Is Pre-Halloween College Hockey Bracketology Scary or Frightfully On Target? Puck Drop

Let’s get this out there up front, we weren’t taking this especially seriously — at least initially.  One would think that doing a bracketology less than a month into the season and before Halloween would be anything but accurate, and not too telling, although we wanted to put it to the test. Might it demonstrate the importance of every game and which teams are already on pace to make the NCAA Tournament in March?

That’s five months away of course, but it wasn’t going to stop us from having a little fun trick-or-treat style. Here goes:

For the men, we used the teams that finished atop their preseason conference polls as the automatic qualifiers, and then filled out the field using the top National Collegiate Percentage (NPI) Index through Saturday’s games.  

There was only one exception to all that, the Ivy League, which hasn’t begun play yet. Consequently, the Ivy team that was predicted highest in ECAC voting got in as well.   

AHA: Sacred Heart
Big Ten: Michigan
CCHA: Michigan Tech
ECAC: Quinnipiac
Hockey East: Providence
NCHC: Denver
Ivy League: Dartmouth

That left the other top nine NPI teams: Wisconsin, Union, Michigan State, Augustana, Western Michigan, Colorado College, Minnesota Duluth, Army and Northeastern.

The first team out? Maine, followed by New Hampshire, Merrimack and Minnesota. That was the first real sign that maybe this wasn’t so hocus pocus after all.  

For the seedings and pairings, we went against the NPI index that the NCAA will use, but opted for the most recent polls. Normally we’d go with USCHO.com rankings, but to mix it up the Week 4 USA Hockey College Hockey Poll was used (which obviously didn’t take include any weekend results). For any team not ranked it’s then by NPI.

The top 11 teams in the rankings would all be in. The top team not to make it is No. 12 Cornell.

The seedings: Michigan, Michigan State, North Dakota, Denver, Western Michigan, Wisconsin, Quinnipiac, Minnesota Duluth, Providence, Dartmouth, Colorado College, Augustana, Michigan Tech, Union, Army and Sacred Heart

Now for the regional locations, from East to West, are Springfield, Mass., Hartford, Conn., Fargo, N.D., and Loveland, Colo. The 2027 Men's Frozen Four will be held at Capital One Arena, Washington D.C. Sacred Heart is the host at Hartford, so it must be placed there. Similarly, Denver is hosting at Loveland and UND is doing likewise at Fargo.

Michigan is actually closest to Springfield (look it up, 674 miles, compared to 718 to Hartford), so it heads there as the top seed. Michigan State goes to Harford.

We’ll skip to the end for the rest of it, with first-round pairings, with three important notations.

1) The Springfield and Loveland Regions are listed together for a potential 1 vs. 4 semifinal; 2) There were two conference matchups in the first round, so we moved those teams; 3) Sacred Heart would have been the 16th team but got bumped up two spots to tray and preserve bracket integrity as possible. 

Springfield: 1 Michigan vs. Army; 2 Minnesota Duluth vs. 3 Providence 
Loveland: 1 Denver vs. Michigan Tech; 2 Wisconsin vs. 3 Augustan

Hartford: 1 Michigan State vs. Sacred Heart; 2 Western Michigan vs. 3 Dartmouth
Fargo: 1 North Dakota vs. Union; 2 Quinnipiac vs. 3 Colorado College

That looks like a very plausible bracket. The AHA having two teams seems like a reach, but that’s about it.

Now for the women, where we have to cheat.

The automatic bids per the preseason conference polls:

AHA: Penn State
ECAC: Quinnipiac
Hockey East: Northeastern
NEWPA: Assumption
WCHA: Ohio State

The rest of the field per NPI, minus one: Cornell, Colgate, Minnesota, St. Cloud State and Brown.

Here’s the cheat: Wisconsin, which is No. 8 in NPI, and sorry we aren’t doing this without the two-time reigning champions. 

The seedings per rankings, with the Frozen Four set for Duluth, Minn., March 21-23. Top-ranked team not in the field, No. 6 Princeton.

8 vs. 9:  Cornell vs. St. Cloud State
No. 1 Bye: Ohio State

4 vs. 5: Northeastern vs. Quinnipiac

7 vs. 10: Colgate vs. Brown
No. 2 Bye: Minnesota

6 vs. 11: Penn State vs. Assumption
No. 3 Bye: Wisconsin

Minus the early NPI favoritism to the Ivy League after its teams just started their seasons last weekend, that might end up close to the final thing.

No. 18 Boston College Manages Tie at No. 4 Denver

For the second straight night, Boston College was able to come back from a two-goal deficit, but this time was able to hold on for a 2-2 tie against No. 4 Denver at Magness Arena.

Junior forward Teddy Stiga scored the game-tying goal with 46 seconds remaining, and junior forward Dean Letourneau had the only goal of the shootout, but the game still goes down as a tie. Matias Vanhanen added a goal and an assist for the No. 18 Eagles (1-3-1), and Louka Cloutier was credited with 21 saves.

“You could tell their desperation as a group and as a team was really high, and they made life hard for us,” Denver coach David Carle said.

Forward Kristian Epperson and freshman defenseman Blake Fiddler scored for the reigning champions, the latter of which deflected off the goalie's glove. The No. 4 Pioneers (3-2-1) were outshot for the first time this season, 25-23.

Puck Drop: Sunday, October 25, 2026

• Normally shootouts aren’t used to officially break ties, but Yake and Minnesota State deadlocked after overtime, it was used to determine the champion of the women’s Icebreaker Tournament in Boston. Mercury Bischoff scored for the Mavericks in the shootout, but freshman Emeline Grennan made the save on the other four attempts, while Cami Bell scored twice for the 2-1 tiebreaker.

• Merrimack center Parker Lalonde, who took a hard hit and left the game against UNH two weeks ago on a stretcher, was back in action this weekend against Notre Dame. He won 8 of 16 faceoffs and blocked a shot during Friday night’s 2-1 victory. Seamus Powell scored as the Warriors overcame a two-goal deficit to get the sweep in South Bend, 6-3. … No. 7 Providence improved to 5-0 for the first time since 2003 with a 5-2 win over UMass Lowell … Freshman defenseman Xavier Villeneuve had three assists to help No. 15 Boston University to a 6-3 win against No. 16 UConn for a series split.

• Joshua Ravensbergen had a season-high 38 saves as No. 2 Michigan State salvaged a series split at New Hampshire, 2-1. However, the Wildcats outshot the Spartans in both games, by a combined 73-37. "I give (UNH) a ton of credit," Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale said. “They checked, it was a rock fight, and you had to play real hockey.”

• The Washington Capitals claimed defenseman Jack St. Ivany (Boston College/Yale) off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets.

• Connor Hellebuyck (UMass Lowell) was introduced in New Jersey and then hit the ice for practice. "I'm here to win, and the only thing I've got left (to fill) on my resume is a Stanley Cup," he said. "Seeing that these guys have their vision tight on that as well, it's just going to fit perfectly." The Devils have yet to say when he might make his Devils debut.

Hockey Quote of the Day

"Joe's been getting that since he was nine years old. Other teams always said, 'Stop Nieuwendyk and we can win.' "

Father of Joe Nieuwendyk (Cornell)

Bonus

These aren’t necessarily specific to former college players, but check out these saves from the Kings at Devils. Is Hellebuyck rubbing off on everyone in the building?

We'll Leave You With This ...

— The views expressed in Christopher Walsh’s opinion part of Puck Drop are his own and do not necessarily reflect ON SI, Sports Illustrated or digital partner Minute.  

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