Last week we profiled the most disappointing teams of the 2025-26 college hockey season, and it wasn’t in order to pile on or be a bunch of Debbie Downers. Sometimes things don’t always go right and that’s just part of everyday life, never mind sports.
We’re also in big believer in giving equal time, so we aren’t just being narrow-minded and only focussing on the teams at the top of the standings, or just had a lot of things go right. Nevertheless, we do like a good success story.
That’s what these are, success stories. Granted, we’re going to call this group our five most surprising teams of the season, that term doesn’t feel quite accurate. All of them knew beforehand that they were pretty good, and had the potential to challenge, if not win, their conferences.
Fulfilling? Encouraging? Rewarding? Pleasing? Yeah, their seasons have all been that and more, but those words don’t quite capture the desired description. Maybe we’ll just say that they exceeded the expectations of many hockey fans and experts, but maybe not their own.
Augustana
Programs in their third year are simply not supposed to be this good. In 2023-24, Augustana’s first season in Division I resulted in a 12-18-4 finish, and then came back to finish 18-13-4 a year ago. Both records were more than respectable, but the Vikings have taken another step with their first-20-win season, and have outscored opponents 101-69. Instead of being a middle-of-the-pack team in the CHAA, they’re nationally ranked and at No. 17 in the National Collegiate Percentage (NPI) Index are hoping to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Dartmouth
Picked fourth in the ECAC, the general thought about the Big Green was that it could be pretty good this season, and then Dartmouth started its season with 11 straight wins and it rocketed up to the top of the NPI and climbed to No. 8 before finally stumbling in overtime to New Hampshire. Although Dartmouth has pretty much been .500 since then, at 18-7-3 overall, it’s still riding that hot start at No. 11 NPI, and in second place in the ECAC.
Michigan
Remember when the Wolverines were preseason No. 12? And then they came out and destroyed Mercyhurst 11-1 and 7-0 to open the season? The initial reaction was “Ok, that’s a lot of goals, but the Lakers probably aren’t very good again.” And that was accurate. Mercyhurst is now 63rd out out 62 teams in NPI. But then Michigan went to then-No. 7 Providence and won 5-1 and 3-1 and there was no longer any doubt, it was clearly one of the best teams in the nation. For the 10 polls stretching from Nov. 24 until Feb. 2, it was No. 1 in the polls, including once as the unanimous choice.
Minnesota Duluth
The Bulldogs began the season squarely among the “other teams receiving votes” in the national polls, and predicted by many to finish in the bottom half of the NCHC standings. The wake-up call for many occurred on Oct. 24-25 when it went to Minnesota and executed the first series sweep inside Marucci Arena since Nov. 20-21, 2009. Suddenly everyone knew who non-twin sophomore brothers Max and Zam Plante were, especially when both were nominated for the Hobey Baker Award. At No. 8 in NPI, UMD is on pace to return to the NCAA Tournament.
Miami
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, after going 3-28-3 last season, including 0-23-1 in the NCHC, the RedHakws are the best story in college hockey this season. At 17-13-2, Miami is No. 26 in NPI, plus it won the Friendship Four in Ireland. Chances are the RedHawks season will come to an end away from home during the upcoming conference tournament, but even when that happens the players and coaches should take a bow for a job well done.
Puck Drop: Thursday, February 26, 2026
• A number of players from the gold medal game at the Olympics, which was played Sunday morning in Italy, were out of action when the NHL restarted. For example, the Golden Knights were without five players when they faced the Kings on Wednesday night, including forward Jack Eichel (Boston University) and defenseman Noah Hanifin (Boston College). However, Auston Matthews (National Developmental Program) was in the lineup for the Maple Leafs against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Jack Hughes and Tage Thompson both played when the Devils and Sabres squared off.
Jack Hughes brought out Tage Thompson and spoke to the New Jersey crowd in his return to the NHL after they brought home the gold medal 👏 pic.twitter.com/4p1bBMKRns
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 26, 2026
• Cutter Gauthier (Boston College) scored with 1:14 remaining to give Anaheim Ducks coach Joel Quenneville his 1,000th NHL victory, a 6-5 win against the Edmonton Oilers. Scott Bowman is the only other NHL coach to reach the milestone. The Ducks twice trailed by two goals and lead the league in multi-goal comeback victories with eight.
• Former USA Hockey National Team Development Program forward Sonny Milano was waived by the Washington Capitals to make room for Connor McMichael coming off injured reserve. Meanwhile, Utah forward Logan Cooley (Minnesota) returned to the lineup after missing 28 games after crashing into a goalpost in Vancouver on Dec. 5, 2025.
• Interesting quote from an anonymous SEC basketball coach by On3 about when the evaluation of potential portal targets really begins (and we assume it’s pretty much the saame with hockey): “Portal talk starts in November when games start. First five games of the year you start hearing kids are unhappy, or an agent calls saying, ‘This guy’s averaging 20 a game already, he’s gonna hit the portal.’ And by Christmas, some of them are pretty locked into what’s gonna be happening.”
Men’s College Hockey Wednesday Scores
No Games Scheduled
Women’s College Hockey Wednesday Scores
Hockey East
Opening Round
Maine 4, Merrimack 0
Boston University 3, Providence 0
Games between ranked opponents are bolded. All times are local to where the game is being played.
Men’s College Hockey Thursday Schedule
Big Ten
Minnesota at No. 2 Michigan, BTN, 6:30 p.m. ET
CCHA
Ferris State at Lake Superior, 7 p.m. ET
Women’s College Hockey Thursday Schedule
No Games Scheduled
Hockey Quote of the Day
“In this game, nothing is guaranteed, and every second must be earned.”
Mike Sullivan
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We’ll Leave You With This …
A quick shout-out to the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament, which will be played March 4-7 at the same locations as the recent World Juniors Championships, Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul and 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis. The following goal was the first scored in the Section 6AA Championship won by Edina over Wayzata, 3-1.
This might be the only time you see a goal like this in your entire lifetime @spittinchiclets
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) February 26, 2026
Note: The girls’ tournament was played last week with Breck School/Groves Academy the Class A champion, and Hill Murray won the Class AA title.
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