Thursday, March 5, 2026

Men’s Notes: And Then There Was One

Big Ten Last Remaining League Race to be Decided

Five of the six regular-season conference champions have been crowned, with the last remaining drama coming out of the Big Ten, where Michigan holds a two-point lead over Michigan State heading into the final weekend.

The Wolverines are chasing their first-ever regular-season Big Ten banner but concluded their regular-season schedule last week. Meanwhile, the top-ranked Spartans have two games remaining Thursday and Friday at Minnesota and can leapfrog their rivals by securing three points in Minneapolis.

Meanwhile, four teams clinched conference titles last weekend – Minnesota State (CCHA), North Dakota (NCHC), Providence (Hockey East), and Quinnipiac (ECAC Hockey) – while Bentley wrapped up the Atlantic Hockey America championship two weeks ago.

While both the Big Ten and Hockey East are closing out their regular-season schedules this weekend, the four other conferences will have begun their respective playoff tournaments. The AHA tourney got underway Tuesday, with Mercyhurst and Niagara earning first-round wins over Canisius and Army, respectively.

Follow the action all the way down to the wire with College Hockey Inc.’s live daily scoreboard.

Tournament Central Pages:
Atlantic Hockey America
Big Ten
CCHA
ECAC Hockey
Hockey East
NCHC

Daily Scoreboard | Weekly Schedule | Scoring Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

United Collegiate Hockey Cup:

College hockey’s five NCAA Division I men’s independent programs are in St. Louis this week for the inaugural United Collegiate Hockey Cup, hosted by Lindenwood at the Centene Community Ice Center.

The event provides student-athletes from those five programs with a postseason championship experience and an additional opportunity to showcase their talent.

Alaska enters as the tournament’s No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 Lindenwood, No. 3 LIU, No. 4 Stonehill and No. 5 Alaska Anchorage. Click HERE for the bracket and additional information.

The Saints are Coming:

Staying in St. Louis, Maryville University announced on Wednesday the launch of an NCAA Division I men’s hockey program.

The Saints, under head coach John Hogan (Arizona ’17), will play their inaugural NCAA Division I season in 2027-28. Maryville will play a hybrid transition schedule in 2026-27 that will include approximately 20 NCAA Division I games.

Maryville will become college hockey’s 64th NCAA Division I men’s program.

Quinnipiac? More like Win-nipiac:

Quinnipiac clinched its sixth straight Cleary Cup last weekend as ECAC Hockey champion, tying Minnesota State’s run from 2018-23 for the most consecutive regular-season conference titles in NCAA Division I men’s hockey history.

MSU’s run began with four straight MacNaughton Cups in the WCHA, following with two more as members of the relaunched CCHA.

Quinnipiac now boasts 10 Cleary Cup titles, all coming since 2013.

Big Green Monster:

Dartmouth sophomore F Hayden Stavroff (Columbus, Ohio) is the country’s leading goal scorer this season, and he’s doing it by being an equal opportunity sniper.

Stavroff has lit the lamp against all 11 of his ECAC hockey opponents in 2025-26, a feat he completed last Friday against Quinnipiac when he tallied his NCAA-leading 27th goal of the season. It was also his league-best 22nd goal during conference play.

Fifty is Nifty:

A pair of junior forwards joined exclusive company last weekend when Denver’s Sam Harris (San Diego, Calif.) and UConn’s Joey Muldowney (Lake View, N.Y.) both reached the 50-goal milestone for their NCAA careers.

Harris and Muldowney became just the fourth and five active players to reach that plateau:

Active NCAA Career Goal-Scoring Leaders
RK	Name, School	Goals
1.	T.J. Hughes, Michigan	65
2.	Josh Zary, Ferris State	57
3.	Lucas Wahlin, St. Thomas	54
4.	Sam Harris, Denver	50
	Joey Muldowney, UConn	50
6.	Davis Burnside, Ohio State	49
7.	Brandon Buhr, Union	48
	Dylan James, North Dakota	48
9.	Jay Ahearn, UMass Lowell	47
	Brody Lamb, Minnesota	47
	Bennett Schimek, Arizona State	47

NCAA Milestone Watch:

150 Career Games Played (skaters)
149 – D Luke Mittelstadt, Minnesota
149 – D Mack Oliphant, Holy Cross
148 – F Dylan James, North Dakota
147 – D Mason Wheeler, Minnesota State

100 Career Points
98 – F Jay Ahearn, UMass Lowell
98 – F Stiven Sardarian, Michigan Tech
97 – F Matt DiMarsico, Penn State
97 – F Christian Fitzgerald, Wisconsin
97 – F Jack Musa, UMass

50 Career Goals
49 – F Davis Burnside, Ohio State
48 – F Brandon Buhr, Union
48 – F Dylan James, North Dakota
47 – F Jay Ahearn, UMass Lowell
47 – F Brody Lamb, Minnesota
47 – F Bennett Schimek, Arizona State
46 – F Aiden Fink, Penn State

50 Career Wins
48 – Kyle Chauvette, New Hampshire

10 Career Shutouts
9 – Trey Augustine, Michigan State
8 – Michael Hrabal, UMass
8 – Josh Kotai, Augustana

SID Stuff:

When Alaska freshman Calvin Vachon (Redondo Beach, Calif.) stopped all 22 shots in Friday’s 2-0 win over rival Alaska Anchorage, he became the first Nanooks freshman goalie with a shutout victory in 17 years, according to Alaska Sports Information Director Nathan Pearsall.

Prior to Vachon, the last first-year Nanook with a shutout was Scott Greenham against Mercyhurst on Oct. 17, 2008.

Vachon was making his first start since Jan. 10, and his first at home since Oct. 4 on opening weekend.

Notebook Quotebook:

“Ralphie, actually about the fourth shooter, was staring me down. He wanted out there. I told him after the game the right side of my face had sunburn from him staring me down.”

— Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale (MSU ‘05) on sophomore D Colin Ralph (Maple Grove, Minn.), who scored the decisive goal in the 13th shootout round of Saturday’s 3-3 tie with Ohio State. Ralph has one goal in 32 games this season (source: MSUSpartans.com).

NHL Note of the Week:

Winnipeg G Connor Hellebuyck (UMass Lowell, 2012-14) appeared in his 607th career NHL game on Tuesday, moving him past fellow ex-UMass Lowell River Hawk Dwayne Roloson (UMass Lowell, 1990-94) for eighth all-time among former NCAA goaltenders:

Most Career NHL GP by NCAA Goaltenders
Rk	Name, School	GP
1.	Ed Belfour, North Dakota	963
2.	Curtis Joseph, Wisconsin	943
3.	Tony Esposito, Michigan Tech	886
4.	Jonathan Quick, UMass*	824
5.	Ryan Miller, Michigan State	796
6.	Mike Richter, Wisconsin	666
7.	Mike Liut, Bowling Green	663
8.	Connor Hellebuyck, UMass Lowell*	607
9.	Dwayne Roloson, UMass Lowell	606
10.	Cam Talbot, Alabama-Huntsville*	559
* – indicates still active

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

Maine F Josh Nadeau (Jr., St-François-de-Madawaska, N.B.) tallied his 100th career NCAA point with a first-period assist in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Northeastern. Nadeau finished the weekend with four points and now has six goals and six assists over his last six games … New Hampshire’s Kyle Chauvette (Sr., Goffstown, N.H.) pitched his 10th career shutout last Friday in a win over Providence, joining Maine’s Albin Boija (Jr., Sundsvall, Sweden), Arizona State’s Connor Hasley (Sr., North Tonawanda, N.Y.), and Minnesota State’s Alex Tracy (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) as the nation’s only active goalies with 10-plus clean slates … Denver’s 4-1 win over Arizona State on Saturday was the 200th NCAA victory for head coach David Carle (Denver ’12) and his 100th NCHC win.

Longest Active Team Winning Streaks:

5 games, Denver (began Feb. 7 vs. Colorado College)
4 games, Alaska (began Feb. 20 at Alaska Anchorage)
4 games, Maine (began Feb. 20 vs. Merrimack)
4 games, Sacred Heart (began Feb. 20 vs. Holy Cross)

Longest Active Point Streaks:

10 games, F James Hagens (Boston College)
- 9-8—17, began Jan. 30
8 games, F Chase Dafoe (Alaska)
- 6-4—10, began Jan. 30 vs. LIU
7 games, F William Ahlrik, Lake Superior State
- 5-4—9, began Jan. 31 at Augustana
7 games, F Christian Fitzgerald (Wisconsin)
- 4-5—9, began Jan. 31 at Minnesota
7 games, F Rieger Lorenz (Denver) vs. Minnesota Duluth
- 5-5—10, began Jan. 31
6 games, Five players tied

Longest Active Goal Streaks:

5 games, F Michael Mesic (Bentley)
- 6-3—9, began Jan. 9 at Air Force
4 games, F Caelan Fitzpatrick (Merrimack)
- 5-3—8, began Feb. 20 at Maine
4 games, F Declan McDonnell (Niagara)
- 4-1—5, began Feb. 20 at Mercyhurst

Longest Active Goalie Winning Streaks:

6 games, Stephen Peck (Michigan)
- Began Jan. 10 vs. Notre Dame
5 games, Johnny Hicks (Denver)
- Began Feb. 7 vs. Colorado College
5 games, Nate Krawchuk (RPI)
- Began Feb. 6 at Clarkson

Conference Websites

College Hockey Inc. Resources:

Did you know? 93% of NCAA Division I men’s hockey players earn their degree!