The best team in the nation resides in the NCHA as Adrian is coming off a national championship season.
Repeating as champs is never easy, but the focus first for the Bulldogs is on navigating the always competitive NCHA.
As expected, the Bulldogs are the favorite in the conference, but rival St. Norbert is always in the national discussion and should be among the top contenders in Division III.
Trine is coming off its best season in the short history of its program and is likely to be a tough team to beat night in and night out.
Aurora is also poised to be one of the better teams in the NCHA, while teams like MSOE and Lake Forest should be much improved as they gear up for another season.
Adrian (31-1, 18-0 NCHA)
The Bulldogs come into the year on a 31-game winning streak. Their last loss was Oct. 30, 2021 when they fell 3-2 in overtime to then third-ranked Utica. It was the only loss Adrian suffered before putting together an impressive win streak.
While every year is different, some things won’t change for the Bulldogs, who return 21 players, including a pair of All-Americans in Sam Ruffin and Alessio Luciani.
Ruffin was the MVP of the NCAA tournament. He scored twice in the national final and racked up 19 goals in all to go along with 28 assists.
Luciani led the Bulldogs in points (48), scoring 17 goals and dishing out 31 assists, while Ty Enns was the top goal scorer, punching in 20 goals to go along with 25 assists. He ranked third on the team in points.
Matus Spodniak, Jaden Shields and Matt Couto are also key returning players for Adrian. Spodniak ranked fourth in points (37), scoring 17 goals, and Shields helped anchor the defense while dishing out 23 assists. He also scored six goals.
Couto also played as a defenseman and finished with three goals and 10 assists.
Several newcomers should help Adirian’s bid to win another conference title and contend nationally. Riley Murphy transfers in from Alaska and Cam Babiak is a transfer out of Bowling Green.
The goaltender position will look different this year. Cam Gray is gone but Nic Tallarico and Dershahn Stewart will both battle for the starting position. Tallarico played in nine games and went 4-1 while Stewart fashioned a 4-0 record. He played in seven games in all.
St. Norbert (24-7, 16-2 NCHA)
One thing you can count on each is year is for the Green Knights to be in contention for a title.
Leading the way are Liam Fraser and Colby Entz. Fraser was the second-leading scorer a year ago, lighting up the scoreboard for 24 goals while dishing out 23 assists. Entz played in 18 games in goal and made 384 saves while fashioning a 13-3 record.
Michael McChesney and Carter Hottmann will also play key roles for the Green Knights. McChesney registered 12 goals and 12 assists while Hottmann racked up nine goals and 13 assists.
Brock Baker also returns after a season where he scored 10 goals and dished out nine assists.
Brendan Mark and Brendan Aird are also returning players for St. Norbert. Mark tallied six goals and nine assists while Aird dished out 12 assists to go along with two goals.
Ben Schmidling (6 goals, 7 assists), Michael Spethmann (5 goals, 8 assists) and Jordan Strand (2 goals, 10 assists) also finished in double figures in points last season.
Aurora (18-9-1, 12-6 NCHA)
Jason Bloomingburg begins his seventh season at the helm of Aurora.
Simon Boyko and Jack Jaunich are both back and will help lead the way offensively. Boyko scored 18 goals last season to go along with nine assists. Jaunich tallied 15 goals and dished out 23 assists.
Adam Keyes was a big playmaker as well. Along with scoring nine goals, he also came through with 23 assists. Gio Procopio was an assist machine as well, racking up 21. He scored four goals as well.
Carson Riddle, Hassan Akl, Juliano Santalucia and Kolby Thornton are among the newcomers who could make an immediate impact for the Spartans.
Aurora won nearly 20 games a year ago and was a solid team at home and on the road, going 9-4 in both instances.
Trine (19-9, 11-7 NCHA)
Trine is coming off its best season in program history, nearly winning 20 games. Alex Todd begins his sixth season as the head coach. He sports a 53-61-8 record during his time at Trine.
A total of 23 players return for the Thunder, including Garrett Hallford, who is back for a fifth year. He holds every offensive record in program history and scored 10 goals while dishing out 22 assists a season ago.
Brendan Prappas, Justin Meers and Frank Trazzera all return as well, and will be key contributors on offense.
Prappas finished with 10 goals and 17 assists last season while Meers came through with eight goals and 12 assists.
Trazerra tallied six goals and 12 assists for the Thunder, who scored 114 goals in all last season.
Two newcomers to keep an eye on for Trine are Brendan Hill and Sam Antenucci. The first-year players both come to Trine out of the NAHL.
Trine will aim to take another step forward this year and build on the momentum it gained last season. The Thunder won five of their final six games, including two in an opening-round conference tournament series against Lawrence.
MSOE (11-14-2, 8-10-1 NCHA)
Graham Johnson says he’s excited about the group he’ll have take the ice this season for the Raiders. MSOE has a lot of young talent and expectations are high.
Seniors Matt Hanewall, Kyle Herbster and Christian Sabin will be looked upon to lead the way.
Sabin paved the way for the Raiders last season, scoring 13 goals and dishing out 14 assists, and he’ll look to build off that success this season.
Hanewall is also coming off a big year where he scored 15 goals and dished out 11 assists.
Herbster is also poised to step up in a big way. He scored 11 goals last year and also tallied 16 assists.
Fourteen newcomers are on the roster, with Jacob Bosse, Carson Jones and Gramm McCormack having the potential to play key roles for the Raiders, who have a chance to put together a winning season.
Lake Forest (7-18-2, 5-11-2 NCHA)
Under the direction of second-year head coach Sean O’Malley, the Foresters have the talent to be one of the better teams in the NCHA. A total of 23 players are back, including Matteas Derraugh, an NCHA All-Freshman team selection. Derraugh finished third on the team in points with 13, scoring five goals and handing out eight assists.
Ben Perkins also returns. He finished second on the team in scoring last season, tallying nine goals to go along with 11 assists. Those totals were the second-most on the team.
Jared Gerger should provide a big lift for the offense after tallying eight goals and five assists last season.
David Cohen returns as well and is coming off a year where punched in five goals and came through with six assists. Scotty Nicolson is also back in the fold. He tallied three goals and six assists a year ago.
Carson Poulin and Nick Wiencek are both back as well and both players have experience in the goaltender position. Wiencek started 18 games and went 6-11-1. He made 530 saves. Poulin made nine starts, going 1-7-1, and he tallied 300 saves.
Marian (10-14-3, 5-11-2 NCHA)
The Sabres begin a new era as Clay Van Diest is the new head coach of the program. He is familiar with the league already, having spent two seasons as an assistant at MSOE.
Eighteen returnees are back, and the group is headed up by Colby Muise, who fashioned a 9-13-3 record and ranked second in the conference with 759 saves. He made 30 or more saves in six games and registered a save percentage of better than 90 percent.
Ty Mosimann is the top returning scorer on the team, scoring nine goals and dishing out 12 assists. He produced five multi-point games last season.
Blake Kleiner comes into the season as a team captain and scored four goals while dishing out five assists.
Several newcomers should play key roles as well for Marian, including Seth McCulloch out of the SJHL. He ranked eighth on his team in points last season with 10 goals and 13 assists. Matthew Shaw out of the NA3HL helped lead his Rochester team to the Fraser Cup title.
Lawrence (10-13-4, 8-8-2 NCHA)
A new era begins for the Vikings, who welcome in Brett Wall as the new head coach. Wall had been coaching the Hudson Havoc of the USPHL.
Wall will have 19 returning players to work with as he begins his first season at the helm of the program. The group includes all-league defenseman Kyle Gierman, who dished out 17 assists, the most on the team, to go along with two goals. Gierman came up with 15 of his assists in league action and was one of the top scoring defenseman in the NCHA.
Six of the top eight scorers all return, including Gierman, and that should set the Vikings up for a turnaround season. Zach Lodes scored 12 goals and tallied 10 assists last year while Zack Olsen racked up nine goals and 13 assists. Ivan Galaguzov is also back after punching in 10 goals and dishing out eight assists.
In goal, the Vikings will lean on Brian Tallieu, who split time at the position last season. Tallieu went 4-4-1 and stopped more than 90 percent of the shots he faced.
Concordia (3-20-2, 2-15-1 NCHA)
Last season wasn’t an easy one for the Falcons, who won only three games. This season could be even tougher as 22 newcomers are on the roster. A total of just five players return.
Justin Schwartzmiller is one of those returnees. He scored five goals and dished out two assists. Nick Wieben came through with a goal and five assists.
Zach Brydges and Andrew Malek also return, as does Liam McGarva.
The only other players on the roster with experience are UW-Stout transfers Nick Bowlin and Joey Petronack.
Finding wins won’t be easy, but perhaps by late in the season, the Falcons will have meshed and be in a position to finish on a high note.
Finlandia (2-23, 1-17 NCHA)
It took until Feb. 11 of last season for the Lions to get their first conference win of the season. They got it with a 3-2 victory over Concordia. Their only other win came against Northland.
Finlandia is hoping the story will be much different this season as it goes into the year with more experience. Sixteen letterwinners are back for the Lions, including three of their top six scorers.
Phil Schader is the top returning scorer on the team, ranking fourth on the team in points (9). He scored four goals last season and also dished out five assists.
Max Messier is also poised to be a key scoring threat for the Lions, coming off a year where he scored five goals and three assists. His goal total was the second highest on the team.
Chris Beyer also returns. He tallied two goals and five assists last season.
Finlandia scored 39 goals in all but gave up 122.
Joe Burcur has spent 15 seasons as the head coach at Finlandia over the course of two different stints. He was first at the school from 2001 until 2009 and then came back to Finlandia in 2016.
