The Reigning Champions Have Fallen in This Week's Stock Report: Puck Drop

Things are starting to shape up across the college hockey landscape after three full weeks of the 2026-27 regular season. But can the party truly start before the Ivy League teams get involved? The six schools who also play in the ECAC will join the fray on Halloween weekend.

However, there are still stocks to report regarding those already playing. We'll begin with Hockey East's favorite Cinderella.

Reigning league champion Merrimack here to prove that it wasn't just a stroke of luck, while power play units are struggling and freshmen continue to prove themselves worthy across the NCAA. Here lies edition three of the college hockey stock report, with a look at who is trending in either direction.

Stock Up: Merrimack’s return to Hockey East champion form

The Warriors shocked the hockey world last March when they won the Hockey East Championship as the eighth seed in the conference tournament, a result virtually no one could’ve predicted. After playing one game in each of the opening two weekends and coming away with zero wins, questions naturally arose about the potential fluke nature of their postseason run.

In Merrimack’s first series of the season, it was pitted against Minnesota State, and that uncertainty was shut down for the time being. On Friday, junior Nick Pierre netted his second goal of the game to equalize the game at three in the third period. Fellow junior Caden Cranston was not interested in back-to-back ties and tacked on the overtime winner.

The following day, the Warriors left absolutely no doubt. They poured on a whopping seven goals before the Mavericks could respond, ending the series capper in 8-2 fashion. Ty Daneault and Nathan King both netted two, while Cranston and Pierre both added another. It marked the first time since 2011 that Minnesota State conceded eight goals in a game. The ‘Mack is back.

Stock Down: Denver loses grip of the top spot

Everything was going swimmingly for the reigning champions, until they had to face the surging Michigan. Top-ranked Denver welcomed the No. 2 Wolverines into its home for a two-game series, and by the end of it, the Pioneers got dumped down to No. 4.

On Friday, Denver raised its 2026 national championship banner. That party was spoiled by Wolverines forward Jayden Perron about eight and a half minutes post-puck drop. Down two goals, the Pioneers finally got on the board with less than four minutes remaining, but the ensuing empty-netter placed the final score at 4-1 Michigan.

Saturday was more competitive, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a home sweep. Kristian Epperson registered his team-leading fifth point and Sam Harris scored his team-leading third goal in the 4-3 loss. In the battle of the top freshmen defenseman, Landon DuPont beat out Daxon Rudolph as Michigan stole the top spot in college hockey.

Stock Up: Dave Hakstol taking over at Arizona State

New coach, two wins. The former Colorado Avalanche assistant coach and Seattle Kraken head coach immediately jumped onto the Arizona State bench, and the results spoke for themselves. The series against UMass Lowell was Hakstol’s first college hockey series since 2015, when he left his post at North Dakota to join the professional ranks with the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Sun Devils had not shown an inability to score goals, but an overall consistency has been lacking. They’ve scored four goals in all but one of their six games so far, and have now brought their record to a healthy 4-2. 

Freshman Nathan Behm and sophomore Daniel Shlaine have been at the forefront of scoring with four goals apiece, but the youth movement doesn't stop there. At the top of the assists leaderboard is another freshman-sophomore duo, with defenseman Jonas Woo and forward Jack Beck sharing the five-assist mark.

Finally, Arizona State has gotten something right with Hakstol it seems.

Stock Down: Bowling Green’s power play

The Falcons climbed into last week’s top-20 poll, debuting at No. 18, and their time there could not have been more short-lived. Bowling Green lost two close home games to Niagara, a 3-2 overtime loss and a 2-1 defeat the following night, to fall right back out of the rankings.

Those losses were easily prevented with a couple of good power plays, but the unit was nowhere to be found. In the overtime loss, Bowling Green earned one power play in each period and struck out, which was nothing too outlandish on its own.

The power play’s malpractice really showed on Saturday, when the Falcons failed to score on any of its whopping seven attempts. They generated 13 total shots on 14 uninterrupted minutes of a man advantage, and still could not find the back of the net. The onus falls on the likes of Noah Morneau, Connor Levis and Tyler Hotson, among others, to right this wrong.

Stock Up: Caleb Heil, North Dakota

The freshman goaltender at North Dakota announced himself to the college hockey world in style last weekend against Bentley. After Jan Spunar started the first two games, winning both with a .881 save percentage and five goals against, Heil got his turn.

Heil’s performances were so sound that it might be difficult to keep him out of the cage for the time being. He posted a 14-save shutout in a 5-0 win during the first game, then followed that up with a nearly identical 15-save shutout in yet another 5-0 victory for the Fighting Hawks.

It truly cannot get any better than a 1.000 save percentage, a goals against average of 0.00 and two shutouts to kickstart a career, and he was named the NCHC Goaltender of the Week. Heil hails from Minnesota and most recently played for the Madison Capitols of the USHL, where he spent the previous two seasons prior to entering NCAA hockey.

Puck Drop: Wednesday, October 21, 2026

• Erie Otters captain Tristen Trevino has flipped his commitment from Robert Morris to Bowling Green. The 20-year-old defenseman is playing in his final eligible OHL season. Trevino has registered four goals and 25 assists from the blue line for the Otters since the beginning of last season.

• Denver set its single-game home attendance record on Friday against Michigan with 7,099 fans. The series also set the highest combined attendance total across a two-game series at Magness Arena, with 14,108. The Pioneers will host No. 18 Boston College on Homecoming Weekend as the two high-prestige programs hope to turn things around.

• Cooper Black (Dartmouth) is expected to make his NHL debut in net for the Florida Panthers during the upcoming four-game road trip to Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Winnipeg. The 6-foot-9 goaltender played two seasons for Dartmouth from 2022-24, posting a .904 save percentage in 60 games. Black's call-up to the Panthers comes after Jacob Markstrom suffered an upper-body injury when he was hit by a puck during practice, which will force him to miss about two weeks.

• Robert Morris earned its first win of the 2026-27 season with a 5-2 victory over reeling Penn State. George Krotiris scored twice for the Colonials and Maine transfer Justin Poirier stayed hot for the Nittany Lions by netting both of his team's goals. Penn State is 0-4 on the season and has not finished a game within a goal of its opponent.

• Long Island defeated St. Lawrence in a non-conference thriller, 7-6. After scoring the first two goals, the Saints gave up the next three to galvanize the wild shootout. Isaac Lambert scored the winner for LIU on the power play with less than four minutes remaining. Luca Leighton led the Sharks with two tallies and Sixten Jennersjö racked up four assists in the victory.

Hockey Quote of the Day

“We're masked in shoulder pads, and you never see the feminine side of our game. People would be surprised at how feminine our team is.”

Cammi Granato (Providence)

We'll Leave You With This ...

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