...

Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) review games of the weekend and news of the past week. In our first segment, we look at some sweeps and five-point weekends. North Dakota, Denver, and Western Michigan got NCHC sweeps while Michigan in the Big Ten and UConn in Hockey East picked up five. In our second segment, we discuss the implica...