College Hockey Preseason Notes from College Hockey Inc.

Defending champion Denver, winner of two of the last three national championships, was ranked No. 1 in both the USCHO and USA Hockey/The Rink Live pre-season polls. Last year's national runner-up, Boston College, was ranked No. 2 in both polls. Cornell, a preseason ECAC hockey favorite, was the only other school to be ranked No. 1 in both polls.

The Pioneers are more offensive than any other team in the country:

Most Recurring Goals
Deventer 129
Michigan State 102
Cornell 101
Boston College 98
Bentley 87

Most recurring points
Dever 328
Boston College 303
Michigan State 278
Cornell 266
New Hampshire 252

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Swan songs:

A trio of legendary college head coaches announced over the summer that the 2024-2025 season would be their final year behind the benches of their respective programs.

• Mid-June, Cornell coach Mike Schafer announced his plans retire next season. Schafer, a 1986 graduate of Cornell, has led his alma mater to 542 wins in 29 seasons, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament 14 times. Former Clarkson head coach Casey Jones, Schafer's collegiate teammate, was named associate head coach and will take charge of the Big Red after the 2024-25 season.
• Less than two weeks later, coach of Notre Dame Jeff Jackson also announced his upcoming retirement. Jackson, who leads all active NCAA Division I men's hockey coaches with 589 career wins, will turn the program over to associate head coach Brock Sheahan after the season. Jackson led the Fighting Irish for 19 seasons after a six-year stint at Lake Superior State, where he led the Lakers to NCAA titles in 1992 and 1994.
• Then army coach in August Brian Riley thus announced that he would resign after his 21st season at West Point put an end a legendary era for the Riley family and Army hockey. Brian took over the reins from his brother Rob, who coached Army from 1986 to 2004. Before that, their father Jack had headed the program since 1951. When associate head coach Zach McKelvie takes over in 2025-26, it will officially mark the end of 75 consecutive years of the Riley family leading Army hockey.

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Meet the new boss:

On the other end of the coaching spectrum, seven men's programs will welcome new head coaches in 2024-2025: Bowling Green (Dennis Williams), Clarkson (JF Houle), Lindenwood (Bill Muckalt), Miami (Anthony Noreen), Northern Michigan (Dave Shyiak), Princeton (Ben Syer) and Stonehill (David Berard).

All except Shyiak and Berard are first-time Division I head coaches. Shyiak led Alaska Anchorage from 2005-13 after a decade as an assistant at NMU, while Berard was head coach at Holy Cross from 2014-21.

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Century Club:

Four players enter the season with more than 100 career points, although they could soon be joined by several other skaters:

Career Score Leaders (Active)
130 points Lukas Sillinger, Arizona State
101 points Carter Wilkie, North Dakota
106 points Jack Devine, Denver
102 points Lynden Breen, Maine
97 points Gunnarwolfe Fontaine, Ohio State
94 points Ayrton Martino, Clarkson
93 points Nick Poisson, Providence
87 points Jack Ricketts, Quinnipiac
84 points Four players tied

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Behind the benches:

After competing as an NCAA Division I independent for nine seasons, Arizona State will join the NCHC as a full conference member in 2024-2025. The Sun Devils are coming off a program-best 24-win season, their third 20-win campaign since 2018-19.

The most important returnees include fifth-year F Lucas Sillinger (Regina, Saskatchewan), who leads all active Division I men's players with 130 career points, and junior G Gibson Homer (Grand Rapids, Mich.), whose .931 save percentage last season is higher than all returning Division I goaltenders.

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Feeling a draft:

College hockey rosters will feature 232 NHL draft picks in 2024-25, with 40 different schools scheduled to roster at least one NHL draft pick this season.

Most draft picks play NCAA hockey
16 Minnesota
13 Boston University, Denver, North Dakota
12 Boston College, Harvard
11 Providence
10 Minnesota Duluth

The development of college hockey players has resulted in a record number of NCAA alumni playing in the NHL in recent years, including 326 in 2023-2024. Additionally, 15 of the NHL's 32 current general managers played college hockey, as did 13 of the league's 32 head coaches.

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Young terrier puppies:

Freshman D. from Boston University Sascha Boumedienne (Stockholm, Sweden), who doesn't turn 18 until Jan. 17, is the youngest player in NCAA Division I men's hockey in 2024-2025.

It marks the second straight season that BU has selected the nation's youngest player after last year's eventual Hobey Baker Award winner Macklin Celebrini spent his entire freshman year as a 17-year-old. Celebrini was later selected No. 1 overall by San Jose in the 2025 NHL Draft.