College Hockey is Here! SO why not go over the best matchups in this jam-packed weekend?
College hockey season is finally here, and some interesting matchups and storylines are heading into the weekend. Which top team will fall first, who will be the biggest upset, and are some hyped up players as good as advertised?
Let’s take a look at the top three matchups for this weekend.
Michigan vs Bowling Green
Bowling Green brought in a bunch of major junior players this year and will face Michigan's projected first-overall pick, Landon DuPont.
This matchup will show if Michigan can come out of the gate and dominate, or if Bowling Green has the team makeup to fight until the end and look like a solid all-around team. There will be a lot of focus on the debuts for these teams. How good do each freshman look, and which ones can make an impact right away? Despite it being his first weekend, there will be eyeballs staring at DuPont all weekend, waiting for him to either slip up or dominate, and it will be interesting to see how he looks right away.
Minnesota vs Michigan Tech
Minnesota and Michigan Tech land on here as the only ranked-on-ranked matchup for Friday, and it’s also a battle of two sleeper teams who could end up being near the top of the rankings by the end of the year, and this weekend will be a great test.
Two debuts to look out for are, firstly, Michigan Tech’s freshman Austin Moline, a six-foot-five defenseman who was taken in the seventh round in the 2024 draft, and I expect him to play an important role early on. For Minnesota, look out for sophomore and former Michigan Wolverine Christian Humphreys, who left Michigan after 10 games in 2024 to join the Kitchener Rangers, where he won the Memorial Cup with them last season, and will be a very important player for the Golden Gophers this year.
Maine vs Holy Cross
This is expected to be a very solid matchup between two unranked teams who are on the cusp of being very solid. Holy Cross recruited a lot in Western Canada and the QMJHL, while Maine was similar, but with a better pipeline of USHL players.
Maine will need to look very strong, and with the pieces they’ve added, it’s very possible. The matchup to watch is Maine’s defense versus the speedy wingers on Holy Cross. If Maine can look very sharp this weekend and defend at a high level, there will be a lot of people ranking them inside their top 25 after this weekend. But if they can’t defend at a high level, Holy Cross has enough to limit their scoring, which could hold Maine back all season if they don’t figure it out, especially after losing their three top scorers last season.
