Opponent and other news and results 2025-2026

[Jim Hyla]

Harvard and Yale are on NESN right now for those of you in New England.
2-2 middle of the 2nd

That sounds like a miserable way to spend time.

This game ended with maybe the strangest or worst goal decision I've ever seen. In OT, the Yale player takes a bad angle shot that the Harvard goaltender Charette stops but the puck goes under him. It's not clear whether the puck crosses the goal line in real time and the ref quite obviously calls no goal. Both refs go to the review booth and from the overhead view, the puck is squarely on the line by the time play is blown dead but nothing conclusively or clearly shows the puck completely past the goal line. Despite this, the call on the ice is overturned and Yale wins the game. This year may have some of the most questionable or outright bad officiating I've seen in a long time or maybe ever since I've been watching ECAC games

I'd like to see an explanation of that. Conclusive proof to overturn the on ice No Goal???

[adamw]

The claim that NIL/revenue sharing is having a significant impact on competitive balance in college hockey is wholly unsupported by any publicly available reporting. Does that mean the claim is wrong? Not necessarily. But those making the claim have done nothing to support it.

I'm really tired of this lazy talking point.

I am reporting it, all the time. Just not naming the kinds of names and details you want to hear. So - again - believe me or don't believe me. Whatever.

What's your definition of widespread?

Real world example: Best player in a big conference, on a team that used to be a big deal, but no longer has those kinds of resources, was offered $50k to go to a blue-blood school in the same league. He left. He's not the only one.  I'm using this one example to represent many similar stories.  Does that mean it affects competitive balance for the 20 or so programs that have been able to keep up (or Cornell, for example, which wouldn't necessarily be as impacted because its plusses/minuses are already well-known to a student before coming there, and haven't changed)?  No, those teams have stayed the same. The pool of teams, however, that can keep up, is growing smaller.  The unlimited transfer policy was the first big problem. The growing NIL/Rev-share imbalance is another.  You would be hard-pressed to find any coach whose team is currently below, say, 25 in the NPI to say otherwise.  It's not sour grapes - it's just reality.

I can't speak for other reporters. But if you mean them and not me, make it more clear. Because I'm the one here - trying to help paint the picture.  Seriously.  And when you say certain funds aren't available at certain schools, and that it's not a thing, it's just false. I don't start out being argumentative about it, but yes, it drives me crazy when you don't believe it, just because I can't lay out exact details and receipts.

Give me something realistic that you want in the coverage that you aren't getting? It's a constant topic and we're constantly trying to add new light.

It's not just about Cole Hutson. There are some advisors out there creating bidding wars for players now. There is no way some of the former high-end powers -- New Hampshire, Maine, the CCHA schools, Clarkson -- can possibly compete for players they used to compete for. This is abundantly obvious.

I will be continuing to write and talk about this as much as possible.

[Trotsky]

There is no way some of the former high-end powers -- New Hampshire, Maine, the CCHA schools, Clarkson -- can possibly compete for players they used to compete for. This is abundantly obvious.

Can we?

Understanding you cannot name names, have there been cases where we have already been affected, to the good or the ill?

I confess I still don't understand NIL.  My impression is it's a way for mouth-breathers to pool their bribes without violating the rules.

[stereax]

Real world example: Best player in a big conference, on a team that used to be a big deal, but no longer has those kinds of resources, was offered $50k to go to a blue-blood school in the same league. He left. He's not the only one.

If this is who I think it is, and I think I have a pretty good chance of being right, I dunno if I'd call that guy the "best player in the conference" but he's pretty damn good.

I'm more surprised that 50k is what seems to be a "fairly standard" amount to offer guys who are good, but not like, top tier NHL prospect level talent. Is that even a year of tuition anymore? I guess most programs offer significant "scholar"ships to their athletes, but that doesn't feel like a super significant amount of money... evidently it seems like it might be, though.

[stereax]

There is no way some of the former high-end powers -- New Hampshire, Maine, the CCHA schools, Clarkson -- can possibly compete for players they used to compete for. This is abundantly obvious.

Can we?

Understanding you cannot name names, have there been cases where we have already been affected, to the good or the ill?

I confess I still don't understand NIL.  My impression is it's a way for mouth-breathers to pool their bribes without violating the rules.

I mean, we lost Robertson, didn't we?

I think Cornell occupies a "niche", though - high-level hockey and high-level studies. Which, a couple of schools (thinking Michigan here) are similar, but don't quite have the "lay prestige" of an Ivy.

I think that, more than anything else, is what we'll have to lean on going forward, and accept that we're not likely to land the top end prospects like that Beniers kid () whose name was floating around the forums as a Cornell legacy, simply because those guys are well aware that hockey will likely be their only career for the next 15-20 years.

But I might be wrong.

[stereax]

Btw, some other general news - looks like Stanley is our nominee for the ECAC scholar-athlete award. Also notable, Princeton nominated Ian Devlin (Luke's brother) and Q chose Mason Marcellus (still bald).

[adamw]

Real world example: Best player in a big conference, on a team that used to be a big deal, but no longer has those kinds of resources, was offered $50k to go to a blue-blood school in the same league. He left. He's not the only one.

If this is who I think it is, and I think I have a pretty good chance of being right, I dunno if I'd call that guy the "best player in the conference" but he's pretty damn good.

I'm more surprised that 50k is what seems to be a "fairly standard" amount to offer guys who are good, but not like, top tier NHL prospect level talent. Is that even a year of tuition anymore? I guess most programs offer significant "scholar"ships to their athletes, but that doesn't feel like a super significant amount of money... evidently it seems like it might be, though.

SORRY - I meant to say best player on his team. Typing too fast. Where's my editor Beeej?

And 50k is cash in hand - good for a new Toyota Rav4 (minus taxes and agent fee)

[adamw]

There is no way some of the former high-end powers -- New Hampshire, Maine, the CCHA schools, Clarkson -- can possibly compete for players they used to compete for. This is abundantly obvious.

Can we?

Understanding you cannot name names, have there been cases where we have already been affected, to the good or the ill?

I confess I still don't understand NIL.  My impression is it's a way for mouth-breathers to pool their bribes without violating the rules.

I've said this before, but I think a school like Cornell is in better shape than some of the state school type of places that used to be good. Because a player who was being recruited to go there, was going for academic reasons in the first place. So that won't change.  The money may pull some guys away (Robertson) but I think Cornell compensated for that by bringing transfers and late recruits in.

That said, when your competition at the NCAA Tournament consolidates its talent, then it gets harder at that point.

The above, however, is all merely speculation at this point. We need more time to see what happens.

[stereax]

Real world example: Best player in a big conference, on a team that used to be a big deal, but no longer has those kinds of resources, was offered $50k to go to a blue-blood school in the same league. He left. He's not the only one.

If this is who I think it is, and I think I have a pretty good chance of being right, I dunno if I'd call that guy the "best player in the conference" but he's pretty damn good.

I'm more surprised that 50k is what seems to be a "fairly standard" amount to offer guys who are good, but not like, top tier NHL prospect level talent. Is that even a year of tuition anymore? I guess most programs offer significant "scholar"ships to their athletes, but that doesn't feel like a super significant amount of money... evidently it seems like it might be, though.

SORRY - I meant to say best player on his team. Typing too fast. Where's my editor Beeej?

And 50k is cash in hand - good for a new Toyota Rav4 (minus taxes and agent fee)

HAHA I was wondering. That makes much more sense.

Eh, that's definitely true, it's not spare change. Especially if you're an early-twenty-something kid (as one myself). At the same time, it's also not necessarily a lifechanging sum like a $700k (McKenna) with which you can pretty easily buy a small place to live and a nice car (and have money left over for bills and stuff).

Am I thinking about this too much like a "lump sum jackpot" deal?

[BearLover]

There is no way some of the former high-end powers -- New Hampshire, Maine, the CCHA schools, Clarkson -- can possibly compete for players they used to compete for. This is abundantly obvious.

Can we?

Understanding you cannot name names, have there been cases where we have already been affected, to the good or the ill?

I confess I still don't understand NIL.  My impression is it's a way for mouth-breathers to pool their bribes without violating the rules.

Behind closed doors, the Cornell coaches have said that NIL isn't a concern on the basis that it's largely going to top draft picks that Cornell was never getting anyway.

[BearLover]

The claim that NIL/revenue sharing is having a significant impact on competitive balance in college hockey is wholly unsupported by any publicly available reporting. Does that mean the claim is wrong? Not necessarily. But those making the claim have done nothing to support it.

I'm really tired of this lazy talking point.

I am reporting it, all the time. Just not naming the kinds of names and details you want to hear. So - again - believe me or don't believe me. Whatever.

May I ask why you aren't able to report on names (of players, or at least of schools), or amounts? These details are regularly reported in other college sports.

What's your definition of widespread?

Good question. I don't know how to answer that. My main point is that I'm very in the dark about what's going on. The fact a kid got $50K to transfer doesn't really mean anything in itself.

Real world example: Best player in a big conference, on a team that used to be a big deal, but no longer has those kinds of resources, was offered $50k to go to a blue-blood school in the same league. He left. He's not the only one.  I'm using this one example to represent many similar stories.  Does that mean it affects competitive balance for the 20 or so programs that have been able to keep up (or Cornell, for example, which wouldn't necessarily be as impacted because its plusses/minuses are already well-known to a student before coming there, and haven't changed)?  No, those teams have stayed the same. The pool of teams, however, that can keep up, is growing smaller.  The unlimited transfer policy was the first big problem. The growing NIL/Rev-share imbalance is another.  You would be hard-pressed to find any coach whose team is currently below, say, 25 in the NPI to say otherwise.  It's not sour grapes - it's just reality.

Sounds like Ryan Conmy. If BC is poaching one of the best players in the portal for $50K, that wouldn't shock me, but (a) that's not a huge amount given it's one of the better players in the country and a power 5 school, and (b) that's still just one case.  The part I take issue with is:  "I'm using this one example to represent many similar stories." I just don't know how I'm supposed to interpret that, given nobody anywhere has actually reported on anything like that. Conmy was one of the top few players in the portal last year and one of the only ones who went from mid-tier school to blue blood.

It's not just about Cole Hutson. There are some advisors out there creating bidding wars for players now. There is no way some of the former high-end powers -- New Hampshire, Maine, the CCHA schools, Clarkson -- can possibly compete for players they used to compete for. This is abundantly obvious.

I'm curious about the distinctions you're drawing here. Why should rev share/NIL benefit Maine or UNH less than Denver or BU?

Yes, the transfer portal has been horrible for the lesser schools, but that's a different issue.

[Trotsky]

high-level hockey and high-level studies. Which, a couple of schools (thinking Michigan here) are similar, but don't quite have the "lay prestige" of an Ivy.

I get the impression there is a firewall between Michigan students and Michigan athletes and, while there are exceptions, the latter are neither expected nor competent to be in real classes.

cf. Duke, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and a number of other name academic schools with suspiciously overly competitive revenue sport teams.

Not Army, though.  Those guys are serious as a heart attack.

[Trotsky]

Behind closed doors, the Cornell coaches have said that NIL isn't a concern on the basis that it's largely going to top draft picks that Cornell was never getting anyway.

So the door was ajar?

[pjd8]

Sounds like Ryan Conmy. If BC is poaching one of the best players in the portal for $50K, that wouldn't shock me, but (a) that's not a huge amount given it's one of the better players in the country and a power 5 school, and (b) that's still just one case.  The part I take issue with is:  "I'm using this one example to represent many similar stories." I just don't know how I'm supposed to interpret that, given nobody anywhere has actually reported on anything like that. Conmy was one of the top few players in the portal last year and one of the only ones who went from mid-tier school to blue blood.

It's not just about Cole Hutson. There are some advisors out there creating bidding wars for players now. There is no way some of the former high-end powers -- New Hampshire, Maine, the CCHA schools, Clarkson -- can possibly compete for players they used to compete for. This is abundantly obvious.

I'm curious about the distinctions you're drawing here. Why should rev share/NIL benefit Maine or UNH less than Denver or BU?

Yes, the transfer portal has been horrible for the lesser schools, but that's a different issue.

Rick Conmy is a great example of the problem UNH has. The difference between UNH and BC is that UNH doesn't have the snipers that BC and BU have. The Wildcats really needed him, but in the transfer portal era, they couldn't keep him.

Part of the problem that UNH and Maine have vs Denver or BU may just be location. If your campus is in a big city, it may make it easier to keep alumni with large incomes more engaged. How many people living in Orono, who can go to the games regularly, make big bucks? Students might prefer living in Boston over Durham, too.

But UNH's woes started long before the transfer portal and NIL changes. With the exception of 2023-24, the last time they had a winning season was 2013-14. What was special about that season? It was the first year of the Big Ten hockey conference. The Big Ten focus on hockey had to make it easier for those schools to recruit, and a program like UNH was going to suffer more than BC or BU.

The NESN commentators have talked very well of UNH coach Mike Souza. He was also tapped for coaching at the Spengler Cup, so he seems to be well respected by others as well. Unfortunately, he's at a state school that has good support for the hockey program, but I would bet doesn't come close to the financial resources that BC and BU can drum up. UNH is renovating the Whit to improve the locker room and training facilities, and they've cited improving recruiting as the reason.

All of this makes Casey's success at Clarkson all that more impressive. I worry about the smaller schools with less national name recognition, not just for hockey but for academics as well. We will be a poorer nation if these schools decline, but it is harder than every for them to thrive.

[adamw]

The claim that NIL/revenue sharing is having a significant impact on competitive balance in college hockey is wholly unsupported by any publicly available reporting. Does that mean the claim is wrong? Not necessarily. But those making the claim have done nothing to support it.

I'm really tired of this lazy talking point.

I am reporting it, all the time. Just not naming the kinds of names and details you want to hear. So - again - believe me or don't believe me. Whatever.

May I ask why you aren't able to report on names (of players, or at least of schools), or amounts? These details are regularly reported in other college sports.

Well, if I spent less time replying to you here and more time writing articles, maybe I'd be able to

But really - ask an earnest question - I'll give you an earnest answer.

The details you're talking about are being reported by writers who work for major publications, for whom it's their full-time job. It's also in the big sports -- aka football/basketball -- where there's a massive amount of interest, pressure, and competition to get those numbers. As a result, the writers spend time working sources to get it. Agents are probably leaking it because they want to look like big shots, and/or drive up prices for others.

If this were my full-time job, or anything close to it, I would spend the time and effort to do that. But it's not like there's anyone else coming closer. There's basically no one at this point who is a full-time college hockey reporter. People like Mike McMahon and myself probably talk to more coaches and agents regularly than anyone, but there's still no urgency to leak this stuff out, and neither of us have the kind of time to push. So people will tell us stuff, but they don't really want to say it on the record.

The college hockey "media" universe is pretty small and incestuous, and I've spent 30 years walking a tightrope between discussing important things, and pissing off people I need to have relationships with in order to get anything done. I'll put my record against anyone's, however, in reporting tough stuff when need be. But only so much that can be done.

The fact that College Hockey News (and uscho before that) even exist is because there's a handful of lunatics who love college hockey, and geeky programming, and reporting so much, that they're willing to spend all this time beyond their "real job" to do this stuff. Philosophically, I treat CHN like I would if I was running the NY Times, but with much (much) less money and much less time.

What's your definition of widespread?

Good question. I don't know how to answer that. My main point is that I'm very in the dark about what's going on. The fact a kid got $50K to transfer doesn't really mean anything in itself.

Real world example: Best player in a big conference, on a team that used to be a big deal, but no longer has those kinds of resources, was offered $50k to go to a blue-blood school in the same league. He left. He's not the only one.  I'm using this one example to represent many similar stories.  Does that mean it affects competitive balance for the 20 or so programs that have been able to keep up (or Cornell, for example, which wouldn't necessarily be as impacted because its plusses/minuses are already well-known to a student before coming there, and haven't changed)?  No, those teams have stayed the same. The pool of teams, however, that can keep up, is growing smaller.  The unlimited transfer policy was the first big problem. The growing NIL/Rev-share imbalance is another.  You would be hard-pressed to find any coach whose team is currently below, say, 25 in the NPI to say otherwise.  It's not sour grapes - it's just reality.

Sounds like Ryan Conmy. If BC is poaching one of the best players in the portal for $50K, that wouldn't shock me, but (a) that's not a huge amount given it's one of the better players in the country and a power 5 school, and (b) that's still just one case.  The part I take issue with is:  "I'm using this one example to represent many similar stories." I just don't know how I'm supposed to interpret that, given nobody anywhere has actually reported on anything like that. Conmy was one of the top few players in the portal last year and one of the only ones who went from mid-tier school to blue blood.

It's not just about Cole Hutson. There are some advisors out there creating bidding wars for players now. There is no way some of the former high-end powers -- New Hampshire, Maine, the CCHA schools, Clarkson -- can possibly compete for players they used to compete for. This is abundantly obvious.

I'm curious about the distinctions you're drawing here. Why should rev share/NIL benefit Maine or UNH less than Denver or BU?

Because Maine and UNH are cash-strapped state schools whose budgets have been decimated over the years. Maine has done better recently in trying to re-generate cash, and UNH is trying as well, with building renovations on the way and so on. This is much different than Denver or BU, because those schools are private and have more money, and have had bigger donors, and their teams have been more successful lately, so they've been able to keep up. I can't explain every little detail -- I don't have access to their budgets -- but it's clear from the way they each operate, and from what they've all told me, that the ability for UNH/Maine to keep up is harder compared to BU/Denver. This was already happening for years to UNH/Maine, with their facilities falling behind, and athletic dept. budgets taking a hit. So this stuff has only exacerbated it, making it harder to dig out. UNH and Vermont are currently the only schools in Hockey East without 3 assistant coaches. For whatever reason, schools like DU and BU have Rev Share budgets and UNH/Vermont do not. Throw a bunch of other schools like that into the mix, and now you're dwindling little by little the amount of programs that can keep up. Clarkson/St. Lawrence, pfft - forget it. I'm holding out hope for Colgate/RPI/Union, but I doubt it. The influx of major junior talent will help, but I suspect that it will help the big boys just as much and be a wash.

Some of this stuff may be more of a problem after the fact than before it. i.e. transfer rule combined with the money. Deadly combo.

Now I really need to finish like 5 articles on this stuff I'm working on.