Jan 16, 2024, 09:15 AM ET
With the calendar turned to a new year, the college hockey season is hitting high gear, with conference play heating up and the NCAA tournament about two months away.
There are some different squads than we’ve seen the last few years near the top of the national rankings and their respective leagues, with traditional powers and old stand-bys also in the mix.
Conference tournaments will begin on or around March 8, with league champs being crowned by March 23. The 16-team NCAA field will be announced March 24, with regional play beginning March 28. The Frozen Four will be held April 11 and 13 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
To get you caught up on what’s happened in the first half of the season and what’s ahead, we asked ESPN college hockey analysts Colby Cohen, Andrew Raycroft and Sean Ritchlin about their favorite players to watch, the biggest surprises of the season, the most intriguing league races and their Frozen Four picks.
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What team has been the biggest surprise so far this season?
Ritchlin: Mike Hastings had an incredible decade of dominance at Minnesota State, building that program into a proven winner over his tenure, including a spot in the national championship game in the 2022 Frozen Four at Boston. Then came the switch for Hastings to Wisconsin after the completion of last season. Coming off a last-place finish in the Big Ten with 13-23-0 record, the Badgers already have 19 wins and have given up only 39 goals (1.63 per game), by far the best in the conference (Minnesota is next at 2.73 goals allowed per game). The attention to detail in the neutral zone and defensive zone have completely turned this program around.
Raycroft: Sean is right. Hastings was hired with a great pedigree, but I did not expect the turnaround to be so quick. At 19-4-1,…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/39294664/men-college-hockey-check-top-teams-players-frozen-four-picks
Author : ESPN.com
Publish date : 2024-01-16 14:16:11
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