2021 NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament: Why Your Team Can Win It All (Albany Regional)

Enough parity exists in the NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament where at least one No. 4 seed has upset a No. 1 seed in every tournament played since 2005. The unexpected is more than expected. It is no surprise, in an era where the final at-large bid has won three of the last seven national titles, to see any of the 16 teams reach the Frozen Four.

Makes bracket challenges fun and impossible, even before playing in a global pandemic.

So with that in mind, I thought it would be best to preview the 2021 NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament by showcasing two non-pandemic extremes. First, why each team can win the national championship. Second, why each team will be upset and lose in round 1. Add three players to watch and a "chip on their shoulders" ranking (1 being none and 10 being wanting to prove the world wrong) and there's a preview that covers the bases for your bracket challenge. 

Yesterday (Wednesday) featured the Fargo regional. Today already featured the Bridgeport regional while tomorrow (Friday) showcases the Loveland regional.

NOTE: This post was written before the NCAA announced Notre Dame would be unable to play in the NCAA Tournament due to Covid protocols. Boston College automatically advances to the Albany Regional Final. The Fighting Irish are the second team that earned the right to participate yet are unable to play. ND originally got into the NCAA Tournament only because St. Lawrence had to withdraw. 

With this year's tournament being played in these uncertain times, a team being pulled due to Covid protocols was likely a possibility. I am leaving in Notre Dame's section to show how the team would do if healthy and able to participate. I did update Boston College's "why the Eagles will be upset" section, however.

Albany Regional

No. 1 Seed: Boston College

Why the Eagles will win it all: A theme exists among the top four teams where each college hockey blueblood returns to the NCAA Tournament as a national title contender after missing multiple tourneys. 

Boston College (17-5-1) sits atop the Albany Regional after being the top Hockey East team all season. The talented Eagles team did not miss a beat despite losing star sophomore forward Alex Newhook, who has 7 goals in his last 10 games, for a large portion of the season. Another star sophomore forward, Matt Boldy, leads the team with 30 points (10G-20) in 21 games. Only North Dakota averages more goals per game than BC (3.91). Boston College's scoring depth goes beyond its elite players with 8 having 15 or more points.

Of the four bluebloods, Spencer Knight stands out individually in goal. Knight, who helped lead USA Hockey to a 2021 WJC gold medal, has championship-level experience. The sophomore enters the NCAA Tournament with a .933% save percentage and three shutouts. Teams need good goaltending and defense to advance in the NCAA Tournament. Boston College can bring both, along with a plethora of elite players.

Why the Eagles will be upset in round 1 the regional final: Boston College features talent while its potential opponents, St. Cloud State or Boston University, each feature a more recent NCAA Tournament experience.

The Huskies have been a mainstay in the NCAA Tournament of late while BU seniors were on the Terriers team that upset No. 1 seed Cornell in 2018. It's been five years since the Eagles last made the NCAA Tournament, making this experience a new one.

At the same time, Boston College comes into the regional final rested but coming off a performance where the Eagles blew a 4-1 third period lead to UMass-Lowell, eventually losing in 2 OT. (Boston College did have a potential game-winning goal disallowed for offsides.) The game leaves a bad taste in the mouth and it will be interesting to see how BC responds. Sometimes. teams respond this time of year. Oftentimes, teams follow up with another disappointment.

Chip on their shoulder ranking: 2. Things are going well for the Eagles. Almost too well. On a team that features several future NHLers and is seeded second overall, the biggest chip on their shoulder might be from this low ranking.

Three Players To Watch: #12 F- Matt Boldy (MIN), #4 D- Drew Helleson (COL), #18 F- Alex Newhook (COL)

No. 2 Seed: St. Cloud State

Why the Huskies will win it all: St. Cloud State (17-10-0) has been at its best in the NCAA Tournament when expectations are lowered. For the first time in four appearances, the Huskies are not one of the top-two overall teams.

This year's St. Cloud State squad is plenty dangerous. The Huskies finished second in a tough NCHC regular season, finished second in the NCHC conference tournament, and went 7-5-0 against the conference's three NCAA Tournament teams. Two of those losses came in OT. No one should be surprised to see the Huskies return to the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh. Easton Brodzinski continues his high level of play, leading the team with 11 goals. Freshman Veeti Miettinen rightfully earned the NCHC Rookie of the Year award for his play. When the offense is going, St. Cloud State is a tough team to face, regularly putting up 4-5 goals a game.

David Hrenak is the most experienced goaltender in the Albany Regional, showing throughout his college career he can steal games. If he is able to find a way to do so, or the Huskies offense stays in gear, it would not be a surprise to see this St. Cloud State team end the year with a win. 

Why the Huskies will be upset in round 1: Do I have to write this one? Fine. Apologies in advance, SCSU fans.

Facing Boston University, St. Cloud State goes against a Terriers team with players to match its offensive talent and one of the top defenders. It won't be an easy game even if the Huskies are able to test BU goalie Drew Commesso. 

And then there's the elephant in the room. To not beat around the bush any longer, better St. Cloud State teams have been upset. In the last five years, AIC, Air Force and Ferris State all defeated Huskies teams in the opening round. This year's senior class was there for the first two. This is a different group, one that will get the chance to have its Virginia moment, but in this category ends up being relevant.

Chip on their shoulder ranking: 9. At least I hope it's a 9. At this point, if it's not a 9 after discussing the last section and the Huskies coming up short in both the regular season and conference tournament, something is wrong.

Three Players To Watch: #29 F- Veeti Miettinen (TOR), #19 F- Sam Hentges (MIN), #22 F- Easton Brodzinski (undrafted)

No. 3 Seed: Boston University

Why the Terriers will win it all: Boston University (10-4-1) has been a bit of an unknown this season in a season full of them. 

Multiple Covid pauses pushing BU's season debut to January, the Terriers enter the NCAA Tournament playing a total of 15 games. The late start did not hinder Boston University's results, with its talented group starting 9-2-0 and sweeping Massachusetts. Jay O'Brien, the rare first-round draft pick who transferred, made the most of his long wait, tying David Farrance for the team lead with 16 points. 

Speaking of Farrance, the senior defender earned his second Hobey Baker top-ten finalist nod despite only playing 10 games. When on the ice, Farrance makes Boston University a better team. Being healthy as the team has been recently, the Terriers are full of talent able to make noise in a single-elimination tournament like this one.

Why the Terriers will lose in round 1: The Terriers benefit from being a bit of an unknown and playing a smaller schedule. Playing a smaller schedule hides some of the issues Boston University faced during the season while comfortably sitting in an NCAA Tournament spot as the third-ranked Hockey East team.

No tournament team has as poor of a shot margin (-7.47 shots per game) as BU. In recent games, being consistently outshot came back to bite the Terriers, as Merrimack and UMass Lowell each defeated Boston University handily while outshooting BU. The Terriers face a Huskies group that can easily follow the footprint set by Hockey East teams and make a tough night for Boston University's defense; especially if the Lowell loss looms large to the Terriers.

Chip on their shoulder ranking: 6. The Terriers are getting overlooked. Whether it is teams in BU's conference, city, selection tier, or being one 5 Eastern teams, there is enough for Boston University players to work with to use a "nobody believes in us" mantra. It's not as much as others, with the Terriers returning for the first time in 3 seasons and would have been on the outside last year too, but teams have made work with worse.

Three Players To Watch: #4 D- David Farrance (NSH), #29 G- Drew Commesso (CHI), #11 F- Luke Tuch (MTL)

No. 4 Seed: Notre Dame

(Again, please note that the Fighting Irish will be unable to play due to Covid protocols and that I wrote this before the news was announced.)

Why the Fighting Irish will win would have won it all: Being the last team in the NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament is not a bad thing. Tell that to Yale (2013), Providence (2015), or a team Notre Dame knows all too well, Minnesota Duluth (2018).

In the 2021 tournament, Notre Dame (14-13-2) is the latest last team in that has what it takes to join the above list of national champions. The Fighting Irish can compete with top teams, sweeping Minnesota and Michigan each at home. Away from Compton Family Ice Arena, Jeff Jackson's team is 9-2-1. The law firm-sounding line of Slaggert (Graham), Slaggert (Landon) and Steeves (Alex) has been the Fighting Irish's best. All three sit atop ND's stat sheet. Spencer Stastney at times can be a magician on the blue line, making big-time plays on both sides of the ice.

When playing well, Notre Dame is one of the best teams in the nation. It's why in a single-elimination tournament where two big weekends can make larger difference than a .500 season, no one should be surprised to see the last at-large bid, one who got in because St. Lawrence dropped out, end the season as the last team standing.

Why the Fighting Irish will lose would have lost in round 1: For all the big wins, Notre Dame should be able to celebrate several more. ND is a paltry 9-5-1 this season when scoring the first goal. That total includes losing an early 2-0 lead against Penn State in the Big Ten conference tournament quarterfinal, the last game Notre Dame played before this weekend. 

While this year's Notre Dame team keeps Jeff Jackson's defensive mantra, it's been a different group after three seasons of Cale Morris in net. Dylan St. Cyr is making the most of his time being the Fighting Irish goaltender, holding down a .921% save percentage in 22 games played and 3 shutouts. St. Cyr has been able to steal a game or two when needed, but it's a big difference than having the stability of Morris going against Boston College. 

Chip on their shoulder rankings: 4. No team is playing with house money quite like Notre Dame after the way the Fighting Irish entered the NCAA Tournament. Still, the team can find some chips on their shoulder based on the number of people who had the Big Ten pegged at three teams or didn't consider Notre Dame's resume for the bubble teams. (Update: It's now a 10 for next season.)

Three Players To Watch: #16 F- Alex Steeves (undrafted), #24 D- Spencer Stastney (NSH), #19 F- Landon Slaggert (CHI)

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Bracketology: 2021 NCAA Tournament Women's Hockey Final Projected Bracket

Four teams officially scanned their digital tickets to the 2021 NCAA Tournament, hours away from Selection Sunday. 

All games have been played Robert Morris, the CHA's third seed, won its third game in as many days, defeating Syracuse 1-0 to take home the CHA conference tournament championship. The Colonials return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.

Northeastern, much to the joy of Boston College and bubble teams elsewhere, defeated Providence 6-2 to claim its fourth straight Hockey East conference title Saturday night. The Huskies enter the NCAA Tournament a remarkable 20-1-1 and not lost since its second game of the season. 

Colgate held back a late St. Lawrence attempt Sunday afternoon to send the game to OT to defeat the Saints 3-2. The win leaves the Red Raiders as the ECAC's lone representative by default as the loss drops St. Lawrence below .500, along with Clarkson (and Quinnipiac taking away 6 NEWHA wins against LIU and Sacred Heart).

Ohio State, after scoring six more goals against UMD Saturday than in two games when the two teams played in Duluth, had an opportunity to make a statement and repeat as WCHA Final Faceoff champions facing the Badgers, who defeated Minnesota on Saturday. For a second consecutive year, the Buckeyes and Wisconsin went to overtime to decide a champion. This time, however, it was the Badgers who celebrated an OT championship. Lacey Eden scored 42 seconds in to win Wisconsin's eighth WCHA conference tournament title and break a 2-2-0 tie on the season against Ohio State.

The four teams earning automatic bids are noted with their conferences in parenthesis. If you need a refresher on what subjective criteria the NCAA Tournament selection committee will use to seed the top four and choose the eight teams, click here. Otherwise, here is the final projected bracket.

You can watch the 2021 NCAA Women's Hockey Tournament Selection Show at 9 pm ET Sunday, March 7 on NCAA.com

The Bracket:

1. Northeastern (Hockey East) vs. Robert Morris (CHA)

4. Colgate (ECAC) vs. Minnesota

2.  Wisconsin (WCHA) vs. Boston College

3.  Ohio State vs. Minnesota Duluth

(All games played March 15-20 at Erie Insurance Arena in Erie, PA)

How Did We Get Here:

Several teams had opportunities to make arguments for higher seeds or steal automatic bids. In the end, only Colgate and Robert Morris did. The Red Raiders winning the ECAC championship mixed with Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth losing in the WCHA Final Faceoff semifinals gives Colgate the fourth and final seed. 

From there, I avoided inter-conference matchups as much as possible and go with a straight bracket as travel does not matter. One matchup seems locked into the bracket: Northeastern as the No. 1 overall seed, facing Robert Morris. The selection committee has traditionally protected the No. 1 overall seed when possible, and this is a case where it would be easy to do so.

Four WCHA teams making the bracket and protecting the No. 1 overall seed leaves one WCHA inter-conference matchup. For that, I went with the lower of the two WCHA seeded teams to face Minnesota Duluth while the higher goes against Boston College.

Who Was Left Out? Deciding The Final At-Large Bids 

Penn State and Providence, I'm so sorry.

The final at-large bids come down to the selection committee putting in one of the following three choices: A fourth WCHA team, a third Hockey East team, or a second CHA team. It would not be out of the realm of possibility for any of the three to be included when the bracket gets shown Sunday night, however, in my bracket as selection committee I am going with the fourth WCHA team, Minnesota Duluth.

Providence's loss Saturday leaves the Friars 12-7-1 compared to Boston College's 14-5-0. The Friars are hoping the committee gives credence to PC going 2-1 against BC, with the loss happening on the road in OT. As good as Providence has been, the Eagles finished higher in comparison when it comes to statistical rankings (BC was also the only team to beat Northeastern while the Friars went 0-4) and I am keeping Boston College ahead as the second-ranked Hockey East team.

Penn State should be given more credit. As SB Nation College Hockey's Chris Dilks points out, the Nittany Lions have been recruiting well since Jeff Kampersal took over. It has been paying off for PSU. In another season where there are more comparison and non-conference games, I think it's an easier argument for whether or not Penn State makes the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid. As it is, the CHA's historical and past performances make it difficult to put a second team into my bracket, leaving Penn State the best CHA team to miss.

Instead, Boston College and UMD get the spots. I find it easier to believe a second Hockey East team finds its way in and comparing Minnesota Duluth's resume to Providence and Penn State gives the nod to the Bulldogs.

Why is Minnesota Duluth, who finished ahead in the conference, the fourth WCHA team instead of the Gophers? A mixture of head-to-head and strength of schedule. Minnesota swept the Bulldogs in Duluth when the two teams played in December. The Gophers are undefeated against teams not named Wisconsin and Ohio State while Minnesota Duluth lost to a two-win Bemidji State team. In addition, the Gophers are also higher in the Pairwise and other statistical rankings when comparing WCHA teams. Minnesota's 2-8-1 record against Wisconsin and Ohio State (UMD is 2-3-0 against the two) puts it a distant third, though.

Nuts and Bolts:

Teams By Conference:

4- WCHA
2- Hockey East
1- ECAC, CHA

Last Two Teams In: Boston College, Minnesota Duluth
First Two Teams Out: Penn State, Providence

Related:

2021 NCAA Tournament Women's Hockey Bracket Version 2.0

2021 NCAA Tournament Women's Hockey Bracket Version 1.0

Five Selection Questions + NCAA Tournament Locks & Bubble Teams

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College Hockey Mailbag: Contenders & Pretenders, Gopher Football, & More (Vol. II)

After a hiatus, it's time to bring back the college hockey mailbag.

Let's dig in for this week.

****

with the massive Gopher football win Saturday (biggest in my lifetime), what is the equivalent Gopher hockey win? or is there not an equivalent given gopher hockey sustained excellence.

— Chad Stevermer (@stretch3281) November 13, 2019

Nothing like starting a college hockey mailbag with some football talk, right?

Minnesota's win over Penn State in a battle of 8-0 teams hit a sweet spot as someone following decades of Gopher football. (And I say this as someone surrounded by Nittany Lions fans Saturday. Credit to them for being great sports.) Seeing a maroon and gold crowd rush TCF Bank Stadium was night and day from previous times opposing fans did at the Metrodome. The only similar games in recent history that brought up the same feeling were the last two Axe wins and seeing Minnesota celebrating winning the Little Brown Jug in person in 2014.

None of those games, however, hold the same value for Minnesota from a stakes perspective as Saturday's win. The vast majority of fans rushing the field were not alive during Gopher football's glory days. Throw in the fact that the story has not been completely written and it's tough to come up with a comparable win for Gopher hockey.

Winning the 2002 national championship after 23 years seems too big for the occasion. The 0.6 victory over North Dakota shares more with the Axe and Little Brown Jug games. While Minnesota hockey has its share of big wins, sustained success makes it difficult to reach the highs of Minnesota football. If there is a recent college hockey comparison, it's likely Michigan Tech or Bowling Green returning to the NCAA Tournament in recent years after decades of disappointment.

The closest Gopher hockey victory to Saturday's football win I can come up with would be March 3, 2012 against Wisconsin. Trailing 1-0 in the third period, Minnesota scored a shorthanded goal by Erik Haula and a game-winning-goal by Nate Schmidt that earned one of the loudest roars at Mariucci. Given the Gophers were on a three-season NCAA Tournament drought and won the MacNaughton Cup that night, it's one that sticks out in memory.

College Hockey Stock Report: November 11, 2019

Sometimes the best-laid plans do not work out.

Before the season began, the entire WCHA women's league scheduled itself to be idle this weekend. The idea was that since many teams would be missing players for the Four Nations Cup,

Turns out, no team was missing players for the Four Nations Cup. The annual tournament ended up canceled by host Sweden after its national team declared its intentions to boycott as part of an ongoing dispute over equal pay and conditions. Instead, only a few players are in Pittsburgh playing in a USA-Canada rivalry series with most of them being on teams playing.

Another team with changing plans was Denver, whose 44-0-0 dream came to an end in Duluth. Kobe Roth and Noah Cates erased a 3-1 third period deficit Friday in a battle of NCHC contenders before the Bulldogs became the other one in Denver's 8-1-1 record.

Each weekend sees ups and downs as players and teams adjust to new situations. That's the fun and joy of the sport and one that bodes well for a handful of new trends on a weekend where not everything went to plan.

As always, here's what is going on throughout the college hockey landscape. This week's stock report recaps who is doing well, who is on their way down, and what trends should be followed.

College Hockey Stock Report: November 4, 2019

Welcome to November where the Ivy League men's teams finally play.

Seriously, it will be good to not need to bring up that fact each week. Everyone is underway. Everyone! The Dartmouth men's hockey Twitter is now back up to 80-20 hockey versus dog content just in time as teams are already tossing teddy bears.

And there will be plenty to discuss as conference play begins in full. With a last-minute goal, Ohio State opened its Big Ten slate by sweeping Michigan to advance to 6-1-1 on the season. Notre Dame sophomore defender Nick Leivermann continued to score at Mariucci and nowhere else. The Boston College men's and women's teams each beat Providence. Army upset AIC. Long Island University got its first program win ever by defeating St. Michael's 5-2 on Friday.

As always, here's what is going on throughout the college hockey landscape. This week's stock report recaps who is doing well, who is on their way down, and what trends should be followed.

College Hockey Stock Report: October 16, 2019

It's the offseason no more.

Besides the Ivies, the season is now underway. D1 women's hockey is nearing the end of its first month while a large portion of D1 men's hockey teams opened their season last weekend. Ohio State took home the Ice Breaker trophy. Several teams took home surprising results. I'm still not sure what to make of Colorado College's Friday sweaters.

Anyways, it's time for another edition of the college hockey stock report, recapping who is doing well, who is on their way down and what trends should be followed.

Slightly different than previous editions is ending this with who I thought won the week. It can be a team, a player, a coach, or anything that signifies the best in college hockey. Let me know who you think should win the week in the comments.

At the very least, talk of last season is trending downward.

Up: Players scoring first goals and getting first wins

One of the highlights each September and October is seeing players score their first collegiate goal or goaltenders getting their first win. There is something special to witness decades of work coming together into a single moment of celebration. It comes annually. The leaves fall and red lights get lit, but that doesn't make it any less special.

Couple firsts for the #Gophers last weekend in Colorado...

Congrats to Jared Moe (First Win) and Matt Staudacher (First Goal)! pic.twitter.com/5BZezNGsDL

— Minnesota Men’s Hockey (@GopherHockey) October 15, 2019

Hold: Any Minnesota Duluth championship hangover storyline

Banner raising night did not go well for the Bulldogs. After losing an exhibition game to Alberta, Minnesota Duluth opened the season with a 3-2 loss to UMass Lowell. The team did follow up the next day with a 2-1 win but lost the No. 1 ranking to Denver.

Sure, this wasn't the best opening stretch for UMD, but you know what else wasn't a great opening stretch? Last season. The Bulldogs tied and lost to Minnesota. Neither game was as bad as the scoreboard made it seem, which can also be said about this past weekend. UMD nearly came back from a 3-0 deficit, however, more importantly, the team outshot the River Hawks by a 2:1 margin. On Saturday, UMass Lowell had nine shots on goal at even strength.

It's not the result wanted, but the Bulldogs continue to give itself opportunities. If that continues, it wouldn't be a surprise to see a repeat of where Minnesota Duluth followed up its opening weekend last season with eight straight wins.

60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Boston College

Boston College

2018-19 Record: 14-22-3 (10-11-3, 7th in Hockey East)
Head Coach: Jerry York, 26th Year
Top returning scorer: David Cotton (23G-13A)
Top returning goaltender: Ryan Edquist (Sr.)

Boston College featured in the middle of August does not seem right. Jerry York's team last finished below .500 1997 and four national championships ago. Previewing BC in the same area as Dartmouth and Bemidji State almost sounds like a prank to see if anyone's paying attention. It's weird.

Then again, it's not as weird given the past few seasons.

That's where the lowly Eagles fly at the moment after a strange season results in Boston College disappointedly missing the NCAA Tournament for a third straight year. BC's bizarre non-conference struggles continued into another season, going 0-8 until defeating Harvard in the Beanpot. The team's Hockey East success didn't kick in until the very end of the season when the two-time defending regular-season champions made it to the HE conference championship game.

For much of the season, BC's high points were Joseph Woll in goal and forward David Cotton, whose team-leading 23 goals had enough of a gap between first and second where the gap would have finished second.

What's New: Hall of Fame head coach Jerry York? Hall of Fame head coach Jerry York.

College hockey's winningest coach will be inducted into the HHOF in November. Before he does, York gets a trio of first-round NHL Draft picks (and what seems like half the NTDP) to help Boston College reload. Forwards Matt Boldy (Minnesota) and Alex Newhook (Colorado) are joined by goaltender Spencer Knight (Florida). Also drafted were Drew Helleson (2nd round by Colorado) and Marshall Warren (6th round by Minnesota). They begin with a tough October stretch against Wisconsin, at Colgate, at Denver, and Providence.

Boston College loses a pair of players early with Woll (Toronto) leaving after his junior year, along with previous first-round NHL Draft pick to head to Chestnut Hill, Oliver Wahlstrom, signing a pro contract with the New York Islanders following his freshman season.

Closing Thoughts: BC's star-studded freshman class leads a program that's had the ability to reload with star-studded players, but more recently been an example of college hockey recruiting evolving. Despite regular-season titles, the sport is slowly becoming used to a regular Frozen Four fixture not being an NCAA Tournament one.

High expectations or not, Boston College's freshmen will need to play a role. Knight is seen as a rare franchise-changer goaltender. He'll get every chance to be one for the Eagles.

At the same time, Boldy, Newhook and co. need to help turn around an offense that, as highly heralded as they were, struggled outside of Cotton (who also returns). They struggled even without high expectations. Boston College's first-round picks and seniors who made the Frozen Four finished 51st of 60 teams with 2.31 goals per game. (To compare, Miami and Vermont were the next two lowest teams.) This was a team picked to win Hockey East by the coaches.

It wouldn't be weird to see Boston College picked highly again. With elite players coming in, it's not to believe they could return the Eagles to prominence. Young teams with elite talent such as UMD, Denver and Massachusetts made up most of the 2019 Frozen Four. On the other hand, it would also make sense to have second thoughts after being fooled before.

Recent 60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less) Features
Bemidji State
RIT
Dartmouth
Miami
Every Team So Far

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College Hockey Stock Report (June 2019)

Another offseason month has come and gone.

October remains several months away, or as a question whose answer is "no." That doesn't stop news from happening, however. With plenty to discuss in June, it's time to go through what is trending up and what is trending down in the world of college hockey.

(7/1 Update: This was published about an hour before seven WCHA teams announced intentions to leave the conference in 2021. I wrote more about that decision and what it means for college hockey here. Obviously, things are trending down for the three blindsided schools not invited to the party.)

Up: Jerry York

No one's stock has been moving up faster after the past week. For good reason. College hockey's winningest coach (1,067 wins) received one of hockey's highest honors when York was announced as one of six Class of 2019 inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The longtime Boston College head coach, who has won five national championships between BC and Bowling Green, will be going in as a "Builder" along with current Pittsburgh GM Jim Rutherford.

Besides being well deserved, it is truly a big milestone for college hockey. Other NCAA coaches such as Herb Brooks and Bob Johnson are in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but York is the first who got in without coaching in the NHL. His induction may open the door to get other longtime college coaches into the HHOF as builders (or players/builders in the long overdue case of Red Berenson).

If the Hockey Hall of Fame honors was not enough, York's 2019-20 team received honors of its own. Three incoming Boston College freshmen - Matthew Boldy (Minnesota), Spencer Knight (Florida) and Alex Newhook (Colorado) - were selected among the top 16 picks. No other school had more than two first round picks.

Down: NCAA Tournament teams getting first rounders

Boston College's three were among nine players with collegiate were selected in the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft. None of them went to teams who made the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

On one hand, it's a far cry from recent drafts. Six years ago, one player with NCAA ties was drafted and he ended up going to the CHL. On the other hand, there's no better way to sum up college hockey in 2019 than the stat of every NCAA team to get a first-round pick went to a big name school who missed the last NCAA Tournament.

College Hockey Stock Report (May 2019)

Yes, it's the offseason. October continues to be months away from even asking whether it is October yet. That doesn't stop news from happening, however.

Plenty happened in the six weeks since Minnesota Duluth became the first school in 14 years to repeat as men's hockey national champions and two months since Wisconsin defeated Minnesota to win the 2018-19 women's hockey national championship. Even though it's the offseason.

So with it being the end of May, here's a look at what's trending up and what's trending down in college hockey nationally since mid-April in Buffalo.