College hockey: the NCAA championships.

Status in October 2026

Both 2026 NCAA championships are finished. The 2026-27 season is under way, though we have not confirmed its exact start date from a source, and the next champions will not be decided until the 2027 tournaments.

Men's Division I: the Frozen Four

2026: Denver

Denver came from behind to beat Wisconsin 2-1. Vasily Zelenov put Wisconsin ahead in the first period, then Rieger Lorenz and Kyle Chyzowski scored in the third for Denver, Chyzowski's winner coming with 5:52 left. Johnny Hicks made 29 saves. NBC Los Angeles reported it was Denver's 11th national title and its third in five years, that Wisconsin missed out on a seventh title and its first since 2006, and that NCHC teams had won eight of the previous 10 titles.

2025: Western Michigan

Western Michigan beat Boston University 6-2 for its first national championship, with Owen Michaels scoring twice, one into an empty net. According to Wikipedia, Western Michigan had beaten defending champion Denver 3-2 in double overtime in its first Frozen Four semifinal. Sources count BU's history differently: CBS says 2025 was BU's 12th national title game, with a record of five wins and seven losses, while a search summary of Wikipedia called it BU's seventh time as runner-up. The two counts measure different things and we have not reconciled them.

2024: Denver

Denver beat Boston College, the No. 1 overall seed, 2-0, with second-period goals from Jared Wright and Rieger Lorenz and 35 saves from Matt Davis. AP and the university both reported it was Denver's 10th national title, passing Michigan's nine for the most of any program. The win ended a 15-game winning streak for Boston College.

2023: Quinnipiac

Quinnipiac beat Minnesota 3-2 in overtime for its first NCAA title, Jacob Quillan scoring 10 seconds into overtime. Cristophe Tellier and Collin Graf scored Quinnipiac's other goals, Graf's late in the third period to tie the game. Rand Pecknold was the coach. NCAA.com reported it was the first title game to go to overtime since 2011.

Women's National Collegiate championship

2026. Wisconsin, the No. 2 seed, beat top seed Ohio State 3-2. Claire Enright scored the winner with 6:18 left and Ava McNaughton made 34 saves. AP reported it was Wisconsin's ninth NCAA title, the most of any program, and the fourth straight final between Wisconsin and Ohio State, adding that the two programs had won six straight titles between them.

2024. Ohio State beat Wisconsin 1-0 on Joy Dunne's goal with 7:12 left, for its second title after 2022.

2023. Wisconsin beat defending champion Ohio State 1-0, Kirsten Simms scoring and Cami Kronish making 31 saves, for what ABC6 called a record seventh title.

The IIHF notes that the NCAA introduced the Patty Kazmaier Award for women's college hockey in 1998.

Rule changes on the table for 2026-27

The NCAA has its own ice hockey rules committees. In May 2026 the NCAA published proposals from its men's and women's ice hockey rules committees. At that date they were proposals; apart from the cut-resistant equipment rule noted below, we have not confirmed which were adopted:

• A trapezoid for Division I men's games, with Division III men to follow in 2027-28.
• Hand passes allowed in the defensive zone, for men and women.
• Both centres' stick blades flat on the ice before a men's faceoff.
• For women, clearer guidance on body contact in puck battles, regular-season overtime kept at five minutes of 3-on-3, and shootouts left to each conference.
• Cut-resistant protection for the neck, wrist and ankle areas, recommended for 2026-27 and intended to become mandatory from 2027-28 (possibly 2028-29 in Division III), subject to approval. This one has since been confirmed: the NCAA announced on 23 July 2026 that cut-resistant equipment, approved in June 2026, will be mandatory for Division I men's and National Collegiate women's players from 2027-28, with wear encouraged but not required in 2026-27.

The Hockey News reported in July 2026 that an NCAA committee had recommended changing the women's rule on body contact to allow legal contact in situations such as parallel pursuits and 50/50 puck battles, while keeping deliberate body checking illegal. We could not confirm that the change was finally adopted. Equipment requirements are covered on neck guards.