3/26: The first round of the regional brackets is in the books in the Worcester, MA and Sioux Falls, SD regions. In Worcester, Michigan State advanced with a 2-1 victory over UConn, and Wisconsin beat Dartmouth 5-1. The biggest story was Michigan State goaltender Trey Augustine’s (DET) 41-save effort, as well as goals by NSH forward prospect Ryker Lee (of the highlight reel variety) and PHI forward prospect Porter Martone to seal the win for the Spartans. For Wisconsin, the leading scorer was Quinn Finley (NYI) with two points (a goal and an assist), and the Badgers used four third-period goals to advance.
In Sioux Falls, North Dakota beat Merrimack 3-0 to advance, while Quinnipiac downed Providence 5-2. For North Dakota, the story was goaltender free agent goaltender Jan Spunar, who turned away all of Merrimack’s 31 shots, many of the high-danger variety. BOS forward prospect Will Zellers had two assists for the Fighting Hawks. With respect to Quinnipiac, the Bobats outshot Providence 38-25, and used goals from fellow 40+ points scorers Antonin Verreault (Free Agent) and Ethan Wyttenbach (CGY). Logan Sawyer (MTL) and John Mustard (CHI) scored one goal apiece for the Friars.
3/27: In Loveland, Western Michigan defeated Minnesota State 3-1 to advance to the second round, while Denver beat Cornell 5-0. In the WMU game, Seattle prospect Zaccharya Wisdom scored the game-winning goal with just over 3 minutes to play. Last year’s Most Outstanding Player, free agent Owen Michaels, added an open-net goal to seal the win. Wisdom added an assist on Michaels’ goal; both Wisdom & Michaels had a goal and an assist in the contest to pace the Broncos.
In the Loveland game featuring Denver and Cornell, Denver dominated from start to finish in its 5-0 victory. Denver’s 5 goals came from 5 different players, including one apiece from Seattle prospect Clarke Caswell and Denver native Kieran Cebrian (Free Agent).
In Albany, the biggest news was that Michael Hage (MTL), perhaps the Wolverines’ top play-driver, did not play due to an injury suffered in the Big 10 Tournament title game. That didn’t slow down top-seeded Michigan at all, as they defeated Bentley University by a score of 5-1. The Wolverines had a goal by five different players, the first being scored by Big 10 Player of the Year TJ Hughes (Free Agent) (Hughes had 3 points to pace the Wolverines). Goaltender Jack Ivankovic (NSH) turned away 24 of the 25 shots he faced for the Wolverines.
Albany’s late game featuring Penn State vs. UMD ended with a 3-1 victory by the Bulldogs. This game was a goaltending duel between UMD’s Adam Gajan (CHI) and Penn State’s Josh Fleming (Free Agent). Max Plante (DET) scored the first goal, and assisted on the empty-netter by Hunter Anderson (Free Agent). Anderson had UMD’s last two goals, giving him 6 in his last 9 games. Huge props go out to UMD d-men Adam Kleber (BUF) and Brady Cleveland (DET), who used their 6’5″ frames and incredibly long reaches to shut down top draft prospect Gavin McKenna (2026 DE) and company.
3/28: Wisconsin 4, Michigan State 3 (OT) – Quinn Finley (NYI) scored the first goal of the game for the Badgers early in the second period on a wicked wrist shot from the slot. The Spartans’ Gavin McConnell (Free Agent) and Patrick Geary (BUF) each scored less than a minute apart to give MSU the lead about halfway through the middle frame. Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year Matt Basgall (Free Agent) scored a 3rd-period power-play goal for MSU to make it 3-1. Wisconsin’s Luke Osburn (BUF) and Gavin Morrisey (Free Agent) scored to tie things up, then Ben Dexheimer (Free Agent) scored the OT winner for the Badgers.
North Dakota 5, Quinnipiac 0 – North Dakota’s Jack Kernan (Free Agent) scored two first-period goals, and Abram Wiebe (CGY) assisted on both, to pace the Fighting Hawks in their victory over the Bobcats. Detroit prospect Dylan James also scored for UND, as did Cole Reschny (CGY).
3/29: Denver 6, Western Michigan 2 – Denver got six goals from six different players, including one from from Brendan McMorrow (LAK), to thoroughly dismantle defending champ Western Michigan. Top d-man prospect Eric Pohlkamp (SJS) finished it off with an empty-netter, and goalie Johnny Hicks (Free Agent) stopped 26 of 28 shots for his 11th consecutive win.
Michigan 4, Minnesota-Duluth 3 – The second game of the day was much more eventful than the first. Although Michigan took a 3-0 first period lead, UMD cut the lead to one, then applied all kinds of pressure late but couldn’t complete the comeback. The Wolverines were led in scoring by prospects Will Horcoff (PIT), Jayden Perron (CAR) & Adam Vallentini (2026 draft-eligible). Much-discussed d-man free agent Ty Hanson scored for the Bulldogs. UMD’s Max Plante (DET) did not score, but had numerous scoring chances and played his usual strong game.
4/9: Wisconsin 2, North Dakota 1 – The Badgers came out in dominant fashion, outshooting the Fighting Hawks 19-4 en route to a 2-0 first-period lead. (This is very notable, as North Dakota had surrendered only 53 shots combined in their first two tournament games.) Wisconsin never relinquished that lead, although North Dakota free agent forward Ellis Rickwood did score in the last minute of the game to make it a one-goal affair. Rickwood’s goal was assisted by Dylan James (DET). Rickwood finished his senior season with 37 points (9G 28A) in 35 games, and most likely will be offered a pro contract. Setting aside James’ assist and the five shots from North Dakota d-man Keaton Verhoeff (2026 draft-eligible), the top NHL prospects in this game for these teams did not stand out.
Denver 4, Michigan 3 (2 OT) – Denver took the early lead on free agent Kyle Chyzowski‘s goal, on a great touch-pass from Brendan McMorrow (LAK). Michigan tied it up on a nice wrist shot by free agent forward Josh Eernisse, off an O-zone faceoff won by Kienan Draper (DET). Still in the first, the Wolverines took the lead on a rebound goal by free agent TJ Hughes, assisted by Michael Hage (MTL). In the second, Denver free agent d-man Cale Ashcroft scored on a wrist shot from the point to tie things up at 2. Halfway through the third, Jayden Perron (CAR) scored a power-play goal to put the Wolverines back on top, assisted by Will Horcoff (PIT) and Adam Valentini (2026 draft-eligible). Forward Clarke Caswell (SEA) scored for Denver with under 3 minutes left to make it 3-3, assisted by d-man Garrett Brown (WPG). That’s how regulation ended. Free agent d-man Kent Anderson scored the game-winner in double OT, assisted by Caswell.
4/11: Denver 2, Wisconsin 1 – Wisconsin opened the scoring on a wrist shot by Vasily Zelenov (BUF) from the top of the circle. 1-0 Badgers after 1. Still 1-0 after 2. Shots favor Wisconsin 21-5. There were virtually no scoring chances in the 2nd until both teams applied some pressure in the last minute, resulting in each team generating an opportunity. Now in the third, Denver looks like a different team from the 1st and 2nd, generating twice as many shots than the first two periods combined. The Pioneers tie it at 1 with 12.5 minutes left. Crease goal scored by Rieger Lorenz (MIN), assists by Kristian Epperson (LAK) and Garrett Brown (WPG). 2-1 Denver with 6 minutes to go on a point clapper by free agent Kyle Chyzowski, assisted by Brown and free agent Boston Buckberger. That’s how it ended.