We have about two months until the field for the 2026 NCAA Hockey Tournament is unveiled, but the postseason picture is beginning to take shape. Most teams around the country have played at least 20 regular season games, which is around the time the postseason formula begins to be useful for ranking the teams.
As of this morning, the NCAA Tournament picture looks like this, based on NPI and conference standings. Please note that projected conference tournament winners are in italics and are based on current in-conference point percentage:
Locks (2): Michigan, Michigan State
Safe (7): North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth, Western Michigan, Penn State, Wisconsin, Quinnipiac, Dartmouth
Bubble In (5): Cornell, Denver, Providence, St. Thomas, Augustana, Boston College
Automatic Qualifier(1): Bentley
Bubble Out (5): Boston University, St. Cloud State, Michigan Tech, UConn, Harvard
My projected bracket looks like this:
Some things to note here:
No. 6 Penn State at No. 7 Wisconsin- Friday (8pm on Big Ten Plus) and Saturday (8pm on Big Ten Network)
No. 5 Western Michigan at No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth- Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 7pm
No. 8 Dartmouth at No. 11 Cornell- Friday (7pm on ESPN+)
No. 17 St. Cloud State at No. 10 Denver- Friday at 9pm, Saturday at 8pm
No. 12 Providence vs. No. 16 Boston University- Friday at PC (7pm on ESPN+), Saturday at BU (7pm on ESPN+)
