News, guides and community updates.
Arizona State has turned the page with a major coaching change, bringing veteran bench experience to one of college hockey’s boldest desert experiments. The move could reset expectations for the Sun Devils and ripple through recruiting, rankings, and future trips to Vegas.
Fresh off a national title in Las Vegas, Denver opens 2026-27 at No. 1 in the USCHO poll while upstarts Colorado College and Michigan Tech crash the top 15. The new rankings hint at another wild tournament race that could send more powerhouse programs back to the desert soon.
Colorado College and Michigan Tech turned the first weekend of the 2026-27 season into a rankings earthquake by sweeping top-15 opponents. Their statement wins are already reshaping the national picture and setting the tone for a wild fall from the mountains to the desert.
Denver’s 2026 championship ring is loaded with Vegas details, from red stones for each national title to a tribute to the Strip. The design says a lot about where college hockey is headed and why Las Vegas keeps popping up in the sport’s biggest moments.
The NCAA moved the 2027 men’s hockey regional from Bridgeport to Hartford after renovation plans kicked in at the original arena. That venue swap quietly changes the path to the Frozen Four for contenders and fans, from New England to the desert.
The NCAA moved the 2027 Division I men’s hockey regional from Bridgeport to Hartford because of arena renovations, shifting a key stop on the road to the Frozen Four to PeoplesBank Arena. The change reshapes travel plans, fan experience, and neutral-ice dynamics for one of college hockey’s biggest weekends.
The NCAA has locked in new safety rules that will make cut resistant neck, wrist, and ankle gear mandatory across Division I men’s and National Collegiate women’s hockey starting in 2027-28. Here is how the phase in works, why it matters, and what it means for players, parents, and fans in traditional markets and desert hockey hotbeds alike.
After an Arizona State player collapsed during an outdoor workout and was hospitalized in critical condition, college hockey strength programs are under new scrutiny. The fallout is reshaping how teams think about heat, safety, and preseason grind, especially in warm-weather markets like the Southwest and Las Vegas.
The ACHA Men’s Division I preseason poll for 2026-27 has Ohio at No. 1 and UNLV slotted at No. 3 in the nation. That ranking cements club-level powerhouses and gives hockey-in-the-desert fans another reason to circle dates on the calendar.
Nine former first round picks, a shot stopper drafted in the opening round, and one big departure before the season even started. Michigan State's incoming hockey class is the deepest in the sport, and it is exactly the kind of program the desert crowd loves to watch.
The Herb Brooks National Hockey Center is mid facelift, a $12.8 million job trimming the main sheet toward NHL width and building an NHL sized practice rink. It is the kind of grinding, unglamorous project that keeps old barns alive, and it is on schedule for an October puck drop.
Between a Frozen Four championship in April and a Stanley Cup Final in June, T-Mobile Arena pulled off a double that no building has matched in more than half a century, and it is exactly the kind of proof college hockey fans in the desert have been waiting for.
For the second straight year, a roster of NCAA all-stars will trade campus rinks for the Swiss Alps, and New Hampshire head coach Mike Souza is taking over behind the bench for a tournament that proves college hockey's biggest stage doesn't have to look like a college rink at all.
Today is the day rising high school juniors can finally take official visits and field real Division I offers, kicking off the next wave of commitments that will eventually skate through programs like the ones that made Ice Vegas Invitational weekends so much fun.
Vegas Golden Knights unveiled an 84-game slate for their tenth season, complete with an outdoor Stadium Series trip to Texas and a Stanley Cup Final rematch, and it is one more sign the desert's hockey scene reaches well past T-Mobile Arena.
USA Hockey brought 92 players to Lake Placid for its Women's National Festival, and nearly half of the invite list is drawn straight off current NCAA rosters. From Wisconsin to Minnesota Duluth, here is who is skating for a spot on the U.S. Collegiate Select Team and why the camp matters for the sport heading into the season.
Michigan has replaced departed associate head coach Rob Rassey by hiring Chris Lazary off the Saginaw Spirit bench, bringing the winningest coach in that OHL franchise's history and a 2024 Memorial Cup title to Ann Arbor. It is a fresh domino in a coaching carousel that already sent Rassey to Harvard, and it says plenty about where college hockey programs are now shopping for talent.
The NCAA has now confirmed hosts through the 2028 Frozen Four, Capital One Arena in Washington DC for 2027 and the United Center in Chicago for 2028. It is the same expansion playbook that brought last year's Frozen Four to the Strip, and it keeps pointing college hockey's biggest weekends toward bigger, less traditional buildings.
Fresh off hoisting the trophy on the Vegas Strip in April, Denver added four more draft picks to an incoming freshman group that already had scouts talking, and the roster now carries more drafted players than any Pioneers team in history.
The expansion club just locked up a Minnesota State product for two more seasons, and the signing quietly says a lot about how Las Vegas is stocking its inaugural roster with proven NCAA scorers.
Fresh off a rocky expansion season in the PWHL, longtime North Dakota and St. Cloud State coach Brian Idalski has a new address at Syracuse. Here's why the hire is a big deal for the women's hockey coaching carousel and what it means heading into 2026-27.
Goalies are about to lose some real estate behind the net, faceoffs are getting stricter and cut-resistant gear is on the way. Here's what the newly reviewed NCAA rules package means for the game fans will see at the rink this season.
While the sport just celebrated its first Frozen Four on the Vegas Strip, four more programs are packing bags for Northern Ireland this Thanksgiving. Here's what the Friendship Four means for college hockey's expanding map.
The NCAA finally built an eligibility clock that fits how hockey actually develops players. Weeks later, a federal visa change could keep international skaters from ever using it.
Alex Gettens is heading back to Orono as the eighth head coach in UMaine women's hockey history, and the timing lines up with a Hockey East coaching carousel that keeps spinning toward the desert.
Tessa Janecke rewrote the record book at Penn State, then added Olympic gold for good measure. Now the 22-year-old forward is putting pen to paper with PWHL Las Vegas, the expansion club trying to make the desert a women's hockey town.
Marc Gatcomb never heard his name called at an NHL Draft table. Four years after his last shift at UConn, he's pulling on Golden Knights gold on a two-year deal, part of a deep 2026 wave of college free agents turning pro without ever going through the draft.
While the college hockey world is quiet until fall, youth squads from all over North America are grinding out a five-day tournament on the Strip, proof that the desert's hockey calendar never really takes a summer break.
Six weeks after Vancouver's expansion Goldeneyes moved on from him, Brian Idalski landed the Syracuse women's hockey job, and his resume of Olympic recruits and quick rebuilds is exactly the kind of coaching-carousel story that keeps the sport's calendar interesting all summer long.
Forty-seven players, nine first-round picks, and a Michigan State bench boss headline the roster that kicks off in Windsor this month, and a chunk of the names are headed straight for NCAA rinks this fall.
Vegas made seven picks in the 2026 NHL Draft, and most of them are headed to NCAA rinks first. Here is the local angle on a draft class that leans hard on the college game.
A viral invitation turned into a four-day Strip celebration for Team USA's women Olympians, gold-medal hockey team included. Here is what is happening and why it matters for hockey in the desert.
The portal window has closed and the star-studded rookie wave is rolling onto campus. Here is who is turning heads before puck drop this fall.
North Dakota may have the best defensive pair in college hockey before the season even starts. Michigan landed one of juniors' most prolific scorers. Harvard is starting fresh. Here is what the summer's biggest roster moves mean for 2026-27.
The Toronto Maple Leafs selected McKenna first overall in the 2026 NHL Draft, making him just the sixth NCAA player ever drafted at the top spot and the third in the last five years. What that streak signals about where elite hockey development is heading.
The 2026 NHL Draft sent a record 19 first-round picks from college programs. Denver returns 65 percent of its championship roster. Michigan State rebuilds from scratch. Here is how the landscape looks heading into fall.
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Michigan State each have legitimate claims to the 2026-27 Big Ten championship. With the conference calendar now official, here is what fans should know heading into fall.
Professional women's hockey is coming to T-Mobile Arena for the 2026-27 season, and the brand-new franchise made its presence known immediately by leading the 2026 PWHL Draft with eight total picks.
Starting August 1, 2026, the NCAA replaces the longstanding 21-year-old rule in men's college hockey with an age-based eligibility window -- the most significant change to the development pipeline in years, with real implications for which players reach college programs and when.
The spring portal window closed April 28 with the largest single-cycle entry volume on record. Here is what the numbers mean for 2026-27 rosters.
The NCHC enters the new season with a defending champion returning most of its core, a Hobey Baker winner ready to terrorize opponents, and an expansion team writing its first chapter in the conference.
The NCHC published its full 2026-27 conference schedule this spring, setting up the first season with all 10 members in the fold. Here is what the calendar reveals and why it matters.
A November 2025 rule change opened college hockey to Canadian Hockey League players for the first time, reshaping the talent landscape heading into the 2026-27 season and pointing toward a new era for NCAA programs.
Gavin McKenna went No. 1 overall to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and for the first time in history, 19 college hockey players were selected in a single NHL Draft opening round. The college-to-NHL pipeline just reached a new benchmark.
The University of St. Thomas becomes the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's newest member on July 1, 2026, kicking off a restructured season with more games, a new tournament format, and a fresh hub city in Saint Paul.
The Pioneers beat Wisconsin 2-1 in a third-period comeback on April 11 to claim their 11th national championship, capping a memorable Frozen Four weekend right here in Las Vegas.
A New Field Returns in 2019
A local spotlight on a supercar rental crew that knows how to make an entrance on the Strip.
A tournament weekend leaves visiting families with more unclaimed hours than they plan for, and the valley has more to fill them with than the resort corridor.
College Hockey Comes to the Strip
Not every Vegas hero wears a jersey. This local spotlight gives props to a trusted local plumbing team.
This local spotlight features Kingdom & Co, one of the local Vegas businesses we are glad to call part of our community.
Visiting hockey families park in private lots without realizing it, and the recovery process is the part nobody looks up in advance.
A local spotlight on a dependable plumbing crew serving the Las Vegas community.
A Nevada charge picked up on a tournament weekend stays in Nevada after the flight home, and a missed appearance can sit in the system for years.
Four programs flew to a neutral sheet on the Strip for this tournament, and the part nobody remembers is the equipment list that had to travel with them.
A good place to land after the final buzzer. Meet a local cocktail spot.