Week 2 Hockey Release
Photo courtesy of Michigan Athletics
OFFICIAL RELEASE
• Coming off an opening week which saw Big Ten teams win seven of eight games, nonconference action continues with games starting Thursday. The Big Ten will face three teams from Hockey East: No. 2/2-ranked Michigan State opens at home against New Hampshire, No. 9/7 Michigan travels to No. 7/6 Providence in a battle of top-10 teams and No. 12/12 Minnesota continues its homestand by hosting No. 11/10 Boston College. In addition to MSU, other Big Ten teams making their home debuts include No. 4/4 Penn State, which will meet rv/rv Clarkson at Pegula Ice Arena and No. 16/16 Ohio State, taking on Northern Michigan at Value City Arena in the Schottenstein Center. Rv/rv Notre Dame travels to Tempe, Arizona for the Ice Breaker Tournament. Brock Sheahan makes his debut behind the bench as the Fighting Irish encounter No. 15/15 Arizona State on Friday and either No. 8/9 Quinnipiac or Alaska on Saturday. No. 18/18 Wisconsin will play an exhibition against the U.S. National Team Development Program in Madison. The Big Ten Network will air a hockey doubleheader on Thursday starting with Clarkson-Penn State at 6:30 p.m. ET followed by Boston College-Minnesota at 9 p.m. ET.
• The Ice Breaker Tournament, now in its 28th year, marks the traditional start to the college hockey season, bringing together four of the nation’s top teams from different conferences. The tournament is organized by the Hockey Commissioners Association and College Hockey Inc. Big Ten schools have won eight Ice Breakers behind the efforts of Michigan (2021), Michigan State (1997), Minnesota (2007, 2013, 2014), Notre Dame (2012, 2018) and Ohio State (2019). Notre Dame will be making its fifth appearance at the event. Notre Dame also recently received an invitation to take part in the Friendship Four, a college hockey tournament held in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Irish will appear in the 2028 edition and Wisconsin will be part of the field in 2027.
• The 2025-26 National Hockey League season commenced Tuesday with 69 former Big Ten players gracing opening-night rosters (see page five). Michigan has a conference-high 22 players on rosters, just ahead of Minnesota with 18. In 2024-25, the Big Ten featured 93 former players who saw action during the regular season. Additionally, 69 current Big Ten players have draft rights held by NHL clubs (see page six).
• Penn State’s Guy Gadowsky and Minnesota’s Bob Motzko will direct teams in international competitions this winter. Gadowsky will coach the U.S. Collegiate Selects at the 2025 Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland (Dec. 26-31). The U.S. Collegiate Selects will be comprised of active NCAA Division I players (of any nationality) chosen from all six conferences and independent programs. It will be the first select college team to play in the tournament’s 102-year history. Motzko will oversee the U.S. National Junior Team at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship. He won’t have to travel far as the WJC will be held in the Twin Cities, Dec. 26-Jan. 5. Motzko is making his third stint with the U.S. Junior National Team, having guided the Americans to gold in 2017 and bronze in 2018.