A New Field Returns in 2019
Ice Vegas Invitational shines a light on a local supercar rental crew that knows how to make an entrance on the Strip.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
College Hockey Comes to the Strip
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 make Ice Vegas Invitational weekends so much fun.
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 and the programs heading to the Strip.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Not every Vegas hero wears a jersey. Ice Vegas Invitational gives props to a trusted local plumbing team.
Ice Vegas Invitational features Kingdom & Co, one of the local Vegas businesses we are glad to call part of our community.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ice Vegas Invitational spotlights a dependable local plumbing crew serving the Las Vegas community.
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 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 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.
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 the Ice Vegas Invitational crowd has been waiting for.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
After the final buzzer, the Ice Vegas Invitational crew heads here. Meet one of our favorite local cocktail spots.