2026 NCHC Tournament

2026 NCHC Men's ice hockey tournament
DatesMarch 6–21, 2026
Teams8
Finals siteMagness Arena
Denver, Colorado
NCHC Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments
2027 →

The 2026 NCHC Tournament is the 12th tournament in league history. It was played between March 6 and 21, 2026. All games were played at home sites of the higher-seeded teams.

Format

The first round of the postseason tournament features a best-of-three games format. The top eight conference teams participated in the tournament. Teams were seeded No. 1 through No. 8 according to their final conference standing, with a tiebreaker system used to seed teams with an identical number of points accumulated. The top four seeded teams each earn home ice and host one of the lower seeded teams.

The winners of the first round series advanced to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. The Frozen Faceoff used a single-elimination format. Teams were re-seeded No. 1 through No. 4 according to the final regular season conference standings.[1]

Standings

2025–26 National Collegiate Hockey Conference Standings
Conference record Overall record
GP W L T OTW OTL SW PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
#2 North Dakota † 24 17 6 1 1 4 0 55 96 58 37 27 9 1 142 88
#4 Denver 24 17 6 1 2 1 1 52 82 51 38 24 11 3 133 81
#5 Western Michigan 24 16 7 1 3 1 1 48 89 65 37 26 10 1 135 88
#6 Minnesota Duluth 24 11 12 1 3 4 1 36 64 66 37 23 13 1 121 90
St. Cloud State 24 9 14 1 1 2 1 30 63 86 36 16 19 1 112 112
Colorado College 24 7 11 6 2 3 1 29 63 66 36 13 17 6 95 98
Miami 24 9 13 2 3 1 1 28 60 74 36 18 16 2 104 108
Omaha 24 8 16 0 0 0 0 24 57 86 36 12 24 0 95 129
Arizona State 24 7 16 1 2 1 1 22 62 94 36 14 21 1 106 132
Championship: March 21, 2026
† indicates conference regular season champion (Penrose Cup)
* indicates conference tournament champion (National Cup)
Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll; updated March 16, 2026

Bracket

Teams are reseeded for the semifinals.

Quarterfinals
March 6–8 		Semifinals
March 14 		Championship
March 21
           
1 North Dakota 5 5 —
8 Omaha 3 1 —
4 Minnesota Duluth 5
1 North Dakota 1
2 Denver 3 6 —
7 Miami 0 2 —
4 Minnesota Duluth
(Teams are reseeded after the quarterfinals)
2 Denver
3 Western Michigan 5 2* —
6 Colorado College 2 1 —
3 Western Michigan 1
2 Denver 2*
4 Minnesota Duluth 4* 2* —
5 St. Cloud State 3 1 —

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Results

Note: All game times are local.

Quarterfinals

(1) North Dakota vs. (8) Omaha

March 6, 2026
7:07 pm		North Dakota5–3
(1–2, 4–0, 0–1)		OmahaRalph Engelstad Arena
Attendance: 11,400
Game reference
Jan ŠpunarGoaliesSimon LatkoczyReferees:
Jake Jackson
Ryan Hersey
Linesmen:
Kyle Stephens
Tyler Landman
(Kernan, Josephson) Cade Littler (5) – PP – 07:261–0
1–111:06 – Samuel Huo (7) (McLeary, Wong)
1–212:37 – PP – Maxime Pellerin (9) (Woodworth, Loranger)
(Zmolek, Reschny) Jack Kernan (9) – 21:232–2
(Littler, Menghini) Dalton Andrew (1) – 23:103–2
(Young, Emery) Ollie Josephson (6) – 25:484–2
(Kernan, Josephson) Mac Swanson (9) – PP – 38:235–2
5–356:00 – Myles Hilman (6) (Pellerin, de la Gorgendiere)
4 minPenalties8 min
28Shots20
March 7, 2026
6:07 pm		North Dakota5–1
(1–1, 2–0, 2–0)		OmahaRalph Engelstad Arena
Attendance: 11,569
Game reference
Jan ŠpunarGoaliesSimon LatkoczyReferees:
Jake Jackson
Ryan Hersey
Linesmen:
Kyle Stephens
Tyler Landman
0–104:19 – Maxime Pellerin (10) (Guevin, Woodworth)
(Reschny, Kernan) Mac Swanson (10) – 14:211–1
(Josephson, Wiebe) Tyler Young (5) – 24:422–1
(Emery, Rickwood) Will Zellers (18) – 39:323–1
(Zellers, Rickwood) Dylan James (18) – EN – 57:124–1
(Zellers, Josephson) Mac Swanson (11) – PP – 58:005–1
23 minPenalties38 min
28Shots15
North Dakota wins series 2–0

(2) Denver vs. (7) Miami

March 6, 2026
7:00 pm		Denver3–0
(1–0, 0–0, 2–0)		MiamiMagness Arena
Attendance: 5,974
Game reference
Johnny HicksGoaliesMatteo DrobacReferees:
Brian Hankes
Stephen Reneau
Linesmen:
Erik Contino
Chase McGee
(Ashcroft, Harris) Clarke Caswell (5) – 09:211–0
(unassisted) Rieger Lorenz (14) – EN – 58:312–0
(unassisted) Eric Jamieson (7) – EN – 58:573–0
2 minPenalties2 min
36Shots23
March 7, 2026
6:00 pm		Denver6–2
(0–1, 4–0, 2–1)		MiamiMagness Arena
Attendance: 6,550
Game reference
Johnny Hicks (out 52:31)
Paxton Geisel (in 52:31)		GoaliesMatteo DrobacReferees:
Brian Hankes
Stephen Reneau
Linesmen:
Erik Contino
Chase McGee
0–101:42 – Ethan Hay (4) (Thompson, Quinn)
(Lorenz) James Reeder (10) – 25:121–1
(Buckberger, Chyzowski) Kieran Cebrian (4) – 26:002–1
(Milburn, Fisher) – Hagen Burrows (6) – 28:483–1
(Varkonyi, Pohlkamp) Kyle Chyzowski (10) – 38:594–1
(Harris, Caswell) Eric Pohlkamp (17) – PP – 49:555–1
5–255:42 – Doug Grimes (10) (Lukashevich, Hay)
(unassisted) Jake Fisher (7) – 59:176–2
8 minPenalties6 min
37Shots18
Denver wins series 2–0

(3) Western Michigan vs. (6) Colorado College

March 6, 2026
7:00 pm		Western Michigan5–2
(2–0, 1–2, 2–0)		Colorado CollegeLawson Arena
Attendance: 2,675
Game reference
Hampton SlukynskyGoaliesKaidan Mbereko (out 41:22)
Jackson Unger (in 41:22)		Referees:
Nicholas Krebsbach
Stan Szczurek
Linesmen:
Troy Marrett
Christopher Williams
(Sjolund, Henricks) Grant Slukynsky (9) – PP – 17:311–0
(MacKenzie, Cowan) Garrett Szydlowski (4) – 19:392–0
2–125:19 – Owen Beckner (8) (Bjorck)
2–227:36 – Seth Constance (3) (Beckner, Koering)
(Henricks, Bookman) William Whitelaw (19) – 35:263–2
(Valente, Sjolund) Cole Spicer (3) – PP – 42:134–2
(Valente, Woogk) Grant Slukynsky (10) – EN – 58:085–2
4 minPenalties8 min
38Shots28
March 7, 2026
6:00 pm		Western Michigan2–1 (OT)
(0–1, 0–0, 1–0, 1–0)		Colorado CollegeLawson Arena
Attendance: 2,945
Game reference
Hampton SlukynskyGoaliesJackson UngerReferees:
Nicholas Krebsbach
Stan Szczurek
Linesmen:
Troy Marrett
Christopher Williams
0–19:17 – SH – Klavs Veinbergs (11) (Lindberg)
(Whitelaw, Henricks) Owen Michaels (12) – 51:391–1
(Slukynsky, Sjolund) Liam Valente (20) – PP – 63:262–1
4 minPenalties19 min
34Shots34
Western Michigan wins series 2–0

(4) Minnesota Duluth vs. (5) St. Cloud State

March 6, 2026
7:07 pm		Minnesota Duluth4–3 (OT)
(0–1, 1–1, 2–1, 1–0)		St. Cloud StateAMSOIL Arena
Attendance: 4,238
Game reference
Adam GajanGoaliesYan ShostakReferees:
Brandon Schmitt
Nathan Wieler
Linesmen:
Dana Penkivech
Sam Rankin
0–16:33 – Austin Burnevik (2) (Roed, Reiners)
0–222:04 – Gavyn Thoreson (11)
(Siepmann, Truman) Kyle Gaffney (3) – 36:021–2
(Gaffney, Truman) Adam Kleber (3) – 52:452–2
2–354:34 – Nolan Roed (4) (Thoreson, Urness)
(Hanson, Shauabay) Zam Plante – EA – 59:373–3
Zam Plante (18) – PP – 63:304–3
6 minPenalties10 min
39Shots24
March 7, 2026
6:07 pm		Minnesota Duluth2–1 (OT)
(0–1, 0–0, 1–0, 1–0)		St. Cloud StateAMSOIL Arena
Attendance: 4,251
Game reference
Adam GajanGoaliesYan ShostakReferees:
Brandon Schmitt
Nathan Wieler
Linesmen:
Dana Penkivech
Sam Rankin
0–18:44 – Nolan Roed (5) (Urness, Wylie)
(Hanson, M. Plante) Zam Plante (19) – EA – 59:291–1
(Shaugabay, M. Plante) Zam Plante (20) – 65:112–1
6 minPenalties6 min
45Shots28
Minnesota Duluth wins series 2–0

Semifinals

(4) Minnesota Duluth vs. (1) North Dakota

March 14, 2026
6:07 pm		Minnesota Duluth5–1
(2–0, 1–0, 2–1)		North DakotaRalph Engelstad Arena
Attendance: 9,902
Game reference
Adam GajanGoaliesJan ŠpunarReferees:
Brian Hankes
Stephen Reneau
Linesmen:
Kyle Stephens
Tyler Landman
(Pierce) Callum Arnott (12) – 2:141–0
(Hanson) Max Plante (23) – 7:162–0
(Arnott, Bibby) Jayson Shaugabay (11) – 21:263–0
3–141:59 – Dylan James (19) (Reschny, Emery)
(Kleber, Plante) Harper Bentz (5) – 48:094–1
(Bibby, Bodnarchuk) Kyle Gaffney (4) – 52:495–1
6 minPenalties2 min
22Shots34

(3) Western Michigan vs. (2) Denver

March 14, 2026
6:00 pm		Western Michigan1–2 (OT)
(0–0, 0–0, 1–1, 0–1)		DenverMagness Arena
Attendance: 6,327
Game reference
Hampton SlukynskyGoaliesJohnny HicksReferees:
Brandon Schmitt
Nick Krebsbach
Linesmen:
Erik Contino
Chris Williams
(Cowan, MacKenzie) Garret Szydlowski (5) – 53:191–0
1–156:09 – PP, EA – Boston Buckberger (9) (Pohlkamp, Reeder)
1–265:48 – Samu Salminen (10) (Lorenz, Reeder)
4 minPenalties4 min
39Shots32

Championship

(4) Minnesota Duluth vs. (2) Denver

March 21, 2026
6:00 pm		Minnesota DuluthvDenverMagness Arena

References

  1. ^ "Format". nchchockey.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
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