Maryville to Join NCAA Division I Hockey

Maryville University is expected to be the next school to ice an NCAA Division I men's hockey team, according to online sources. A private Catholic institution in St. Louis, Maryville will be the first school to join the NCAA Division I men's hockey ranks since Lindenwood did so in 2022-23.

The Saints are expected to play a hybrid schedule in 2026-27, against both NCAA and American Collegiate Hockey Association club opponents, and will then transition to a full NCAA schedule the following season. They play their home games at the Maryville University Hockey Center in Chesterfield, Mo., which is slated to undergo an expansion.

Maryville currently fields three men's American Collegiate Hockey Association teams, and two ACHA women's teams. The ACHA Division I men's team played three exhibition games this season against NCAA Division I competition, two at Long Island University and one at Alaska Anchorage. The 14th-ranked Saints have qualified for this year's ACHA Division I men's national championship, and will face No. 19 John Carroll in the preliminary round.

Upton to Take Over at Brown

Brown University has named Tom Upton as its new men's ice hockey head coach. A native of Austin, TX, he succeeds Brendan Whittet, who resigned earlier this year for family medical reasons. Whittet coached his last game on Feb. 14, a 4-3 win over Dartmouth, as the Bears are being led by assistant coach Jason Smith for the remainder of the 2025-26 campaign.

Upton, 41, played defense at Wisconsin Stevens-Point from 2006 to 2010, notching two goals and 11 assists for 13 points to go with 183 penalty minutes in 89 career games. A three-year veteran of the North American Hockey League at the junior level, he later played briefly in the Southern Professional Hockey League before turning to coaching.

Upton coached as an assistant at his alma mater from 2010 to 2013 before spending one year with the USHL's Cedar Rapids Roughriders, also as an assistant, and two seasons as head coach of the NAHL's Minnesota Magicians. He then served three years as an assistant at Mercyhurst College, before returning to the USHL for one season where he guided the Madison Capitols to the 2022 Clark Cup Finals. He spent the past four seasons as an assistant with the University of Massachusetts.

Brown (5-21-2 overall, 4-14-2 ECAC Hockey) closes out its regular season this weekend at home against Rensselaer and Union.

U.S. Men Claim 2026 Olympic Gold Medal

The Miracle on Ice finally got some company.

Exactly 46 years to the day that the Americans defeated the Russians at Lake Placid, the U.S. men's hockey team won its third goal medal ever with a 2-1 victory over Canada in overtime in the championship game Sunday at the XXV Olympic Winter Games in Milan, Italy.

Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils scored less than two minutes into the 3-on-3 overtime, assisted by Zach Werenski (Michigan), to give the U.S. the win and its first Olympic men's hockey title since 1980. Cale Makar (Massachusetts) had tied the game in the second period for Canada, which was seeking its first Olympic men's gold since 2014, the last time that NHL players participated in the Olympics. Matt Boldy (Boston College) scored Team USA's first goal of the day in the first period, assisted by Quinn Hughes (Michigan), on the Americans' first shot on goal.

Connor Hellebuyck (UMass Lowell) stopped 41 shots for the Americans, including a point-blank save on Devon Toews (Quinnipiac) in the second stanza. Toews later posted the lone assist on the goal by Makar, his teammate with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche. Canada outshot the U.S., 42-28, overall but went 0-for-3 on the power play, including a two-man advantage in the second period, while the U.S. finished 0-for-2.

It was America's first Olympic men's hockey gold medal won outside the United States, as the first came in California in 1960. The U.S. won both Olympic hockey gold medals this year, with the American women also defeating Canada, 2-1 in OT, on Thursday.

UAF Claims 15th Straight Governor's Cup

For the 15th straight time, the Alaska Airlines Governors Cup belongs to the University of (Alaska) Fairbanks.

The Nanooks sewed up their annual in-state rivalry with Alaska Anchorage with a pair of wins in southeastern Alaska this weekend, defeating the host Seawolves by 4-3 and 6-2 scores. UAF has won four of its six meetings with UAA this season, while also recording a tie.

On Friday at Sullivan Arena, Braden Birnie scored with three seconds remaining in regulation to lift UAF to the win. On Saturday, Birnie supplied a goal and two assists, while Chase Dafoe and Alexander Malinowski both scored twice. 

Lassi Lehti stopped 26 of 31 shots for the Nanooks over both games, which drew over 3,000 spectators each night to Sullivan Arena. Tyler Krivtsov stopped 51 of 60 shots in all for UAA, which got goals from five different skaters over the weekend.

The Nanooks (12-15-2 overall) and Seawolves (5-23-1) will close out their 2025-26 NCAA independent season series on Feb. 27-28 at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.

Princeton Ties with Colgate

Princeton and Colgate skated to a 1-1 deadlock on Friday night at Hobey Baker Rink in ECAC Hockey men's play. The game will officially go into the NCAA's books as a tie, although visiting Colgate won the ensuing shootout, two to one, to earn an extra point in the conference standings.

Following a scoreless first period, Max Nagel put Colgate on top, 1-0, midway through the second period with his 10th goal of the season. The score remained unchanged until more than 11 minutes into the final frame, when Princeton defenseman Tyler Rubin knocked home a rebound to tie the contest for the Tigers.

In the shootout, Brendan Gorman scored for Princeton (14-11-2 overall, 10-8-1 ECAC Hockey), while Nagel and Jack Brandt connected for Colgate (11-16-4, 8-8-3).  The Raiders are now unbeaten in their last nine meetings with Princeton.

Arthur Smith finished with 25 saves in regulation for the Tigers, while Reid Dyck made 47 stops for the visiting Raiders. Both teams finished 0-for-1 on the power play and also won 26 of 52 faceoffs overall, while Princeton outshot Colgate on the night, 42-26, before 1,811 spectators.

U.S. Women Win 2026 Olympic Gold

For the second time in three Olympic Winter Games, the United States has won gold in women's ice hockey.

Megan Keller (Boston College) slipped home a backhander just over four minutes into the 3-on-3 overtime to lift Team USA to a 2-1 victory over Canada in today's women's ice hockey gold medal game in Milan, Italy. The U.S. last won women's hockey gold in 2018 in Pyeongchang, with Canada winning four years ago in Beijing. It is the third gold medal all-time for the American women.

Keller's game-winner came after Team USA tied the game with just over two minutes remaining in regulation on an extra-attacker goal. Team captain Hilary Knight (Wisconsin), playing in her fifth and final Olympics, tipped home a shot by rookie Laila Edwards (Wisconsin) to push the contest into the extra session. For Knight, it was her 15th career Olympic goal, tops among American women all-time. Keller also assisted on Knight's goal, after Kristin O'Neill (Cornell) had put Canada ahead, 1-0, early in the second period on a shorthanded goal.

Aerin Frankel (Northeastern) stopped 30 shots for the Americans, while Ann-Renee Desbiens (Wisconsin) made 31 saves for the Canadians. The two rivals combined to go 0-for-4 on the power play before 11,171 on-lookers at Milano Santagiulia Arena. The U.S. finished the tournament 6-0-0, while Canada's only two loses came to the Americans.  

Team USA's Caroline Harvey was named Olympic MVP and Best Defender after tallying two goals and seven assists for a tournament-high nine points in her second Olympics. She helped the U.S. to a silver medal four years ago as rookie.

Switzerland defeated Sweden, 2-1, in OT in this year's bronze medal game, with Alina Muller  (Northeastern) notching the game-winning goal. It was the first Olympic medal for the Swiss women since they also won bronze in 2014 in Sochi.

U.S. Men Edge Sweden to Reach Semis

Two former Michigan Wolverines made it Team USA's night.

Dylan Larkin (Michigan) scored the first goal of the game in the second period, and Quinn Hughes (Michigan) wristed home a shot early in overtime to lift the United States over Sweden, 2-1, in a men's ice hockey quarterfinal matchup at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan, Italy.

Hughes helped set up Larkin's deflection goal midway through regulation to open the scoring. After Sweden tied the contest on an extra attacker goal with less than 90 seconds remaining in regulation, Hughes won it just over three minutes into the 3-on-3 extra session with a shot from the slot after taking a pass from Matt Boldy (Boston College). Connor Hellebuyck (UMass Lowell) finished with 28 saves in the American net.

The U.S. now moves on to face Slovakia in one semifinal on Friday, while Finland will take on Canada in the other one. Canada outlasted Czechia, 4-3, in OT in the quarterfinals thanks to a goal and two assists from Macklin Celebrini (Boston University).

ADDENDUM: Team USA routed Slovakia, 6-2, and will face Canada, a 3-2 winner over Finland, in Sunday's gold medal game.