Anyone can beat anyone.
At least, that’s how the DI men’s hockey season has gone so far. Over four weeks, we’ve seen 11 top-10 upsets by unranked teams, which happened just twice last season. Last weekend alone there were four:
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Top 10 buzzwords for unranked teams from 2025-26
| The date | The result |
|---|---|
| October 3 | Colorado College 4, #10 UConn 2 |
| October 4 | Michigan Tech 5, #8 Minnesota 3 |
| October 9 | Clarkson 6, #4 Penn State 4 |
| October 9 | Ferris County 3, No. 1 Western Michigan 2 |
| October 9 | New Hampshire 4, #2 Michigan State 3 |
| October 10 | Fairbanks, Alaska 2, No. 8 Quinnipiac 1 |
| October 17 | Lindenwood 4, #5 Denver 3 |
| October 24 | Clarkson 5, No. 8 North Dakota 2 |
| October 24 | Colgate 3, #10 Maine 2 |
| October 24 | Merrimack 4, No. 6 Quinnipiac 1 |
| October 25 | Northeast 1, #7 Denver 0 |
Here are the top 10 unranked teams making headlines in the first four weeks of 2024-25:
So why are so many top 10 teams losing to unranked teams? Here are a few possible explanations:
CHL transfers create a deeper roster
The 2025-26 men’s college hockey season brought many changes with new rules allowing major Canadian junior players to play NCAA hockey. The change saw some of Canada’s top talent move to top programs like Michigan State and Penn State. But the players who came to the NCAA were much more than “blue bloods”. This means that many of these CHL transfers have found their way to smaller schools or programs that don’t have traditional prestige. The result? A more in-depth list across the country.
There are two sides to this coin. First, the move to mid-tier CHL teams makes these lineups deeper than before. Combine that with the fact that opposing coaches have to play new players they haven’t seen before, and you have a recipe for a middle-of-the-pack that can shock highly-ranked opponents.
You could really see that in the two-game series. With teams still getting a feel for each other in the first game of the weekend, there are plenty of upsets when the higher-seeded team usually wins in Game 2. Some examples include:
Some of these CHL transfers seem to be helping their team sneak up on powerful programs in Game 1 of their series. Whether it’s a lack of scouting or a deeper roster in general, underdogs are stealing series openers.
The best teams are still being discovered
Some of the top programs like Michigan State and Penn State have had a lot of CHL transfers. There’s no doubt that college hockey is different than junior hockey – teams usually play four or five times a week, while CHL teams play twice a week. These players spend more time in the gym and studying. They’re playing against bigger, tougher opponents in college, which is actually the main reason many CHL players make the jump to the NCAA in the first place.
📈 READ MORE: The best CHL streams to watch in college hockey this season
The result appears to be an adjustment period for the nation’s top teams. Major transfers like Penn State’s Gavin McKenna and Michigan State’s Porter Martone have never dominated college hockey the way they have in the CHL. As these players adjust to the college hockey lifestyle and adjust to different styles of play, expect these top teams to begin to break up as the season progresses.
The ranking will be even
Of course, it’s still early in the season and small sample sizes mean early rankings are always flawed when trying to determine the best team in the nation. Things should start to smooth out in the top 10 as we head into tight conference play as we see who the true top teams are and whose rankings may be inflated.
However, the number of seeded games and the early season success of unseeded teams reflects the general trend in college hockey this season – anybody can beat anybody.
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