2026 NCAA Frozen Four Bracket Prediction

A 16-team tournament is practically impossible to predict when you see the level of parity around college hockey’s six conferences.

But why not give a bracket a try? 

There were obviously a few questionable decisions made, but that’s just factoring in the unpredictability of the Frozen Four.

In the first round, I am expecting plenty of chalk. A lot of favorable matchups for higher seeds lead way to at least smoother paths than not for favorites in the first round.

My one exception to that is Quinnipiac over Providence, which will simply be a battle of who can mentally rebound faster at the start of that game, considering both were one seeds in their conference tournaments and knocked out in the quarterfinals. 

The second round is where I predict it to get wild. It might just be the year of the two seeds, as I predict three of four Frozen Four spots to be held by them. North Dakota is my lone one seed that’ll stay

It doesn’t feel right to have Minnesota Duluth over overall #1 Michigan, but those two are two of my three favorite teams to win it all. It will be a sensational battle of star-studded offenses and goaltenders who make easy scoring opportunities difficult.

Michigan State wasn’t a team I’d predict to fall in the regional finals as well, but Dartmouth is arguably the second hottest team in the entire country. Emmett Croteau is playing sensational goal play at the right time, and the Spartans' concerning Big Ten semifinal loss to Ohio State definitely jumps out.

From the second round results, my Frozen Four consists of: Minnesota Duluth, Dartmouth, North Dakota, and Denver.

Three of the four are two seeds, and three of four represent the NCHC, where the conference continues to produce one national champion after another.

I have Minnesota Duluth over Dartmouth, bringing the Bulldogs back to the national championship for the first time since 2019, where they had three straight trips, winning two. Dartmouth is an incredible story, but UMD’s offensive depth might just outskate the Big Green in this one.

In the other championship game spot, it’s two opponents that know each other as well as you possibly can. The top two teams from the NCHC in the regular season between North Dakota and Denver. 

This game really feels like a toss-up. The two split in the regular season in Grand Forks, but the offensive depth comes into play once again. Future NHL standouts in Reschny, Zeller and others will perhaps squeak by the Pioneers, bringing us a national championship matchup we saw in the NCHC regular season and postseason.

I have North Dakota defeating UMD in the National Championship, as I expect them to bounce back from a lackluster 5-1 loss to the same Bulldogs in the NCHC semifinal. It is simply too hard to beat a good team twice in a row.