A lot of the eye initially of a school hockey season is rightly on the groups from the earlier 12 months’s Frozen 4.
Conversations in regards to the powerhouses and blue bloods, the standard powers and new banner holders, all middle on a crew’s means to supply the proverbial “subsequent one” to an insatiable group of followers and reporters trying to rationalize the following nice group by means of the earlier 12 months’s lens.
The microscope historically forgets about its misplaced powerhouses, and it didn’t take lengthy for the complete school hockey world to omit or neglect ECAC Hockey within the aftermath of the league’s struggle for a number of bids to the NCAA match. One 12 months faraway from matching the Huge Ten for many groups within the 16-team bracket, the remainder of the world seemingly ignored the league for its lack of nationwide powerhouses.
Understanding that unpredictability might be why ECAC has no downside speaking in regards to the nationwide match in the course of the earliest days of the 2025-26 season.
“We had an excellent 12 months final 12 months,” stated ECAC Hockey commissioner Doug Christiansen. “It was an excessive success, and we’re clearly actually excited for an additional new 12 months. This can be a new 12 months of alternative with new coaches, a brand new area, and new renovations. The league is de facto investing within the league and the aim, a method or different, goes to be the distinction between any person successful a championship, any person having dwelling ice, any person making it to Lake Placid.
“The magic of our league is that anyone, on any given night time, can win.”
Few leagues are getting into the brand new season with as a lot chaotic uncertainty as an ECAC that may’t rightly predict its personal parity. Three coaches are fully new after Cornell, RPI and Yale underwent adjustments behind their respective offseason benches, and two extra groups – Clarkson and Princeton – are within the second 12 months of their latest coach’s period. Eight totally different coaches have been of their present roles for 5 years or much less, and two of the three coaches with 15-plus years at their present establishment are teaching their alma maters.
And on the prime of the checklist, Rand Pecknold stays just about unchallenged with a Quinnipiac crew that’s clinched eight straight regular-season championships whereas getting into into the brand new world of the NCAA Energy Index algorithm for the nationwide match’s seeding process.
“We like the truth that the playoff is unweighted,” stated Christiansen. “We need to ensure that if we now have a prime seed go to 3 video games within the playoffs, as a result of everyone knows in regards to the parity in our league, we need to make that [less] punitive for the highest colleges. That’s one thing that, for us throughout the league, is a small adjustment however is reflective of how the gameplay has been. Total, we’re snug with the path, and we predict that the NCAA did a very nice job [with its new format].”
Whether or not which means a second or third or fourth crew is heading to the NCAA Match is unclear, however that’s the enjoyable of watching ECAC groups play hockey. They’re nonetheless among the many most historic manufacturers in an ever-changing sport, however they’ve been compelled to lastly adapt to the altering tides inside intercollegiate athletics. The previous couple of years – even with the shortage of groups in final 12 months’s NCAA match – have been insane to foretell and spot.
This 12 months is probably going no totally different.
BROWN
HEAD COACH: Brendan Whittet, getting into his seventeenth season at Brown
LAST SEASON: 14-15-3 general (Sept. 11-2, 28 factors, eighth in ECAC)
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS: F Ryan St. Louis (13g-11a-24pts); F Brian Nicholas (11g-14a-25pts); D Alex Pineau (7g-9a-16pts); D Ethan Mistry (2g-10a-12pts); F Ivan Zadvernyuk (3g-7a-10pts)
KEY LOSSES: F Tyler Kopff (9g-19a-28pts); F Max Scott (12g-14a-26pts); F Brendan Clark (6g-6a-12pts); G Lawton Zacher (14-11-2, 2.48 GAA, .917 sv%)
KEY ADDITIONS: D Ashton Bynum (Austin Bruins, NAHL); D Owen Dyer (Des Moines Buccaneers, USHL); G Freddie Halyk (Tr., Denver, NCHC); F Ben Poitras (Tr., Northeastern, Hockey East); F Mike Salandra (Tr., Quinnipiac, ECAC); F Brendan Tighe (Madison Capitols, USHL)
2025-26 PREDICTION: Shedding goaltender Lawton Zacher to the offseason switch portal actually put a damper on the nice shock from Brown’s general defensive improvement in the course of the 2024-2025 season. The roster had seemingly started adhering to a extra bodily and staunch fashion that exemplified a few of Brendan Whittet’s greatest groups, so the steps taken to drag the Bears out of the league’s backside 4 for the primary time in three years took a giant hit with the lack of arguably its greatest and most notable asset.
Due to that, Brown isn’t prone to achieve a lot floor except one other and greater shock presents a significant breakout, however the swirling winds round ECAC means the Bears additionally shouldn’t take a significant step backwards. Ashton Bynum is a giant physique that’s all the time been at dwelling on Brown’s blue line, and a pairing with a six-foot, two-inch Owen Dyer is a possible rookie boon for a crew that added transfers from the hard-nosed groups at Denver and Northeastern.
“I just like the crew,” stated Whittet. “I just like the path that we’re moving into. I just like the gamers which can be returning, and I actually just like the gamers that [arrived] by way of the portal or as freshmen. Roster composition in in the present day’s day and age is ever-changing and ever-shifting, however we did a extremely good job when it comes to the gamers that we introduced in, and gamers are going so as to add to a number of what we have already got.”
PREDICTED FINISH: Ninth
CLARKSON
HEAD COACH: JF Houle, getting into his second season at Clarkson
LAST SEASON: 24-12-3 (15-6-1, 45 factors, 2nd in ECAC)
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS: D Tristan Sarsland (8g-15a-23pts); F Ryan Bottrill (8g-11a-19pts); F Talon Sigurdson (10g-8a-18pts); F Luka Sukovic (7g-9a-16pts); D Tate Taylor (3g-13a-16pts)
KEY LOSSES: F Ayrton Martino (25g-26a-51pts); F Ellis Rickwood (10g-25a-35pts); F Ryan Richardson (11g-19a-30pts); D Trey Taylor (9g-20a-29pts); G Ethan Langenegger (22-10-2, 2.14 GAA, .914 sv%)
KEY ADDITIONS: D William Bishop (Val-d’Or Foreurs, QMJHL); F Justin Cote (Quebec Remparts, QMJHL); F Remi Gelinas (Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, QMJHL); D Matthew Mayich (Ottawa 67’s, OHL); F Adrian Misaljevic (Kitchener Rangers, OHL); F Mael St-Denis (Rimouski Oceanic, QMJHL); F Owen Van Steensel (North Bay Battalion, OHL);
2025-26 PREDICTION: Clarkson misplaced arguably probably the most top-end expertise from groups inside the ECAC, however a heavy-handed strategy to recruiting ought to assist present the Golden Knights with the replacements able to sustaining this system’s prime tier standing behind Quinnipiac’s in depth Cleary Cup success.
A whopping seven gamers arrived in Potsdam after spending time within the Canadian junior hockey circuit, and people names are doubtless going to supply some pop to a crew that’s now with out Ayrton Martino, Ellis Rickwood and Trey Taylor. Remi Gelinas, for instance, scored 25 objectives for Rouyn-Noranda whereas William Bishop potted 43 factors in 64 video games for Val d’or, and Matthew Mayich is a sixth-round draft choose of the St. Louis Blues after scoring 42 factors in 66 video games in final 12 months’s OHL.
“The most important problem goes to get all people to mesh collectively,” stated Houle. “It’s going to take a short time. We had some transfers. We’ve CHL gamers, after which we now have some returning gamers. The various kinds of gamers which can be coming in, for them to mesh, it’d take a short time. There are huge sneakers to fill with Rickwood, Martino, and Trey Taylor leaving, so hopefully a few of the gamers which can be returning will take a step and these younger freshmen will be capable to play at a excessive stage proper off the bat. We really feel fairly good about that, however getting a crew collectively goes to be the largest problem.”
PREDICTED FINISH: Second
COLGATE
HEAD COACH: Mike More durable, getting into his third 12 months at Colgate
LAST SEASON: 18-15-3 (13-7-2, 42 factors, third in ECAC)
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS: F Max Nagel (6g-18a-24pts); D Michael Neumeier (8g-12a-20pts); G Andrew Takacs (17-12-2, 2.77 GAA, .903 sv%)
KEY LOSSES: F Brett Chorske (15g-19a-34pts); F Alex DiPaolo (11g-15a-26pts); D Tommy Bergsland (4g-20a-24pts); F Ben Raymond (9g-9a-18pts); D Reid Irwin (6g-11a-17pts)
KEY ADDITIONS: F Tyson Doucette (Sarnia Sting, OHL); G Reid Dyck (Swift Present Broncos, WHL); D Luke Malboeuf (Dubuque Combating Saints, USHL); F Easton Wainwright (Sarnia Sting, OHL)
2025-26 PREDICTION: Head coach Mike More durable produced consecutive third place finishes in his first two seasons, however being compelled to switch mainstays like Brett Chorske, Alex DiPaolo, Ben Raymond, Tommy Bergslund and Reid Irwin signifies that the emergence of gamers like Neumeier must proceed buoying the crew by means of its subsequent part.
The Raiders are naturally like every other crew in that respect as a result of gelling the present infrastructure right into a newly-built roster is not any totally different from the remainder of school hockey, so how they carry out within the early a part of the season will go a protracted method to setting the precise tempo. There’s a four-game swing by means of Boston College and Maine that’s sandwiched round Atlantic Hockey America opponents, which in flip interprets to loads of alternatives for brand new gamers recruited largely from the CHL and never from the switch portal.
“I’m excited to play the most effective groups within the nation that we are able to play,” stated More durable. “We’ve to schedule 12 non-conference video games, and it’s probably the most within the nation. Generally you’re simply attempting to fill your schedule, however the thought was that if we need to be the most effective, we now have to beat the most effective. So it’ll be an excellent expertise, and we’re attempting to do a tour by means of the Huge Ten as effectively. It was actually about [asking] ‘why not?’”
PREDICTED FINISH: Sixth
CORNELL
HEAD COACH: Casey Jones, getting into his first season at Cornell
LAST SEASON: 19-11-6 (10-8-4, 36 factors, sixth in ECAC)
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS: F Ryan Walsh (17g-14a-31pts); F Charlie Main (5g-13a-18pts); F Nick DeSantis (5g-9a-14pts)
KEY LOSSES: F Dalton Bancroft (15g-12a-27pts); F Sullivan Mack (9g-15a-24pts); D Tim Rego (8g-16a-24pts); F Ondrej Psenicka (9g-13a-22pts); D Ben Robertson (2g-13a-15pts); G Ian Shane (17-11-6, 2.21 GAA, .905 sv%)
KEY ADDITIONS: G Alexis Cournoyer (Cape Breton Eagles, QMJHL); F Gio Digiulian (Lincoln Stars, USHL); F Aiden Lengthy (Madison Capitols, USHL); D Xavier Veilleux (Muskegon Lumberjacks, USHL)
2025-26 PREDICTION: Cornell confronted arguably the strangest 2024-2025 marketing campaign after the sixth-place Huge Crimson confronted down damage after damage in the course of the common season. They have been by no means proper, however lastly getting proper down the top of the common season spurred the crew to a repeat championship and a Cinderella run that landed head coach Mike Schafer simply in need of the Frozen 4 in his ultimate season behind the bench in Ithaca.
This 12 months’s Huge Crimson are actually left to carry the receipt of that transition interval. On the one hand, a wholesome Cornell upended the No. 2 general seed within the nationwide match earlier than dragging Boston College to an time beyond regulation Regional Remaining. However, shedding the flawed personnel price the crew its lofty setting and a possibility at unseating Quinnipiac’s stranglehold on the Cleary Cup.
New head coach Casey Jones is not any stranger to this state of affairs, and Cornell’s means to bridge from Schafer to its new regime creased these traces by permitting Jones to filter into the dialog at numerous factors throughout final season. His acclimation to his alma mater was, in a method, fully dissimilar from his early tenure at Clarkson, however sufficient parts exist to let him take the baton from Schafer in a giant method.
“I had an actual good alternative to construct relationships [with the players] and get an opportunity to see all of them play,” stated Jones about his roster. “I’ve a great really feel for our guys coming in and the way we’re going to make the most of them and the way they’re getting built-in into our squad. You don’t often get that chance as a head coach, so I feel that put me in a extremely great spot, particularly with 14 new gamers.”
PREDICTED FINISH: Fourth
DARTMOUTH
HEAD COACH: Reid Cashman, getting into his fifth season at Dartmouth
LAST SEASON: 18-13-2 general (12-9-1, fifth in ECAC)
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS: D CJ Foley (11g-19a-30pts); F Nikita Nikora (4g-26a-30pts); F Hayden Stavroff (10g-12a-22pts); F Hank Cleaves (5g-16a-21pts); G Emmett Croteau (13-4-0, 2.10 GAA, .903 sv%); G Roan Clarke (5-9-2, 2.70 GAA, .895 sv%)
KEY LOSSES: F Sean Chisholm (15g-12a-27pts); F Cooper Flinton (11g-13a-24pts); D John Fusco (11g-10a-21pts); F Luke Haymes (12g-6a-18pts);
KEY ADDITIONS: F Andrew Clarke (Des Moines Buccaneers, USHL); D Cooper Cleaves (Inexperienced Bay Gamblers, USHL); F Brock Cummings (Prince George Spruce Kings, BCHL); D Brock Devlin (Anchorage Wolverines, NAHL); F Nathan Morin (Chilliwack Chiefs, BCHL); F Ryan Schelling (Langley Rivermen, BCHL);
2025-26 PREDICTION: Final 12 months’s fifth place end and eventual development to the ECAC postseason semifinals produced a worthy encore to the Huge Inexperienced’s shocking 2023-2024 breakout marketing campaign and resurgent repute. Now, as the primary gamers from the two-year run begin to transfer on, the returning expertise inside the Dartmouth program are being tasked with creating the torch-passing legacy that usually eludes a crew shedding a profitable core.
That stated, it’s practically unimaginable to switch hard-nosed cultural stalwarts like Sean Chisholm, John Fusco, or Luke Haymes, so the crew must discover a method to defend towards taking too far of a step backwards. Having two goaltenders return is of course a great way to have that occur, and the expectation is that somebody grabs the opportunistic brass ring whereas the remainder of the crew settles into place.
“Our hope is that somebody takes [the goaltending job] and runs with it,” stated Cashman. “If somebody takes it, they will have it whereas understanding that the following man’s able to push him for those who give him a possibility. We’ve somewhat bit extra time, and whoever will get that first sport towards Stonehill, in the event that they play effectively, they’re going to get the following sport. In the event that they don’t, that subsequent man goes to be prepared for that chance.”
PREDICTED FINISH: Seventh
HARVARD
HEAD COACH: Ted Donato, getting into his twenty first season at Harvard
LAST SEASON: 13-17-3 general (9-10-3, 31 factors, seventh in ECAC)
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS: F Mick Thompson (14g-18a-32pts); F Casey Severo (16g-12a-28pts); F Joe Miller (5g-18a-23pts); F Ben MacDonald (5g-11a-16pts); D Ryan Healey (4g-9a-13pts); F Philip Tresca (4g-9a-13pts); G Ben Charette (5-8-2, 2.77 GAA, .909 sv%)
KEY LOSSES: D Ian Moore (3g-11a-14pts); G Aku Koskenvuo (8-9-1, 2.81 GAA, .902 sv%)
KEY ADDITIONS: D Donato Bracco (U.S. Nationwide Improvement Workforce); F Aidan Lane (Brampton Steelheads, OHL); F Heikki Ruohonen (Dubuque Combating Saints, USHL)
2025-26 PREDICTION: Harvard jumped from seven wins to 13 wins by gaining a number of spectacular victories over Quinnipiac, Merrimack, Colgate, Northeastern, RPI and Clarkson over the person course of its 2024-2025 season. In comparison with the earlier 12 months when the wins have been fewer and additional between, the extra logical quantity wants the Crimson to maneuver one step ahead after they gained dwelling ice throughout final season.
Returning each main piece of manufacturing will definitely assist, however deepening these roles and enhancing the crew with the addition of a few different recruiting items is the following problem for Ted Donato’s subsequent building venture. Given his observe report, there’s purpose to imagine that Harvard is due for a breakout that’s possibly larger than final 12 months’s third place sport win within the Beanpot.
“As a coach and as a program, we now have somewhat little bit of a chip on our shoulder,” stated Donato. “We need to inch our method again in direction of the highest and get ourselves again to Lake Placid. It’s an thrilling time of 12 months, and I feel we’re somewhat bit mature of a bunch. I feel we now have some additions that may carry actual worth, and whereas our first official day is [this weekend] for observe, we’ve had some hours on the ice with our guys. There’s an actual power and somewhat little bit of chunk in our group, which is thrilling.”
PREDICTED FINISH: Fifth
PRINCETON
HEAD COACH: Ben Syer, getting into his second season at Princeton
LAST SEASON: 12-15-3 general (7-12-3, 25 factors, ninth in ECAC)
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS: F Brendan Gorman (7g-17a-24pts); F David Jacobs (7g-17a-24pts); G Arthur Smith (7-7-2, 2.96 GAA, .899 sv%)
KEY LOSSES: F Adam Robbins (11g-18a-29pts); F Ian Murphy (11g-12a-23pts); F Nick Seitz (5g-18a-23pts); F Jack Cronin (11g-8a-19pts); G Ethan Pearson (2-8-2, 4.05 GAA, .855 sv%)
KEY ADDITIONS: F Seamus Latta (Victoria Grizzlies, BCHL); F Matt Souliere (Ottawa 67’s, OHL); G Dan Moor (Omaha Lancers, USHL)
2025-26 PREDICTION: A dozen wins is a modest quantity for an Ivy League faculty competing in a half-dozen much less video games than the remainder of its school hockey brethren, however Princeton ended its 2024-25 marketing campaign by incomes 4 wins over NCAA Match groups. The Thanksgiving break sweep over Ohio State was particularly damaging to the Buckeyes by the top of the 12 months, and even Bentley’s Atlantic Hockey America championship run couldn’t start till the Tigers took two wins away from the Falcons.
Shedding to Brown within the first spherical of an ECAC Match postseason presents an indicator {that a} a lot larger ceiling exists for Princeton, and whereas pure holes exist after a number of of their losses, the Tigers added choices with the potential to shift into a brand new and totally different fashion of play. Extrapolating that fashion into wins solely must yield three or 4 factors earlier than a playoff sport can return to New Jersey, and a profitable recruiting cycle north of the border is an intriguing additive piece to a crew that final performed a house playoff sport in 2018.
“I’m searching for us to be constant all year long,” stated Syer. “We had some totally different ebbs and flows final 12 months. I believed our compete was excellent, however to have the ability to be constant from weekend to weekend is de facto essential on this league as a result of factors are exhausting to return by. The extra constant you can be, the higher off your program can have at acquiring success.”
PREDICTED FINISH: seventh
QUINNIPIAC
HEAD COACH: Rand Pecknold, getting into his thirty second season at Quinnipiac
LAST SEASON: 24-12-2 general (16-5-1, 50 factors, 1st in ECAC)
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS: F Jeremy Wilmer (15g-25a-40pts); F Mason Marcellus (10g-28a-38pts); F Andon Cerbone (15g-20a-35pts); F Tyler Borgula (12g-13a-25pts); F Chris Pelosi (13g-11a-25pts); G Dylan Silverstein (12-9-2, 2.25 GAA, .903 sv%); G Matej Marinov (12-3-0, 1.75 GAA, .928 sv%)
KEY LOSSES: F Travis Treloar (16g-20a-36pts); F Jack Ricketts (20g-7a-27pts)
KEY ADDITIONS: D Logan McCutcheon (Lethbridge Hurricanes, WHL); F Ben Riche (Prince George Cougars, WHL); D Brady Schultz (Halifax Mooseheads, QMJHL); D Graham Sward (Wenatchee Wild, WHL); F Antonin Verreault (Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, QMJHL); F Markus Vidicek (Moncton Wildcats, QMJHL);
2025-26 PREDICTION: Quinnipiac entered final season with a roster bidding farewell to the ultimate items of its nationwide championship pedigree, and practically everybody danced on the Bobcats after they struggled to persistently win hockey video games initially of the season. But by the top of the 12 months, the ultimate joke was on the remainder of the league when Rand Pecknold collected his eighth consecutive Cleary Cup and prolonged the nation’s longest lively NCAA Match qualification streak.
Sadly for the remainder of the 12 months, the crew that appeared susceptible for elevated swaths of the 2024-25 season is again in full drive for the upcoming seasons. Almost each place retained an influence participant or two, and even the goaltender spot has a number of gamers who perceive how you can play their position inside Rand Pecknold’s team-based system. Including various CHL gamers included a 100-point scorer in Antonin Verreault and a professional-grade defenseman in Graham Sward, who had initially performed 47 video games for the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals after spending a number of years within the WHL.
None of that interprets to fast success, in fact, however the paper product is almost untouchable.
“It’s a piece in progress,” stated Pecknol. “Youngsters are nonetheless battling for spots. Youngsters are battling to be on the ability play and the penalty kill. I all the time say to our guys that issues change over the course of the 12 months. Guys that may not be killing now might be getting it performed in January and February…I feel that’s one of many causes that we’ve had success. We push our youngsters to be higher. We don’t lock them into sure roles. Actually, they’re in roles, however they will all the time change their destiny and get extra ice time, and we need to encourage that to have guys battle daily.”
PREDICTED FINISH: First
RENSSELAER
HEAD COACH: Eric Lang, getting into his first season at RPI
LAST SEASON: 12-21-2 general (7-15-0, 23 factors, tenth in ECAC)
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS: F Dovar Tinling (10g-10a-20pts); F Jagger Tapper (8g-12a-20pts)
KEY LOSSES: D Will Gilson (8g-16a-24pts); F Tyler Hotson (6g-16a-22pts); F Felix Caron (6g-15a-21pts); F Jakob Lee (13g-7a-20pts); F John Beaton (6g-13a-19pts); D Elliott McDermott (3g-15a-18pts); F Jack Brackett (6g-11a-17pts); F Jake Gagnon (8g-7a-15pts); G Noah Giesbrecht (11-19-0, 3.51 GAA, .897 sv%)
KEY ADDITIONS: F Ethan Bono (Tr., Merrimack, Hockey East); F Matthew Buckley (Oshawa Generals, OHL); F Ethan Elias (Tr., St. Thomas, CCHA); G Nate Krawchuk (Sudbury Wolves, OHL); F Jackson Kyrkostas (West Kelowna Warriors, BCHL); D Lucas Lemieux (Path Smoke Eaters, BCHL); F Filip Sitar (Tr., UConn, Hockey East); D Gunnar VanDamme (Tr., Alaska-Anchorage; D-I Unbiased); F Tyler Wallace (Tr., Niagara, Atlantic Hockey America); F Luc Wilson (Tr., Minnesota State, CCHA)
2025-26 PREDICTION: RPI’s determination to switch head coach Dave Smith with former American Worldwide bench boss Eric Lang introduced one among school hockey’s best builders to the Capital District for a brand new problem. Lengthy acknowledged for his penchant at constructing a successful crew regardless of a scarcity of assets and even a scarcity of a everlasting dwelling constructing, Lang is in contrast to every other coach in school hockey and represents a clear break from the Smith period – whilst he enters ECAC from the identical Atlantic Hockey convention that produced the previous Canisius head coach.
The ensuing roster overhaul left Lang with out a prime scorer or an incumbent goaltender, however attacking the switch portal and persevering with the recruiting path set forth by his predecessors created a roster that’s now match to play a method of hockey that hasn’t been seen at Houston Subject Home. As confirmed at his earlier cease at AIC, that may not instantly translate into wins, however the considered a gelling and bodily crew is a giant purpose why the Engineers have an opportunity to resemble the Yellow Jackets and their means to fully derail some crew’s season because the calendar shifts into its hottest weeks.
“We would have liked 20 gamers in April,” stated Lang. “We had seven or eight returners however solely six that performed school hockey video games. Credit score to these six for hanging in and never leaping for his or her life rafts as a result of there was somewhat little bit of a window the place they may have gone into the switch portal. It’s clearly not a perfect state of affairs to herald 20 gamers in April and Could, however we have been extremely selective in how we went about it. It’s early, however we’re pleasantly stunned by how our group is gelling and coming collectively, and we’ll discover out what it seems like as soon as we get on the market towards the dangerous guys.”
PREDICTED FINISH: tenth
ST. LAWRENCE
HEAD COACH: Brent Brekke, getting into his seventh season at St. Lawrence
LAST SEASON: 9-24-2 (5-15-2, 18 factors, twelfth in ECAC)
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS: F Tyler Cristall (8g-9a-17pts); F Isaac Tremblay (4g-8a-12pts); G Mason Kucenski (8-19-1, 2.98 GAA, .900 sv%)
KEY LOSSES: F Greg Lapointe (11g-8a-19pts); F Felikss Gavars (6g-9a-15pts); D Mason Waite (4g-12a-16pts); F Tomas Mazura (1g-13a-14pts); D Philippe Chapleau (3g-8a-11pts)
KEY ADDITIONS: D Andrew Brown (Cape Breton Eagles, QMJHL); F Frankie Carogioello (Tr., Miami, NCHC); F Sam LeDrew (West Kelowna Warriors, BCHL); D Teddy Mallgrave (Waterloo Black Hawks, USHL); F Rasmus Svartstrom (Cranbrook Bucks, BCHL)
2025-26 PREDICTION: St. Lawrence’s doubtful distinction because the final place crew in final 12 months’s ECAC landed the Saints of their first twelfth place end for the reason that ill-fated 2019-2020 season, however that didn’t cease Brent Brekke from injecting the proper of hope into the offseason. In contrast to final 12 months’s recruit-heavy addition that yielded a number of switch portal additions, the Saints stayed the course by making strategic strikes to their roster that didn’t lose all that a lot from its 2024-2025 marketing campaign.
The hope is that the shortage of flash is precisely what SLU must treatment its end from final season. What they wanted – and what they received – was a lift to the expertise on a depth chart that didn’t return a 10-goal scorer, and although that doesn’t mechanically imply {that a} crew is heading to the North Nation for a primary spherical playoff sport, the step-by-step course of is extra about getting higher every day and avoiding the problems that prompted final 12 months’s lack of sync.
“The relentless piece isn’t going to alter,” stated Brekke. “That’s one thing that we would like from our crew, each single 12 months. We need to be exhausting to play towards. I’m not a giant fan of soppy ability. Laborious ability goes to win you video games, going to win you championships, and I feel that’s a giant piece of being relentless and difficult to play towards.”
PREDICTED FINISH: eleventh
UNION
HEAD COACH: Josh Hauge, getting into his fourth season at Union
LAST SEASON: 19-14-3 general (12-8-2, 40 factors, 4th in ECAC)
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS: F Colby MacArthur (7g-22a-29pts); F Brandon Buhr (19g-9a-28pts); F Ben Muthersbaugh (13g-15a-28pts); F Nate Hanley (10g-18a-28pts)
KEY LOSSES: F Caden Villegas (7g-22a-29pts); D John Prokop (8g-19a-27pts); F Josh Nixon (14g-9a-23pts); G Kyle Chauvette (18-13-3, 2.80 GAA, .896 sv%)
KEY ADDITIONS: G Cameron Corpi (Tr., Michigan, Huge Ten); G Brayden Gillespie (Brampton Steelheads, OHL); G Brendan Holahan (El Paso Rhinos, NAHL); F Alex Laurenza (Austin Bruins, NAHL); D Etienne Lessard (Lincoln Stars, USHL); F Troy Pelton (Corpus Christi IceRays, NAHL)
2025-26 PREDICTION: The glittery $50 million M&T Financial institution Heart at Mohawk Harbor opens this 12 months with a 2,200-seat area that immediately locations Union close to the highest of ECAC’s dwelling ice benefits, however creating a real dwelling akin to the Messa Rink that the Garnet Chargers simply departed is instantly potential if the crew can end with its greatest season for the reason that primetime period of the mid-2010s.
They may nonetheless need to navigate key losses from final 12 months’s roster, however even the removing of gamers like Caden Villegas and John Prokop isn’t sufficient to take away Union from a league that’s extra middle-heavy than most years. Add within the chance of taking one other step ahead with a pair of incoming goaltender candidates, and the primary journey to Lake Placid since 2017 is extra expectation than practical hope.
“Everyone’s enthusiastic about [the new arena],” stated Hauge. “To have the ability to be right here on Friday night time to see the ladies get the primary win after which get two shutouts over the weekend [deserved] kudos. For us, beginning it off with a bang, there’s an excellent power within the constructing and nice power round campus. It’s simply a possibility for our crew to kick off [our year] with an excellent opponent in Military.”
PREDICTED FINISH: Third
YALE
HEAD COACH: Joe Howe, interim head coach
LAST SEASON: 6-21-3 (5-14-3, 19 factors, eleventh in ECAC)
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS: F Ronan O’Donnell (11g-9a-20pts); F David Chen (10g-7a-17pts); F Micah Berger (5g-10a-15pts); F Zach Wagnon (3g-11a-14pts); F Donovan Frias (7g-5a-12pts); G Jack Stark (3-14-2, 3.75 GAA, .879 sv%)
KEY LOSSES: F William Dineen (6g-12a-18pts)
KEY ADDITIONS: F Braden Keeble (Whitecourt Wolverines, AJHL); F Tom Molson (Victoria Grizzlies, BCHL); F James Shannon (Coquitlam Categorical, BCHL)
2025-26 PREDICTION: Yale’s upstart draw and shootout win over Cornell felt like a earlier eon after the Bulldogs failed to achieve any vital traction over the 2024-25 season. They gained a notable win over Boston College throughout a single sport over the vacation break interval, however it became an anomaly after January and February produced few victories and a 5-1 loss to Cornell within the ECAC first spherical.
Weathering that storm would have allowed Yale to press ahead with none drama forward of the present season, however then got here head coach Keith Allain’s retirement announcement in August. Already late within the postseason cycle, the college appointed assistant coach Joe Howe to an interim position, a transfer that maintained continuity between the remaining coaches and their incumbent gamers.
Howe is a rising star within the teaching ranks, however his means to press the Elis right into a combating place is arguably probably the most harmful piece of ECAC’s season. Ronan O’Donnell is a professional scorer, and a management core that includes David Chen is surprisingly underrated in a league the place a deep entrance line can simply push a crew by means of the standings. Additionally flying effectively south of everybody’s consideration span is Jack Clark, an All-ECAC sort of goaltender who isn’t too far faraway from 30-plus save performances. Given the chaos going through ECAC on an annual foundation, there’s an actual probability Yale may shock a number of people earlier than the season ends.
“On the finish of the day, gamers win hockey video games,” stated Howe, “and we’re enthusiastic about our group. It’s a bunch that we’ve been constructing the precise method [after] not having the ability to make the most of a few of the instruments that some groups received to make use of out of COVID. [Fellow assistant coach] Rob O’Gara and I received right here [knowing] that there wanted some work to be performed, and it’s beginning to come to fruition, so we’re excited in regards to the step that we’re going to take this 12 months, as a bunch, with what we now have within the locker room.”
PREDICTED FINISH: twelfth
