College Hockey Is Heading to the Alps: UNH's Mike Souza to Coach the U.S. Collegiate Selects at the 2026 Spengler Cup
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.
Key takeaways
- UNH head coach Mike Souza has been named head coach of the U.S. Collegiate Selects for the 2026 Spengler Cup, the 98th edition of the world's oldest club invitational tournament, held in Davos, Switzerland, from December 26 to 31.
- Souza is joined behind the bench by two veteran head coaches, Scott Sandelin of Minnesota Duluth and Casey Jones of Cornell, and the 25-player roster will be drawn from all six NCAA Division I men's hockey conferences.
- This is only the second time NCAA players have competed as a unified U.S. team at the Spengler Cup; the Collegiate Selects finished as runners-up in their 2025 debut after losing the final to host HC Davos.
- The same logic that put an NCAA all-star team on pro ice in the Alps is the logic behind college hockey showing up on the Strip: the sport travels well outside a traditional campus rink, and a Vegas weekend is proof of that.
The U.S. Collegiate Selects return to Davos, Switzerland from Dec. 26-31, 2026 after finishing runner-up in their tournament debut a year earlier.
A century-old trophy gets an American twist
The Spengler Cup has been played in Davos every year since 1923, when a local physician named Dr. Carl Spengler founded it as a way to bring nations together on the ice in the aftermath of the First World War. It is the oldest club ice hockey tournament in the world, and it has always been an invitation-only affair for professional clubs, not international federations. That is exactly what makes the last two Decembers so unusual: for the first time in the tournament's history, an NCAA all-star squad has been invited to skate alongside European pro clubs for the trophy.
The 2026 edition marks the 98th Spengler Cup, and it will once again include the U.S. Collegiate Selects as one of six teams in the field, alongside host club HC Davos, Sweden's Frolunda HC, Germany's Adler Mannheim, Finland's Ilves Tampere, and Switzerland's SC Langnau Tigers. Getting a spot in that lineup at all took years of lobbying behind the scenes before NCAA players finally skated in Davos for the first time last December.
Souza takes the reins after a runner-up debut
Mike Souza, entering his ninth season as UNH's head coach after guiding the Wildcats to their first 20-win season in a decade, has been named head coach of the 2026 U.S. Collegiate Selects. Souza played for New Hampshire himself from 1996 to 2000, served as team captain, and helped the Wildcats reach the 1999 national championship game before a pro career that took him to the AHL and to rinks in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. That international playing background makes him a fitting choice to lead a college roster into a European pro tournament.
He takes over a program that debuted at the Spengler Cup in December 2025 under a different coaching staff and finished as tournament runners-up, falling to host HC Davos in the championship game. Souza called the assignment "an absolute privilege" and said the whole point of the trip is what it gives the student-athletes who make it.
A bench full of championship pedigree
Souza will not be doing this alone. His assistants are Scott Sandelin, who is entering his 27th season at Minnesota Duluth and has won three national championships with the Bulldogs, in 2011, 2018, and 2019, and Casey Jones, who is entering his second season at Cornell after 13 years building Clarkson into a consistent NCAA Tournament contender. Sandelin has his own Spengler Cup history, having played in the tournament himself back in 1982, which gives the 2026 staff a coach who has actually lived the experience from the ice level.
The roster the three of them will coach is set to include 25 student-athletes pulled from all six NCAA Division I men's hockey conferences, a cross-section of the sport rather than a team built around any single league's champion. Specific names have not been finalized as of this week, but the format guarantees a genuinely national mix of programs rather than a one-conference all-star squad.
The schedule in the Alps
The Collegiate Selects open the 2026 tournament on December 26 against Frolunda HC of Sweden, then face host HC Davos on either December 27 or 28 depending on how the group stage shakes out. Those two games make up Group Cattini alongside the Selects, while Langnau, Mannheim, and Ilves Tampere play out Group Torriani on the other side of the bracket. From there, the tournament moves into pre-semifinals on December 29, semifinals on December 30, and the championship game on December 31, with every team guaranteed at least three games and as many as five depending on how far they advance.
It is a tight, five-day sprint against professional rosters in a building that has hosted the sport's oldest invitational for over a century, and it is precisely the kind of setting that shows what a college hockey lineup can do outside the friendly confines of its own conference.
Why a Davos storyline belongs on a Vegas hockey radar
It would be easy to file a Swiss Alps tournament under international hockey trivia and move on, but the whole premise of the Collegiate Selects is the same premise behind putting college hockey on the Las Vegas Strip: the sport does not need a traditional campus rink to be must-watch, it just needs a stage worthy of it. A Division I all-star team going toe-to-toe with pro clubs in Davos and a marquee college hockey weekend inside T-Mobile Arena are both bets that the same thing is true, that this sport travels.
So while the roster for Davos will not be finalized for a while yet, keep an eye on which programs get represented once the names are announced. The conferences feeding that roster are the same ones that regularly show up on Ice Vegas Invitational weekends, and a strong showing overseas this December is one more data point in the case that college hockey has officially outgrown being a regional sport.
If watching college hockey take on the world sounds like a reason to see the sport live, grab tickets and catch a game at the Ice Vegas Invitational, where that same college hockey talent shows up on Strip ice in front of a crowd that came out to see it.
Meet the Field: The 2026 Spengler Cup
Six clubs will chase the oldest trophy in club hockey this December, and the U.S. Collegiate Selects are the only college roster in the bunch.
- U.S. Collegiate Selects: The NCAA all-star team, coached by UNH's Mike Souza with Duluth's Sandelin and Cornell's Jones assisting, returning after a runner-up finish in 2025.
- HC Davos: The Swiss National League host club, playing on home ice at the Eisstadion Davos and the team that beat the Collegiate Selects in last year's final.
- Frolunda HC: The Swedish SHL club and the Collegiate Selects' opening group-stage opponent on December 26.
- Adler Mannheim: One of Germany's flagship DEL clubs, part of the Torriani group alongside Langnau and Ilves Tampere.
- Ilves Tampere: The Finnish Liiga side rounding out the Torriani group in the six-team field.
- SC Langnau Tigers: The Swiss National League club completing the Torriani group opposite the Collegiate Selects' Cattini group.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Spengler Cup?
It is an invitation-only club ice hockey tournament played every year in Davos, Switzerland, between Christmas and New Year's. Founded in 1923 by Dr. Carl Spengler, it is the oldest club invitational tournament in hockey and has historically featured European professional teams rather than international federations or college squads.
Who is coaching the U.S. Collegiate Selects in 2026?
New Hampshire head coach Mike Souza has been named head coach for the 2026 tournament. Scott Sandelin, the longtime Minnesota Duluth bench boss, and Cornell's Casey Jones will serve as his two assistants.
Has an NCAA team played in the Spengler Cup before?
Yes. The 2026 tournament will be the second appearance for a U.S. Collegiate Selects team made up of NCAA Division I players, after the squad debuted in December 2025 and finished as runner-up to host HC Davos.
When and where is the 2026 Spengler Cup?
The tournament runs December 26 to 31, 2026, in Davos, Switzerland, with the Collegiate Selects opening against Frolunda HC on December 26 and facing host HC Davos on December 27 or 28.
Sources
- UNH's Souza to Lead U.S. Collegiate Selects — College Hockey News
- U.S. Collegiate Selects Announce 2026 Coaching Staff — College Hockey Inc.
- 2026 Spengler Cup Schedule Revealed — College Hockey Inc.