Middleton’s Musings: My picks for the 2025-26 NCHC Preseason Poll

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On Sept. 17 and 18, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) officially released its All-Conference team and preseason poll results. Members of the media voted on who will be given All-Conference honors by season’s end and what they believe will be the final finishing spot for teams.

I was fortunate enough to vote on both the preseason poll and the NCHC Preseason All-Conference team.

For the sake of transparency, I want to disclose how I voted, along with an explanation of why I made these choices. This week, since it’s the first week of regular-season games for Miami and across college hockey, my column will be divided into two parts: the preseason poll decisions and the All-Conference team decisions.

Below are the final results of the preseason poll:

Western Michigan University Broncos – 252 points (19 first-place votes)
Denver University Pioneers – 225 points (Four first-place votes)
University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks – 220 points (Five first-place votes)
Arizona State University Sun Devils – 180 points (Two first-place votes)
Colorado College Tigers – 128 points
University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs – 120 points
University of Omaha-Nebraska Mavericks – 110 points
St. Cloud State University Huskies – 80 points
Miami University RedHawks – 35 points

And, without further ado, here are my picks in order.

1. North Dakota Fighting Hawks

Last season was an underwhelming one for the Fighting Hawks, resulting in the firing of head coach Brad Berry and some changes to the front office, including the appointment of a new general manager, Bryn Chyzyk.

Under new leadership (and the new rules allowing players from the Canadian Hockey League and USports to play in the NCAA), North Dakota brought in a handful of transfers and Canadian players. They will make a team that finished five points behind Arizona State University for second place in the NCHC, more talented than it was already.

Some of the players the Fighting Hawks lost over the offseason include forwards Sacha Boisvert and Owen McLaughlin to Boston University, Jayden Perron to the University of Michigan and players like Jake Schmaltz and Cameron Berg to eligibility.

The replacements for those players include Clarkson University junior forward Ellis Rickwood, University of Minnesota-Duluth forward Anthony Menghini and, most notably, Calgary Flames 2025 18th overall pick Cole Reschny and the projected second-overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft Keaton Verhoeff.

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It may take a while for all of these players to gel under new head coach Dane Jackson, but I have a sneaking suspicion that, once they do, North Dakota is going to be a serious problem for any team.

2. Arizona State Sun Devils

Finishing second in the NCHC last season, the Arizona State Sun Devils made some key additions to their already talented squad this offseason, acquiring four transfer portal commits, including former Miami forward John Waldron. Arizona State also brought in freshman forward Logan Morrell, who posted 21 points in his first 32 college hockey games, from Michigan Tech and the leader in shutouts last season, junior Bentley goaltender Connor Hasley.

Hasley, for me, is the most significant addition the Sun Devils could have made this offseason. While Bentley competes in the Atlantic Hockey Association, a conference that may not be as strong as the NCHC or the Big Ten, he still delivered fantastic performances against strong opponents, including 39 saves on 41 shots against the No. 1 Boston College in the NCAA tournament, a game that was 1-1 until the final 1:19.

With new freshmen around Mullett Arena and some older transfers brought in with proven success at the NCAA level, Arizona State will return to where it finished last season under head coach Greg Powers.

3. Western Michigan Broncos

Yes, while it might come as a shock, I ranked the reigning national champions third in my NCHC preseason poll. And it’s not because I don’t think they couldn’t come out on top of the conference again. Instead, it’s because of what they lost and what others gained.

The Broncos are losing their top two scorers – Alex Bump and Tim Washe – to the pros, along with goaltender Cameron Rowe, who lost only two games all of last season. Of course, Western Michigan is returning its number one goaltender, sophomore Hampton Slukynsky, but it’s still a loss it will hope to replace nonetheless.

On the skater side, the Broncos did bring in a handful of notable transfers, including three sophomore forwards: Zaccharya Wisdom from Colorado College, William Whitelaw from the University of Michigan and Cole Spicer from the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

While there are pieces that should fit well under head coach Pat Ferschweiler and some returners who should take an even bigger step forward, there are just a couple of teams I like more. But, knowing Western Michigan’s identity, I could very well be proven wrong by season’s end.

4. Denver Pioneers

The Pioneers finished third in the NCHC last season, and under head coach David Carle, they’ll continue to be a powerhouse. But it’s not because they added several transfers.

Instead, Denver added none, and the heavy minute and scoring responsibility will be put on the 10 freshmen students on the roster to help lead Denver back to the promised land. They won their two national championships with nine and 11 freshmen on the roster in 2021-22 and 2023-24, respectively.

One freshman who will likely be afforded every opportunity to prove himself in the Denver lineup is Kyle Chyzowski, a 5-foot-10 left-handed forward who played for the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks last season. He scored 105 points in 66 games, along with 33 points in 18 postseason games.

Players like Chyzowski should have Denver fans excited, and they are the reason why the Pioneers will be successful this season. Losing goaltender Matt Davis and defenseman Zeev Buium are two big blows to the roster, but it’s not as if players with similar skill levels haven’t been found in other places.

5. Omaha Mavericks

The Mavericks approached the offseason in a manner different from most other programs. Instead of making plays within the CHL, they opted for Canada’s version of college hockey, USports, committing to seven different players from that league and adding 15 new faces overall.

Omaha finished fourth in the standings last season. With a fair number of returning players, including star goaltender Simon Latkozcy, it has the right amount of experience to finish in a respectable spot, similar to its performance last season. However, it didn’t move the needle enough for me to place them any higher.

6. Colorado College Tigers

Colorado College is another team that acquired only two transfers – junior forward Ryan Alexander from Arizona State and freshman defender Seth Constance – but 12 freshmen mark the incoming class.

The Tigers finished sixth last season in the NCHC standings, and with returners like senior goaltender Kaiden Mbereko (the only senior on the entire roster), Max Burkholder and Drew Montgomery, head coach Kris Mayotte is going to need his few-and-far-between older players with college hockey experience to help the younger players develop and navigate their way.

7. Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs

Last season, under long-time head coach Scott Sandelin, the Bulldogs finished in the same spot, and it doesn’t feel as if they’re going to be moving up or down in 2025-26.

Adam Gajan returns as the number one starter for the Bulldogs, with former Miami goaltender Ethan Dahlmeir transferring into the program this offseason. And they have some critical players returning, such as the Plante brothers, sophomore forward Jason Shaugabay and junior defenseman Aaron Pionk.

However, it feels as if the Bulldogs lost more than they gained in the transfer portal: Menghini to North Dakota, Spicer to Arizona State, Aiden Dubinsky to the University of Wisconsin, Matthew Perkins to Northeastern University and two goaltenders, Zach Sandy and Klayton Knapp, to North Dakota and Lindenwood, respectively.

So, they remained toward the bottom in my voting.

8. Miami RedHawks

As easy as some might think it would be for me to rank Miami, considering its finish last season, this proved to be harder than anticipated.

There are 21 new players on the RedHawks’ roster, and all of them bring different tools to the table. However, while it is a step in the right direction, as I wrote in my first “Middleton’s Musings” column, everyone else improved as well, either through the transfer portal, CHL commitments or both.

This new-look roster is the first step of a long journey to returning the Miami hockey program to where everyone around it knows it should be. This rendition of the RedHawks can certainly surprise some teams within the conference, given that there were multiple games last season where they were close to winning but instead grasped defeat from the jaws of victory.

While they may finish back in ninth, I have a hard time believing they will, or, at the very least, I don’t think the margin between eighth and ninth will be nearly as significant as it has been in years past.

9. St. Cloud State Huskies

We’ve reached the ultimate conclusion.

The Huskies concluded last season with seven conference wins and 23 conference points, placing them in eighth place. Naturally, if I believe that Miami will surprise people and gather more points than expected, someone has to fall on the sword.

The Huskies added two transfer defensemen and one transfer goaltender over the offseason. Still, for the most part, they are returning players to their roster, with their top eight scorers returning to the program and 82.7% of their overall scoring returning from last season, according to the team’s website.

However, since last year wasn’t one to write home about, a decision had to be made on my ballot, so I placed them last. But, as I said about Miami, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the gap between the bottom two teams as big as it has been in years past.

@jjmid04

middleje@miamioh.edu