Among the participants in the 2026 NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament, which will begin Thursday with two of the four regionals playing their semifinals, and the other two joining in Friday, Owen Michaels of Western Michigan is the career leader with four goal scored. He and Michigan’s T.J Hughes have the most points with seven. Denver’s Sam Harris has the most power-play goals (two). Penn State’s Matt DiMarsico has the most game-winners (two). Western Michigan’s Hampton Slukynsky has the most wins (four).
Of the five goalies who have played in the tournament before, Trey Augustine of Michigan State is the only other one who has notched a win.
Those were all in the past, of coursce. Does that give he and Slukynsky an advantage this time around? It might. A little extra confidence can go a long way at this point of a season. But at minimum is does provide some extra insight to this year’s regionals.
In terms of career numbers overall, Alex Tracy of Minnesota State stands out with 66 wins, .927 save percentage, 1.87 goals-against-average, 7438:44 minutes played, and 13 shutouts, which all lead the collection goaltenders in the tournament. Similarly, Hughes tops a lot of career scoring leaders including points (175), goals (67), assists (108), and power-play goals (27).
But if it doesn’t help get their teams to Las Vegas for the Frozen Four …
Regardless, here are 25 interesting things about the players and teams that make up this year’s NCAA Tournament, everything from who has the biggest, and smallest, players, to which NHL teams have the most prospects participating. Some of the active leaders were compiled by the College Hockey News, while the rest was compiled by the NCAA.
Which players have the most NCAA Tournament experience?
Minnesota State’s Tristan Lemyre and Denver’s Rieger Lorenz, both with eight games played.
Which team has the longest active NCAA appearance streak?
Quinnipiac with seven.
Which coach has made the most NCAA Tournament appearances?
Rand Pecknold, Quinnipiac, with 12.
Which coach has won the most national titles?
Scott Sandelin, Minnesota Duluth, with three (2011, 2018, 2019).
How many of the coaches are leading their alma mater?
The answer is six:
David Carle, Denver
Pat Ferschweiler, Western Michigan
Dane Jackson, North Dakota
Casey Jones, Cornell
Brandon Naurato, Michigan
Adam Nightingale, Michigan State
Which team has the best record against other NCAA Tournament teams this season?
Denver at 8-3, for a winning percentage of .727, with Michigan State second at 8-4 (.667). Michigan has the most wins, though (10-6-1, .618).
Which team is below .500 since Christmas?
Wisconsin at 9-10. Meanwhile, Michigan leads the nation at 13-3-1 (.794).
Which two teams are below .500 over their last 10 games?
Connecticut and Penn State are both 3-5-2. In contrast, Denver has the best mark at 9-0-1 (.950), the longest winning streak (nine) and unbeaten streak (13).
Which team has the most 10-plus goal scorers?
Michigan with nine. It also has the most players with 10-plus points with 18.
Which team has the biggest win improvement since last season?
Michigan at +11, just ahead of Minnesota Duluth at +10.
Which team has the most seniors, and upperclassmen?
Bentley with eight seniors and graduate students, and 17 upperclassmen. It has the oldest team, with an average of 23.1 years.
There are five teams with four seniors or fewer:
Merrimack and and Providence with two, Denver with three, and Dartmouth and Western Michigan with four. Michigan has the youngest team , averaging 21.1 years.
Which teams have the most freshmen, and most underclassmen (Hint: Two different answers)?
Cornell has the most freshmen with 12, and Providence has the most underclassmen with 19.
Name the top-scoring team in each class (seniors, juniors … etc.)
Seniors; Michigan State 122 points
Juniors: Western Michigan 162 points
Sophomores: Minnesota Duluth 221 points
Freshmen: Quinnipiac 180 points
Which team has the top-scoring defensive corps?
Michigan: 108 points. Denver and North Dakota are right behind it at 104, and Quinnipiac is the only other team in triple digits (101).
There are six sets of brothers playing in the tournament:
Jacob Bonkowski and Rylan Bonkowski (Minnesota State)
Cooper Cleaves and Hank Cleaves (Dartmouth)
Max Plante and Zam Plante (Minnesota Duluth)
Tiernan Shoudy and Travis Shoudy (Michigan State)
Grant Slukynsky and Hampton Slukynsky (Western Michigan)
In terms of size (average hight and weight), which team is the biggest?
Cornell: 6-1.7, 198 pounds
Which team is the smallest?
Quinnipiac 5-11.8, 184.4 pounds. The roster includes the tournament’s shortest player, 5-6 Anthony Cipollone.
The difference between the oldest and youngest player is nine-plus years.
Kirk Laursen of Western Michigan is 26 years, 2 months and 24 days as of today. The youngest player is North Dakota’s Keaton Verhoeff at 17 years, 9 months and seven days.
There are 12 counties, 29 states and 10 Canadian provinces represented.
Minnesota leads the states like usual with 55, Michigan is second with 29. Ontario tops the provinces and territories with 42.
Which team has the most Americans?
Western Michigan with 21, but the teams with the most states represented are Connecticut, Dartmouth and North Dakota with 11.
Which team has the most Canadians?
Cornell with 16.
258 NHL Draft picks played Division I college hockey this season and 122 are on tournament rosters, including 10 first-rounders:
EJ Emery, North Dakota (30th overall in 2024 by NY Rangers)
Michael Hage, Michigan (21st overall in 2024 by Montreal)
Logan Hensler, Wisconsin (23rd overall in 2025 by Ottawa)
Will Horcoff, Michigan (24th overall in 2025 by Pittsburgh)
Ryker Lee, Michigan State (26th overall in 2025 by Nashville)
Dean Letourneau, Boston College (25th overall in 2024 by Boston)
Roger McQueen, Providence (10th overall in 2025 by Anaheim)
Cole Reschny, North Dakota (18th overall in 2025 by Calgary)
Jackson Smith, Penn State (14th overall in 2025 by Columbus)
Charlie Stramel, Michigan State (21st overall in 2023 by Minnesota)
All but one team have at least one NHL Draft pick on the roster:
Michigan State 15
Denver 14
Michigan 13
North Dakota 12
Western Michigan, Wisconsin 10
Cornell 9
Minnesota Duluth, Penn State, Providence 7
Connecticut, Quinnipiac 6
Merrimack 4
Dartmouth, Minnesota State 1
The Calgary Flames hav the most prospects in the tournament:
Calgary 9
Ottawa 8
Detroit, Montreal, San Jose 7
Anaheim, Boston, Buffalo, Columbus, NY Islanders, Pittsburgh 6
Los Angeles, Nashville 5
NY Rangers 4
Carolina, Chicago, Minnesota, Seattle, Toronto 3
Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Florida, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, Winnipeg 2
St. Louis 1
Puck Drop: Thursday, March 26, 2026
• Massachusetts junior goaltender Michael Hrabal signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Utah Mammoth, which will begin at the start of the 2026-27 season. Hrabal, who was recently named a finalist for the 2026 Mike Richter Award, was named the Hockey East Player of the Year and Hockey East Goaltender of the Year. He was selected in the second round by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2023 NHL Draft. Hrabal will report to the Tucson Roadrunners (AHL).
• Interesting point made by hockey journalist Eric Gallanty, of the top 14 teams in the final NPI 12 were in qualifying position on Dec 1. Only two teams moved up enough from the outside to secure spots in the NCAA Tournament, and both were from Hockey East: Providence (from 20th to seventh), and Connecticut (25th to 14th). The two teams that made the biggest jump overall were also from Hockey East, UMass climbed from 44th to 17th, and Merrimack went from 43rd to 19th and won the conference tournament.
• Yep, they’re still going in Wisconsin …
Oh look – @BadgerWHockey team out showing off their natty trophy down on State
Pretty cool pic.twitter.com/Y9eL6IHlSC
— Cheesetrader (@cheesetrader1) March 26, 2026
• Don Granato has been named head coach of the 2026 U.S. Men’s National Team that will play in the IIHF Men’s World Championship, which will be held May 15-31 in Zurich and Fribourg, Switzerland. Granato most recently served as head coach of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres from 2021-24.
• Game-worn jerseys from the gold medal-winning women’s Olympic team are up for auction through Monday, benefiting the Friends of Women’s Hockey Fund through The USA Hockey Foundation. Click here to bid.
• Minnesota Gophers On SI is wondering Which St. Cloud State Players Could Follow Brett Larson through the transfer portal and reports that when asked if he would hire a GM the new coach responded: “[I] am definitely looking at something like that.”
Some details on the 5-year deal new #Gophers men’s hockey coach Brett Larson signed: pic.twitter.com/1k0ZzedKLq
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) March 25, 2026
College Hockey Schedule
NCAA Tournament
All times Eastern
Thursday, March 26
Worcester Regional
No. 3 Michigan State vs. Connecticut, ESPN2, 1:30 p.m.
Worcester Regional: Dartmouth vs. Wisconsin, ESPNU, 5 p.m.
Sioux Falls Regional
Providence vs. Quinnipiac, ESPN+, 5 p.m.
No. 2 North Dakota vs. Merrimack, ESPN2, 8:30 p.m.
Friday, March 27
Loveland Regional
No. 4 Western Michigan vs. Minnesota State, ESPNU, 2:30 p.m.
Denver vs. Cornell, ESPN+, 6 p.m.
Albany Regionall
No. 1 Michigan vs. Bentley, ESPNU, 5:30 p.m.
Minnesota Duluth vs. Penn State, ESPN2, 9 p.m.
Hockey Quote of the Day
“Winning the state championship, that represented your neighborhood. I would have to say that it was my biggest thrill ever. It was just the guys in the neighborhood and that was special.”
Herb Brooks
We’ll Leave You With This …
If you missed Game On: The Journey to the NCAA Championship on ESPN tonight, do yourself a favor and watch this feature on Michael Hagehttps://t.co/ILjqIMe7yv
— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) March 26, 2026
Bonus
Rasmus Dahlin’s finance, Carolina Matovac (middle), gets a big hand as she’s intro’d at her first game of the season. Long road back from that summer heart transplant. #Sabres pic.twitter.com/oWL4hkesJk
— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) March 25, 2026
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