On Thursday, the first team of the 2026 college hockey postseason will be eliminated from a conference tournament, ending its season. It’ll happen on the women’s side as the AHA Tournament opens with Delaware facing Robert Morris in St. Charles, Mo. The winner will advance to play Lindenwood in a quarterfinal game on Saturday, while in Upstate New York another AHA game will be played, Syracuse at RIT. The ECAC women’s tournament will also get underway this weekend, a week before the rest of women’s hockey.
It got us thinking a little bit about season expectations, and, assuming the preseason predictions were correct (and let’s face it they pretty much never are), which teams exceeded them and which teams didn’t in 2025-26. Most of those that have been on the positive side are still in the running the NCAA Tournament so we”ll save those for another time.
Instead, we’ll keep the focus here on the national scene, and in men’s hockey. Granted, any team mentioned here can still get hot and make the NCAA Tournament by winning their conference tournament and securing an automatic bid. The odds of that happening, though, aren’t very good.
Here are five teams — actually six as we essentially went with a tie — that everyone thought would have great seasons, but things didn’t quite work out that way.
Arizona State
The Sun Devils may have been a little too ambitious, opening against Penn State and traveling to Dartmouth during the Big Green’s hot start. Arizona State’s strength of schedule is third in the nation, has resulted in it having a tough time maintaining any momentum. The Sun Devils were preseason No. 14, but at 13-18-1 are No. 37 in the National Collegiate Percentage (NPI) Index and near the bottom of the NCHC standings.
Boston University
BU played in the national title game last season and was preseason No. 2. With the most NHL drafted players of any roster in college hockey, the Terriers moved up to No. 1 after the second week of the season. They’ve since dropped No. 29 in NPI, and are on pace to be seeded fifth in the Hockey East Tournament.
Clarkson/Lowell
The Golden Knights and River Hawks were both thought to be dangerous this season, and were among the top teams also receiving votes in the USCHO preseason poll. Clarkson was also tied for No. 20 in the USA Hockey preseason poll. Clarkson (12-15-3 overall, 6-9-3 ECAC) is No. 44 in NPI, while Lowell (12-18, 8-12) is No. 45.
Maine
The Black Bears were preseason No. 7 in the nation, but will head into this weekend in ninth place in Hockey East. There are three teams within two points in the standings, and Maine has an extra game to play on them so it could finish in the middle of the pack. But at 14-12-3 overall, 8-10-1 conference, the No. 26 NPI has to be considered a letdown for the reigning Hockey East champions.
Minnesota
The Golden Gophers were preseason No. 9, so the 10-19-2 record has been a real shock. Part of it is having a young team, plus the seven-team Big Ten boasts three of the sport’s top teams as reflected in in the 6-13-1 record. The Gophers are No. 1 in strength of schedule, but 41st in NPI.
Puck Drop: Wednesday, February 18, 2026
• Penn State captain Dane Dowiak announced that he’ll miss the rest of the season after suffering an injury against Michigan. For more, check out Penn State On SI:
💙 @PennStateMHKY pic.twitter.com/RRsVgfwC5g
— Dane Dowiak (@danedowiak) February 17, 2026
• Ohio State President Ted Carter to WBNS 10TV about NIL: “There’s only about five schools in the country that can play at this level right now in terms of NIL. Fortunately we’re one of them. But even at that level especially, we want to field a really good men’s basketball team, a women’s basketball team, and compete in other sports like ice hockey. It’s not sustainable. Something’s going to have to give.”
• Liam Armit (Baie-Comeau Drakkar) committed to Northeastern for 2027-28, and Matas Janulius (Lawrence Academy) did so for 2028-29. Last week the Huskies landed goaltender Neilan Johnson (Hotchkiss School Bearcats) for 2027-28. Forward Jackson Fox out of the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, committed to Augustana, and defenseman Jakub Fibigr has committed to Ohio State. He’s played this season with the OHL’s Brampton Steelheads and Windsor Spitfire
College Hockey Tuesday Scores
No Games Scheduled
Games between ranked opponents are bolded. All times are local to where the game is being played.
Women’s College Hockey Schedule
Wednesday’s Games
No Games Schedule
Thursday’s Games
WOMEN
AHA Tournament
Opening Round
At St. Charles, Mo.
Delaware vs. Robert Morris, 2 p.m. ET
Hockey East
Maine at Merrimack, 3:30 p.m. ET
Olympics Hockey Update
• Mika Zibanejad, William Nylander and Gabriel Landeskog all had a goal and an assist, and Filip Forsberg and Adrian Kempe also scored as Sweden dominated its elimination game with Latvia, 5-1. Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves for Sweden in the Qualification Playoff, and Lucas Raymond was credited with three assists. Elvis Merzlikins made 23 saves and Eduards Tralmaks scored for Latvia. Sweden has to turn around and play the United States on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.
• Martin Necas had a goal and an assist in Czechia’s 3-2 win against Team Denmark. He got the power-play goal against his former Carolina Hurricanes teammate Frederik Andersen. David Kampf got the second goal and Roman Cervenka scored with an assist from David Pastrnak. Czechia will have a rematch with Canada in the quarterfinals. It lost the first meeting in the preliminary round, 5-0. “We let them win the first one because we knew we were not going to win two in a row against Canada,” Necas told reporters with a smile.
• Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists during Germany’s 5-1 win against France at Santaguilia Arena. Philipp Grubauer made 30 saves, and Tim Stutzle had two assists. Former Clarkson defenseman Nico Sturm had an assist on Draisaitl’s power-play goal to open the scoring, and Sturm scored an empty-net goal with 56 seconds left after Draisaitl passed to him instead of shooting himself. Germany will face Team Slovakia in the quarterfinals.
• Nico Hischier had a goal and two assists to help lead Switzerland to a 3-0 victory over Italy at Rho Arena. Philipp Kurashev and Roman Josi also scored while Leonardo Genoni made 20 saves. He’s allowed three goals in three games, with two shutous. Timo Meier had two assists. Switzerland outshot Italy 18-2 in the first period and was only ahead 2-0 primarily due to goaltender Damian Clara, who had a terrific tournament. The 6-6 prospect of the Anaheim Ducks made 48 saves for Italy.
Olympics Hockey Scores and Schedule
Tuesday’s Schedule
MEN
Qualification Playoff: Germany 5, France 1
Qualification Playoff : Switzerland 3, Italy 0
Qualification Playoff: Czechia 3, Denmark 2
Qualification Playoff: Sweden 5, Latvia 1
Wednesday’s Schedule
MEN
Quarterfinal: Slovakia vs. Germany, 6:10 a.m. ET
Quarterfinal: Canada vs. Czechia, 10:40 a.m.
Quarterfinal: Finland vs. Switzerland, 12:10 p.m.
Quarterfinal: Team USA vs. Sweden, 3:10 p.m.
Thursday’s Schedule
WOMEN
Bronze Medal Game
Sweden vs. Switzerland, 8:40 a.m. ET
Gold Medal Game
United State vs. Canada. 1:10 p.m.
Hockey Quote of the Day
“I think the greatest part about winning gold was being able to win it for the players who had lost in the previous Olympics or in 2010. Those girls were grinding at that process even longer than I was and that was one of the most rewarding things is being on a team and win it for them.”
Brianna Decker
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We’ll Leave You With This …
We’re coming together for Miami Hockey alum, Spencer Cox, and his family.
Spencer’s father, Dale, is in need of a kidney transplant. If you’re able to help or share, please consider learning more about becoming a living donor below.
🔗 https://t.co/0nZiaGBSNq pic.twitter.com/Y0AQVrFBGi
— Miami Hockey (@MiamiOH_Hockey) February 17, 2026
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