Ivy League Ups Hockey Limit to 30 Games

The Ivy League last week announced that its member ice hockey schools (Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Yale) will be allowed to play 30 games starting this season, up from 29 games. 

According to collegehockeynews.com, the NCAA limit for non-Ivy schools will remain at 34 games. Those allowable numbers, for all schools, do not include exemptions such as for games played in Alaska, or contests such as the NCAA tournament.

All six hockey-playing Ivy League schools, on both the men's and women's sides, play predominantly in ECAC Hockey.  

Allain Retires as Yale Men's Coach

Keith Allain (Yale) is stepping down as head coach of his alma mater, retiring after 18 seasons of guiding the Bulldogs. 

Allain, 66, oversaw the Yale men's hockey team from 2006 to 2025, and compiled an overall record of 282-254-54 (.524). In that time, he led the Bulldogs to nine winning seasons, six NCAA tournament berths, four years of 20 or more wins, and the 2013 national championship. His teams also claimed two ECAC Hockey regular-season titles and two ECAC Hockey tournament championships in his tenure, and he earned the Tim Taylor Award in 2008-09 as ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year.

A native of Worcester, Mass., Allain served as an assistant coach with Yale in 1984-85 before moving on to the professional ranks. He served as an assistant with the NHL's Washington Capitals from 1993 to 1997, then later served as goalie coach with the St. Louis Blues and with Worcester (AHL). He also worked as an assistant coach for the United States at multiple Olympic Winter Games and World Cups of Hockey, and is a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

A 1980 graduate of Yale, Allain tended goal for the Bulldogs for four seasons, and still ranks among the school's leaders in career saves (2,337) and single-game saves (55). Yale assistant coach Joe Howe (Colorado College) will now succeed Allain as interim head coach for the 2025-26 campaign.

Big Ten Changes Playoff Format

The Big Ten conference announced last week that it has altered its postseason format for men's ice hockey, starting with the upcoming 2025-26 season. 

According to USCHO.com, the Big Ten will now ice a two-week, single elimination playoff championship, as opposed to the three-week affair that began with a best-of-three first round of the past few years. The top seed in this year's tournament will receive a bye for the first round, while the No. 2, 3, and 4 seeds will host the No. 4, 6 and 7 seeds, respectively, on March 11. 

Semifinals for the four remaining schools will take place on March 14 at the home arena of the higher seeds. The title game is slated for the following weekend (March 20-22) at the site of the highest remaining seed.

Michigan State has won the last two Big Ten championships, and along with them earned the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.