By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
College hockey is just around the corner. The 2025-26 season begins exactly one week from today with a flurry of action across the country, and the preseason polls are coming out hot and fast in anticipation, with Bruins prospects scattered throughout the Top 20.
The rankings, appropriately, are headlined by the reigning National Champion Western Michigan Broncos in the top spot, with Cole Spicer having joined the team in September after initially being committed to conference rivals Arizona State. Jonathan Morello and Boston University lead Hockey East as the second-ranked team in the nation to open the season, following closely behind the champs. Never too far behind their Comm Ave rivals, Boston College and their six Bruins picks (Hagens, Gasseau, Jellvik, Letourneau, Moore, and Kostadinski) are fittingly ranked at number six.
Beckett Hendrickson and the Minnesota Golden Gophers are right on the Eagles’ heels, opening as the eighth-ranked team with nearly as much of a gap in voting ahead of the next team as they are behind BC. Minnesota is the third Big Ten team within the preseason Top 10, and naturally predicted to finish third in the conference in Hendrickson’s sophomore year.
Philip Svedeback and the Providence Friars wrap up the Bruins’ Hockey East cohort in the number nine spot. Interestingly, the Hockey East coaches’ poll deviates from the national outlook, projecting the Friars as the second-best team, with three first-place votes in the conference, whereas Boston College placed fifth, without receiving any first-place votes.
The new-look North Dakota Fighting Hawks check in at 11th in the polls, with Will Zellers being one of many new faces on the ice and behind the bench in Grand Forks. Despite the heavy turnover, there’s quite a bit of optimism within the NCHC for NoDak. The Hawks placed third in the conference poll, significantly closer to second-place Denver than fourth-place Arizona State, and received five first-place votes.
Quinnipiac has been the class of the ECAC for years and is expected to lead the conference once again. Chris Pelosi, Elliott Groenewold, and the Bobcats open the season ranked 13th, the highest-ranked team from the ECAC, and have been picked by the coaches’ poll to win their sixth consecutive Cleary Cup as regular-season champions. Despite an offseason of significant change, Ryan Walsh and the back-to-back conference tournament champion Cornell Big Red make the rankings as the second-highest ECAC team at 17th.
Mason Langenbrunner and Casper Nassen are the only two prospects who will not open the season on a ranked team. Harvard received just four votes in the preseason poll and has been picked as the sixth-best team in the ECAC. On the other hand, Miami did not receive a single national vote and landed a distant ninth at the bottom of the NCHC.
Boston College and Quinnipiac will open the season with a New England heavyweight bout next Friday on Chestnut Hill. The Bobcats will face Svedeback and the Friars in an exhibition game on Sunday before returning to Connecticut. Morello and the Terriers will host Long Island and RPI to open their season starting Saturday night. The Golden Gophers will host Michigan Tech on Friday and Saturday to kick off their campaign, and Miami will aim to get off to a strong start by hosting Ferris State for the weekend.
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