The Top Three Matchups This Weekend in College Hockey

It’s the second weekend of college hockey, and there are some very intriguing matchups. The Ice Breaker tournament is set to start Friday; teams with rough first weeks get a second crack, and teams who started hot are looking to add on to it. 

So which are the biggest matchups this weekend, and what is at stake for these teams. 

The first game of the Ice Breaker tournament is a heater with the Gavin McKenna-less Nittany Lions against a very solid Huskies team. What makes this matchup so intriguing is two things: Firstly, it’s the only ranked-versus-ranked team matchup on Friday. Secondly, these two teams are sitting right beside each other in the rankings. UConn is at 16, while Penn State trails by one at the 17th spot.

This will be a true test for both teams, who are yet to start their season, and it will show early on which team is hurting the most from their offseason departures. 

Similar to the matchup right above this one. This is the only ranked matchup on Saturday, and it’s a real test out of the gate for both teams, especially Wisconsin, which is coming off a national championship loss. 

This will be the Mavericks' first game this season, while Wisconsin swept RMU last weekend, with a weekend score of 5-2, including a 1-0 shutout win to close it off. 

Quinnipiac comes into this matchup 2-0 after dominating New Hampshire 10-2 and then Merrimack 6-3 the next day. 2026 Hobey Baker finalist Ethan Wyttenbach is on a mission this season, and he brings four points from those two games into this weekend. 

For Maine, they were just an overtime goal away from being 2-0 as well. They beat Holy Cross 4-1 to start last weekend and then lost 3-2 in overtime. 

This will be a tough matchup for both sides and will really test the sixth ranked Bobcats.