Two eight-seed teams in their respective conferences sent top seeds packing. Witness the craziest weekend in college hockey history unfold.
A chaotic weekend in college hockey needs no further explanation to dive right into it, starting with one of the biggest upsets of the entire college hockey season.
ECAC Quarterfinals: #8 Clarkson STUNS #1 Quinnipiac
This result in a best-of-three series is nothing short of potentially being the greatest upset of the 2025-26 season.
The Clarkson Golden Knights went into Hamden, CT, and walked out with a sweep of the ECAC regular season champions, led by the nation’s leading scorer, Ethan Wyttenbach.
The strong Quinnipiac offense ran into the brick wall of Shane Soderwall in game one, who had to make 17 saves in the final frame to hold on for a shutout, a total of 24 stops. Clarkson found one goal and tapped in two empty netters at the end.
Game two is even crazier. Quinnipiac takes a lead into the first intermission, eventually tied up at the 7:32 mark of the second by Justin Cote. Quinnipiac in the third period strikes two goals just 63 seconds apart. Then, a shorthanded goal from Clarkson, followed by another 38 seconds later, evens the game at three, before Erik Bargholtz ends up the hero, potting the eventual game-winning goal with 5:39 to play, as Clarkson brings out the brooms on the road in the first eight seed vs one seed upset we’ve seen this year.
Quinnipiac will have to wait and hope this series loss will not heavily impact their odds of making the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid. Many believe they’ll still be alright.
Hockey East Quarterfinals: ANOTHER STUNNER! #8 Merrimack shocks #1 Providence
It wasn’t a best-of-three, but no doubt a singular game to remember. Merrimack walked into the walls of a Providence organization that finished 11 points ahead of anyone else in one of the most respected conferences in America, and found its best play at the right time.
After conceding the first goal, Merrimack would take advantage of the power play, with two power play goals that would eventually carry a lead into the final four minutes of the game.
That was, until John Mustard had something to say about. The home crowd in Rhode Island was brought back to life as the conference favorite Friars forced overtime.
But then, it only took Merrimack’s hero Trevor Hoskin to net an overtime winner at the 3:50 timestamp of extra hockey. Merrimack is now on its way to the semifinals, and who thought the college hockey world would be saying that?
The Hockey East semifinals are set at TD Garden for this weekend, where #8 Merrimack will take on #2 UMass, while #4 Boston College will face off against #3 UConn.
NCHC Semifinals: #4 Minnesota Duluth with a statement over #1 North Dakota
We mentioned in our preview of this week that The Ralph would be rocking, hopefully playing home advantage for the Fighting Hawk faithful.
Instead, 9,902 fans watched their team get outscored from the start by a strong offensive Minnesota Duluth squad. Two goals in the first 7:16 were really all they needed, holding North Dakota scoreless until the third period.
North Dakota was able to fork 34 shots on goal to Minnesota Duluth’s 22, but big game Adam Gajan struck again with 33 saves, 17 in the first period. He is well known for performing at the international stage with Slovakia, and equipped that level of performance on Saturday night.
UMD will now take on Denver, who beat Western Michigan in an overtime thriller in Colorado.
It was simply an unbelievable week of hockey, as we now turn the corner towards tickets being punched this weekend.