The NCHC started in the 2013-14 season, with a conference tournament that wrapped up at Target Center in Minneapolis. In 2018, the event moved across the Mississippi River to what is now Grand Casino Arena.
But 2025 was the last NCHC Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul. The conference’s deal with the facility expired, and the decision was made to make a change and conduct the entirety of the league playoffs at home sites, something we’ve seen done with great success in the Big Ten and CCHA recently.
The NCHC’s broader footprint brings some challenges, no doubt, but the league’s stewards are optimistic that this change will bring some juice to the playoffs.
And maybe, just maybe, it will help inspire change elsewhere.
9 THOUGHTS
1. Can the NCHC’s decision to join a growing trend be a success? It isn’t without questions. Unlike the CCHA and Big Ten, the NCHC spans three time zones (if you want to be weird, make it four this time of year, because Arizona doesn’t do Daylight Savings, meaning the time there is now one hour back of Mountain Time, and three hours back from Eastern Time). While airports in Phoenix, Denver, and Minneapolis are huge and not terribly far from member schools, most NCHC teams have to fly into Kalamazoo. Not easy. They also have to fly into Cincinnati and bus an hour or so to get to Oxford when they play Miami.
Now, you’re asking teams to put these trips together on less than a week’s notice, and do it up to three times in one year if things go their way. If we ever get a Cinderella on a run, it’s going to be awfully expensive.
Hopefully, everyone who hosts can fill the seats (UND even has put a bunch of tickets up for sale for Saturday’s semifinal, between season-ticket holders not claiming their seats and the students being on break this week).
2. Because it’s not crazy to think this is potentially an audition for a future NCAA regional change.
No offense to the Big Ten and CCHA, but the NCHC is the best conference in the country. If it shows that on-campus postseason games are the greatest thing since sliced bread, it’ll be a nice feather in the cap of those trying to bring that change to the NCAA Tournament.
Brad Schlossman wrote about this on Wednesday, and I won’t parrot too much of what he says in his piece, which you should also read.
But I did ask North Dakota coach Dane Jackson about it this week. Of course, Denver coach David Carle is a big-time supporter of the idea, and Jackson said he’s for it as well.
“I know when I first came to North Dakota,” he said, “we had hosted some in North Dakota. I remember even one year (would have been 2008) we were a number one seed and we went to Wisconsin. It was a four seed and we played them there. They had a huge amount of fans and it was an exciting atmosphere. Our guys will remember that game for all time, because even though it was our disadvantage it was still fun because it was a packed crowd.
“I feel strongly it’s not just because we think we’ll get an advantage, maybe we’ll host sometimes. I just think it’s if you have a great body of work throughout the year. Whether you’re Duluth or North Dakota or Western Michigan and you play well all throughout the year, I think it should give an even bigger advantage. I think it’s good for everybody. Whether it’s a hostile or a friendly crowd at least there’s passionate people there cheering for you or against you.”
3. Asked about the NCHC change last week, UMD coach Scott Sandelin was optimistic, but also trying to take a bit of a wait-and-see approach.
“We’ll see how it works out,” he said at his media conference before the St. Cloud State series. “I think everyone is (excited) now until maybe the top seed has to sit out 19 days if you lose in the first round. We’ll see. I think it’s good. I went to (son) Ryan’s game in Mankato, (CCHA) championship game. It was a fun building. It was packed, great for the fans. So I think there’s a lot of benefits, but there’s also, you know, in this league moving forward, there’s going to be some upsets.”
We didn’t see it this year, as all four of the NCHC’s entrants in the 2026 NCAA Tournament are playing this weekend. But there will come a time where a team that’s safely in the tourney gets bounced in the quarterfinals, and as Sandelin referenced, has to wait in the neighborhood of 20 days before it plays in the NCAAs. It’s not a recipe that worked well for Minnesota last year, as the Gophers lost to Notre Dame in the Big Ten quarterfinals, then sat around for 19 days before a first-round NCAA loss to UMass.
The Big Ten responded by altering its format, creating a conference tournament over two weekends. But Wisconsin — which also endured a 19-day layoff before a first-round NCAA loss in 2024 — will sit around for two full weeks after Wednesday’s quarterfinal loss to Ohio State (assuming the Badgers make the field, which they should, but it is not a certainty yet).
Will this ever happen in the NCHC? It’ll be a topic, for sure, because Sandelin is right. There were no upsets this year, but it’s going to happen.
4. So, about last weekend. It’s not the recommended method, but UMD advanced last weekend without once holding a lead against St. Cloud State. In fact, the Bulldogs went 2-2-1 in their last five home games, and led for exactly 0:00 of nearly 315 total minutes played.
Zam Plante made sure that the Bulldogs weren’t going to be stuck watching the semifinals on their phones or whatever.
The sophomore All-NCHC Third Team selection scored the tying goal late in regulation both Friday and Saturday, before getting the winning goals in overtime both nights. That gives Plante 20 goals on the season, and six in his last three games.
“It feels great,” he said about his hot streak. “Friday against CC, (Kaidan) Mbereko kind of owned me a couple of times. So was nice to have the puck start to go in. And then once you find it, you kind of can get in a rhythm. And hopefully we can keep that going.”
5. Ty Hanson got the primary assist on both tying goals. But he heaped praise on Zam, especially on the play that tied Friday’s game 3-3 with under 30 seconds left.
“Friday was actually a pretty good tip by Zam,” he said. “I think I was going a couple inches wide, so it’s a good stick by him. That was a bit lucky on my part.”
On Saturday’s tying goal with 38 seconds left, Hanson said “Max (Plante) made a good play. I was kind of just going downhill looking to shoot it. And then I saw Zam going to the net and was able to find him off the D’s heels.”
Max Plante couldn’t help but be a little self-deprecating when asked what he saw on Saturday’s equalizer.
“Saturday night, broke my stick, went back to the bench, came back, didn’t make the greatest play, made another play that didn’t end up very well, chased back into our zone, stretched it to Zam, and then after that, he did a great job protecting it for everyone to get back in the zone. Shaugs (Jayson Shaugabay) made a quick one pass to me, I made a quick one to Ty, and Ty waited until he saw an opening, made the play. I think that’s kind of how you have to do it.”
“We work on six on five in practice,” Zam Plante said. “And it’s kind of just make sure you get in, get in your set, and attack as quick as you can. You don’t have as much time as a power play to set it up. But yeah, you’re attacking. There’s one more guy for each side, so there’s less space. And get pucks to the net. That’s kind what I was doing on the goal, is just get to the net. And hopefully you can get a stick on it and get in the net.”
6. While the tying goals had some similarities, the winning goals did not.
On Friday, Zam Plante dug a puck free off a faceoff and just fired a shot at SCSU goalie Yan Shostak that leaked through him and trickled over the goal line. Barely.
“I remember thinking maybe it might pop out to me and I was just waiting, waiting, ready for a one-timer,” Max Plante said. “Then Zam got it behind him and it just trickled in. I was like, well, let’s go. There’s no way that just happened.”
“It was kind of just tied up on the draw,” Zam Plante said. “I turned around and fired at the net because I didn’t see it. Didn’t really have it. Probably had another play, but kind of felt like I was on the other side of him. And no shot’s a bad shot in overtime, so I threw it at the net.”
Did he know it went in?
“I had no idea until I saw the ref point,” he said. “I couldn’t see the puck from where I was at so I didn’t know and Max was celebrating so I figured it must have gone in.
“It’s a little bit of a fluky shot it probably got on the goalie quicker than he expected just because you don’t expect just a fling shot out of the faceoff. To me, it looked like I just hit him in the shoulder, and now all of sudden you spin around, and then we were celebrating. So I don’t remember a whole lot of it, but yeah, was fortunate it went in.”
Saturday, Shaugabay sent an indirect pass up the right wing, Zam Plante skated to it, and he beat defenseman Max Smolinski to the front of the net, then beat Shostak to the far post.
“I was lucky. I got some speed coming out of the corner and didn’t really have to slow down, because Shaugs made such a great pass. And could use that to get the edge on the D and just drive that back post.”
“Just a real good, indirect pass,” Sandelin said. “Was hoping it would bounce the right way, because from my vantage point, Zam had that step on the defenseman. You teach guys, in lot of those situations, take pucks to the back post. Sometimes you score, sometimes you don’t. But when you’re in those situations, sometimes pucks end up staying there and maybe there’s a second chance. It was a great finish. He was pretty determined, but he had the step and I was just hoping he could finish it. It was a great pass by Shaugs. Just to spring him on the weak side.”
7. Saturday will be the fifth meeting between UMD and North Dakota this season. Yes, UMD needed overtime for both wins after blowing late leads, and yes, North Dakota outscored UMD 9-2 in the Saturday games. But those Saturday games were both close into the third period, with the Fighting Hawks getting two quick ones at home to chase Adam Gajan and cruise to a 5-1 win, and a third period major penalty during the Saturday game in Duluth helping get UND a lead it would not give up, despite a late push from UMD.
“Over the years, there have been a lot of a lot of good hockey games (between us) and I don’t expect it to be any different,” Sandelin said. “Both teams have good goaltending, special teams are good.”
Speaking about North Dakota, he added “there’s not a lot of holes there. They’re a pretty deep team. Obviously a very good backend that gets involved a lot offensively.”
“I felt like when they came here, we kind of took it to them,” Hanson said. “Then we got that unfortunate five minute penalty, which kind of put that game away. Friday here, I thought we should have won in regulation. We gave up a six on five. Kind of similar to the Friday night there. I thought we played two pretty good games here.”
8. North Dakota knows that beating UMD starts with slowing down that pesky top line. But Jackson, a finalist for the NCHC’s Herb Brooks Coach of the Year Award, said it does go deeper than that.
“We’ve talked a lot about how well they check,” he said. “They do a really good job in the neutral zone of slowing you down. So it’s really important for us to manage that puck well and try to come through the neutral zone and not turn it over.
“Obviously their top line is special. I think the Plantes have been in on eight of the nine goals they’ve scored against us. So we gotta do a great job checking those guys. It’s gonna be a really important part to try to limit them. I don’t think you’re ever gonna shut them down, but just try to limit their chances.”
UMD would like to get a lead. The Bulldogs haven’t played with many as of late.
“I think it’s also just a matter of time before the puck starts going in earlier,” Max Plante said. “I know it’s been a while, but I think we’ve had about 40 shots (a game) as of late and not much is going in. So I think it’s only a matter time before we start to score more goals.”
Saturday’s winner plays either Denver or Western Michigan next weekend for the NCHC title. If it’s UMD, the Bulldogs will be on the road. If it’s UND, it’ll be in Grand Forks.
9. Jake Livanavage might be a unicorn. Not only is the junior standout a finalist for NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year, but he’s also one of three candidates for Defensive Defenseman of the Year.
So, Dane Jackson, is Livanavage a better offensive or defensive defenseman?
“I guess I would go to the first one (offensive),” Jackson said. “I know when we recruited Jake, we picked him because we thought he was a really good skater and had really good offensive instincts and vision. But boy, has he rounded out his game. I think because of his really good skating, he just seems to be able to keep inside body position on guys. That’s one of the keys to defending. And so even though he’s a little bit undersized compared to a lot of D in our league, he just wins the space in his first two steps and he is such a good defender. So I think of him first things first as an offensive guy, but he’s really matured to become a two way defenseman that I think has a good chance to sign a good pro deal.”
I’m not a scout. Far from it, actually, but it feels like that noticeable defensive improvement is something that can raise Livanavage’s pro ceiling. Jackson agrees.
“We all watch the NHL and we see that there’s not many defense from that league that are under six feet,” he said. “And then ones that are extremely gifted running power plays. I believe that Jake has a chance to play at the highest level because of his special skating ability and competitiveness and instincts. I think he’s got a chance because he has the ability to play against good players.”
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We’ll be at Ralph Engelstad Arena Saturday night, should be a fun game. 5:30 pregame on Northland News Radio. Back pregame with the lines. Enjoy!
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