NCAA Skaters Moved at 2026 NHL Deadline

Some of the transactions involving former NCAA players during Friday's NHL trading deadline (players listed by last name):

Player, Position (School)            Old Team     New Team

Wyatt Bongiovanni, C (Quinnipiac)    Ottawa      Washington

Bobby Brink, F (Denver)         Philadelphia  Minnesota

Jacob Bryson, D (Providence)         Buffalo       Winnipeg

Justin Faulk, D (MN-Duluth)         St. Louis     Detroit

Warren Foegele, F (New Hampshire)    Los Angeles   Ottawa

Vinny Hinostroza, C (Notre Dame)     Florida       Minnesota

Bobby McMann, C (Colgate)            Toronto       Seattle

Massimo Rizzo, C (Denver)            Philadelphia  Boston

Aidan Thompson, C (Denver)           Chicago       NY Rangers

More NCAA Players Sign with NHL

The annual exodus of college talent to the NHL has begun in the wake of the recently-completed NCAA Frozen Four.

The first-round University of Michigan trio of Owen Power, Kent Johnson and Matty Beniers have all signed NHL contracts, with Buffalo, Columbus and Seattle, respectively. Power and Beniers are expected to make their pro debuts this week. All three had two years of college eligibility remaining. 

Bobby Brink, the nation's top scorer and a Hobey Hat Trick finalist who just helped Denver to its ninth NCAA title overall, inked a deal with Philadelphia. Nathan Smith, a Florida native who led Minnesota State to its first-ever NCAA Division I national championship game this season, has signed with Arizona, which had recently acquired his rights from Winnipeg. Brink and Smith both had one year of NCAA eligibility left. 

All those players signed with the NHL clubs that had drafted them, or, in Smith's case, had traded for them. Ohio State freshman Georgii Merkulov bypassed his last three seasons with the Buckeyes to sign with Boston as a free agent, and will report to Providence (AHL).

More to come ...

ADDENDUM: Power was a plus-2 in Buffalo's 5-2 win at Toronto, Beniers notched an assist in Seattle's 5-3 loss at Calgary, Brink recorded an assist in Philadelphia's 9-2 defeat at Washington, and Smith had one shot on goal and two hits in Arizona's 6-2 loss to New Jersey, all on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Hobey Hat Trick finalist Ben Meyers (Minnesota) signed with Colorado as a free agent.

2022 Hobey Hat Trick Announced

The Hobey Hat Trick for the top individual honor in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey has been announced—and all three finalists not only hail from the state of Minnesota, but will also be vying for a national championship in Boston next week.

Bobby Brink, a junior forward from the University of Denver, is currently the leading scorer for both the Pioneers and the nation. In 39 games so far this season with DU, the Minnetonka, Minn. native has recorded 14 goals and a nation-best 42 assists for 56 points. Denver will next face Michigan on April 7 in the first NCAA Frozen Four semifinal.

Dryden McKay, a graduate student in his fifth season overall at Minnesota State University, is the nation's top goaltender with a record of 37-4-0 in 41 games and over 2442 minutes played this winter. The Downers Grove, Ill. native has also posted a 1.28 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage while collecting 10 shutouts.

Rounding out the trio is University of Minnesota junior forward Ben Meyers, who also played briefly with the U.S. Olympic men's team in China earlier this year. The Delano, Minn. native has registered 17 goals and 24 assists for 41 points through 33 outings to date, and along with the rest of the Golden Gophers will face McKay and the Mavericks in the second NCAA semifinal game next week.

Brink, McKay and Meyers are the last three players left from a preliminary list of top 10 Hobey finalists that also included: forward Matty Beniers (Michigan); forward Brian Halonen (Michigan Tech); defenseman Luke Hughes (Michigan); goaltender Devon Levi (Northeastern); goaltender Yaniv Perets (Quinnipiac); forward Nathan Smith (Minnesota State) and; forward Bobby Trivigno (Massachusetts). All 10 players also participated in this year's NCAA tournament.

The 2022 Hobey Baker Memorial Award for the nation's top player will be bestowed upon the winner on April 8, the day between the national semifinals and the national title game. University of Minnesota senior forward Taylor Heise won the 2022 Patty Kazmaier Award earlier this month as the top player in NCAA Division I women's ice hockey.

U.S. Ousts Slovakia, Reaches WJC Semifinals

The U.S. National Junior Team is headed to the semifinal round of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship. The Americans outlasted Slovakia, 5-2, in a quarterfinal round match on Saturday evening in Edmonton, Alberta.

Cole Caufield (Wisconsin) scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal for Team USA in the second period, before Slovakia eventually cut the American lead to 3-2. John Farinacci (Harvard) then scored his second goal of the evening on a wrap-around with less than five minutes remaining in regulation, to make it 4-2, before Matthew Beniers (Michigan) salted matters away with a late empty-net goal.

Arthur Kaliyev also scored for the U.S., which got 16 saves in net from Spencer Knight (Boston College), and two assists apiece from Bobby Brink (Denver) and Trevor Zegras (Boston University). The Americans will now face Finland, a 3-2 quarterfinal winner over rival Sweden, in a WJC semifinal-round game on Monday.

U.S. Blanks Czechs, 7-0, in WJC Action

Trevor Zegras (Boston University) scored two goals and set up three others as the U.S. National Junior Team blanked the Czech Republic, 7-0, in 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship action in Edmonton, Alberta this afternoon. The win also clinched a quarterfinal round berth for Team USA, in a game to be played on Jan. 2 against an as-yet undecided opponent.

Bobby Brink (Denver) scored twice for Team USA in the rout, including the game-winner that opened the scoring in a three-goal U.S. second period, while Cam York (Michigan) tallied three assists on the day. Cole Caufield (Wisconsin) scored one goal and assisted on another for the Americans, while Matthew Boldy (Boston College) notched his fourth goal in two games. Three of the U.S goals came on power plays.

The victory (and shutout) was the second straight for the United States in this year's WJC, following a tournament-opening loss to Russia on Christmas Day. Spencer Knight (Boston College), who took the loss in net in that contest, earned the win today by stopping all 22 Czech shots. The U.S. had blanked Austria, 11-0, in its second game of the tournament.

Team USA will close out the round-robin portion of Group B play at the WJC against Sweden on Thursday night (9:30 p.m. ET, NHL Network).

Princeton's 2018-19 Season Ends in ECAC First Round

 

Princeton University's 2018-19 men's ice hockey season came to an an end tonight in Providence. Alex Brink scored 3:30 into the third overtime session to boost host Brown University to a

6-5 victory in Game 2 of its best-of-three ECAC Hockey first-round series with the Tigers at Meehan Auditorium. At a total time of 103:30, it was the longest game in the history of both schools.

Coupled with Brown's 3-0 win on Friday, Princeton has been eliminated from the conference tournament, while the Bears will travel to either Quinnipiac or Cornell next weekend for a best-of-three quarterfinal series. Princeton eliminated Brown in two games in the first round of the ECACs last spring in New Jersey, en route to the league title.

The two Ivy League rivals played to a 2-2 tie after 40 minutes on Saturday, before Brown scored three times in the first 14:12 of the third stanza to take a 5-2 lead. Princeton pulled within 5-3 just a minute later on Alex Riche's second goal of the night, before Ryan Kuffner scored his second goal of the evening and team-leading 22nd goal of the campaign at 17:41. Kuffner then assisted on Jackson Cressey's tying marker with 49 seconds remaining in regulation. All three goals were scored in a span of 2:47, and all with Princeton's goaltender pulled for an extra attacker.

The teams then played through two scoreless 20-minute overtime periods before Brink ended it. Ryan Ferland took the loss in goal for the Tigers (10-18-3 overall, 8-12-2 ECAC) despite stopping 31 shots. Gavin Nieto earned the win for the Bears (13-13-5, 8-9-5) in making 35 stops.

Kuffner, ECAC Hockey's Player of the Month for February 2019, finished his college career with a school record 75 goals in four seasons, among his 152 points in 132 career games that leave him second all-time in school scoring behind John Messuri's 178 points. Kuffner also paced Princeton with 44 points in 31 outings as a senior this season.

Longtime linemate Max Veronneau was kept off the scoresheet on Friday and Saturday, but scored two goals in a 3-2 regular-season finale victory at Brown on March 2. He completed his college career with 52-91—143 points in 130 appearances, which ranks hims fourth all-time in Princeton points, and finished second to Kuffner on this year's Tiger scoring scroll with 13-23—36 points in 31 games.

Riche posted two goals and two assists in his Tigers swansong Saturday, and placed third among all Princeton scorers this season with 11-15—26 points in 31 games, plus 26-49—75 points in 122 career contests. Finishing in fourth place was senior defenseman Josh Teves with 3-17—20 points in 31 games, and 16-69—85 points in 126 career appearances. Together the foursome led Princeton to the ECAC Hockey tournament championship last year in Lake Placid, plus a berth in the NCAA Midwest Regional in Allentown, Pa. where the Tigers fell to eventual Frozen Four participant Ohio State. Also finishing their Princeton careers on Saturday were senior forward Spencer Kryczka (19 GP, 1-1—2) and senior goaltender Austin Shaw (9 GP, 2-1-1, 2.93, .904).

Other NCAA Division I men's schools that saw their seasons end on Saturday included Alabama-Huntsville, Alaska Fairbanks, Bemidji State, Colgate, Holy Cross, Mercyhurst, Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, and Rensselaer.