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Bracket Yard
This is the home of the 2025 college hockey bracket update on Bracket Yard.
From here, now through the selection in March, we will update our projected bracket and let you know who is destined for the tournament (and who has some work to do, as the case may be).
If you want to call it “bracketology” as some other websites do, you may. It’s more or less the same thing, just called something else. Got it?
Will your school or favorite college hockey team one of the 16 to get into the field?
A note on the brackets: Selections to the tournament are determined by conference champions as well as a mathematical coefficient that assigns a score to each team. The PairWise Ranking (PWR), housed on the USCHO website, mimics this formula and is therefore an extremely accurate representation of where a team would land in the tournament, if at all. The PWR for each team as of the update below is listed in the right column. For the complete PWR listing, visit the USCHO website.
2025 College Hockey Bracket Update
Last Updated: March 22, 2025
Bracket Update: Seed List (All Teams Ranked 1-16)
| # | School | Conf | AQ/At-Large | PWR Rk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston College | Hockey East | AL | 1 |
| 2 | Michigan State | Big Ten | AQ | 2 |
| 3 | Maine | Hockey East | AQ | 3 |
| 4 | Western Michigan | NCHC | AQ | 4 |
| 5 | Minnesota | Big Ten | AL | 5 |
| 6 | Connecticut | Hockey East | AL | 6 |
| 7 | Boston University | Hockey East | AL | 7 |
| 8 | Providence | Hockey East | AL | 8 |
| 9 | Denver | NCHC | AL | 9 |
| 10 | Ohio State | Big Ten | AL | T-10 |
| 11 | Massachusetts | Hockey East | AL | T-10 |
| 12 | Penn State | Big Ten | AL | 12 |
| 13 | Quinnipiac | ECAC | AL | 13 |
| 14 | Minnesota State | CCHA | AQ | 14 |
| 15 | Clarkson | ECAC | AQ | 20 |
| 16 | Holy Cross | AHA | AQ | T-23 |
Teams by Conference
| Hockey East | 6 |
| Big Ten | 4 |
| ECAC, NCHC | 2 |
| AHA, CCHA | 1 |
Last Four In
| 4 | Ohio State | Big Ten |
| 3 | Massachusetts | Hockey East |
| 2 | Penn State | Big Ten |
| 1 (Last) | Quinnipiac | ECAC |
First Six Out
| 1 | Michigan | Big Ten |
| 2 | Arizona State | NCHC |
| 3 | Cornell | ECAC |
| 4 | UMass-Lowell | Hockey East |
| 5 | North Dakota | NCHC |
| 6 | New Hampshire | Hockey East |
2025 College Hockey Bracket Update: Projected Bracket
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
| 1 | Maine (Hockey East) |
| 4 | Quinnipiac (ECAC) |
| 2 | Connecticut (Hockey East) |
| 3 | Penn State (Big Ten) |
FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA
| 1 | Western Michigan (NCHC)* |
| 4 | Minnesota State (CCHA)* |
| 2 | Minnesota (Big Ten) |
| 3 | Massachusetts (Hockey East) |
TOLEDO, OHIO
| 1 | Michigan State (Big Ten)* |
| 4 | Clarkson (ECAC)* |
| 2 | Boston University (Hockey East) |
| 3 | Denver (NCHC) |
MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
| 1 | Boston College (Hockey East)* |
| 4 | Holy Cross (AHA)* |
| 2 | Providence (Hockey East) |
| 3 | Ohio State (Big Ten) |
Bracket Update Notes (Most Recent at Top)
March 22
Hockey Selection Sunday is a day away, and the conference tournaments are nearly complete. The remaining tournament championships will be held tonight.
Upon further review, we are going to put Boston College back in Manchester. Maine might have won Hockey East, but the PairWise knows all, and BC is still the number one overall seed. They get the short trip to Manchester, while Maine gets the next-shortest one to Allentown. Michigan State gets Toledo, and Western Michigan is going to North Dakota as the final top seed.
A bid has been stolen in the ECAC. Top-seed Quinnipiac lost, and the ECAC final will feature Clarkson and Cornell. The winner is in the NCAA Tournament, and the loser will fall somewhere in the “first six out” featured above. Here’s the thing: Quinnipiac’s PWR is still high enough that they will get the final at-large bid. The ECAC is now looking to be a two-bid conference, while Michigan is the unlucky team falling out of the picture. This was the worst-case scenario for the Wolverines, but they were living dangerously on the bubble for a while.
Hockey East is on track to lead the way with six bids. The Big Ten looked like they would get five until yesterday, but will now have to settle for four.
March 18
Boston College’s upset loss in the Hockey East Tournament might not cost them a spot on the 1-line, but it very well might cost them the easy trip to Manchester. One would think that if Maine wins the conference, they should get it rather than having to schlep out to Pennsylvania. The Eagles would play Penn State as they are the regional host.
Very little other change from the prior bracket. It may not even be mathematically possible for any other at-large contenders to jump the teams currently in the field, so Arizona State and North Dakota should plan on winning the NCHC Tournament to steal a bid.
March 11
Conference tournament season is underway. Six schools will clinch their automatic bids, while 10 others will qualify as at-large entries. Of the last four in the field today, three are in the Big Ten. The conference as five teams in the tournament at the moment, and while dropping down to just two is unlikely, there is not much in the way of it falling to three or four. Penn State and Ohio State will meet in a bubble showdown, but a bid-stealer lurks, as Notre Dame has made the semifinals.
UNH and UMass-Lowell will play each other in Hockey East’s tournament. The loser is definitely out of the running, while the winner still has a chance at a bid.
Western Michigan, North Dakota, Denver, and Arizona State would not meet any of each other until the semifinals or finals in the NCHC. Denver looks relatively safe, while Western Michigan is a lock no matter what. North Dakota and Arizona State are both out of the running if they lose in the quarterfinals.
The ECAC, AHA, and CCHA all look like one-bid conferences. It would be difficult to imagine, for example, Quinnipiac or Minnesota State getting into the tournament if they lose in their conferences. Clarkson is the only other ECAC team in range of a bid but a lot has to go right for them. With a PWR of 25, Holy Cross has virtually no chance of making the tournament if they lose in the Atlantic Hockey playoffs.
March 5
The Big Ten clawed back a bid from Hockey East, as Penn State swaps places with UMass-Lowell to become the last team into the field. Hockey East still leads with six bids, while the Big Ten has five. In college hockey, regional hosts play in those pods, so Penn State draws Maine.
Aside from that, there was not much variation off of the true seed lines. One example of where there was involved Providence, who should have gone to Fargo to be in the overall number three’s region, but that’s more of a travel punishment than going to Toledo. Boston University again draws that card. UConn ends up with the best travel situation of the 2-seeds, but will have a tough time getting out of that region.
February 26
Very little change to the content of the field, except for the seeding and some of the regional pods. Boston College remains the number one seed by a good bit, with Michigan State and Minnesota fighting for second overall. Holy Cross is still on-track for a first-round meeting with Boston College, which should make the donors over 60 at both schools very happy.
What we said last week remains true: With this many Hockey East teams, and not wanting to have them face each other in the regional semifinals (first round), someone will draw the short straw and take the long trip to Fargo. This week, it’s Providence.
An in-state rivalry could lurk with the Frozen Four on the line: Michigan vs. Michigan State in the Toledo region.
February 19
Just call it the “Hockey East Invitational” at this point, because they have seven teams in the field. They are in college hockey this season what the SEC is in college basketball. There are so many Hockey East teams that they have to go in every region, meaning yes, one or two will get sent out to Fargo.
The old alumni in Massachusetts should be very happy with this new bracket, because we could have a Jesuit holy war on our hands: Boston College vs. Holy Cross, just like back in the day.
February 12
The list of teams in the field has been relatively stable. Hockey East has settled in at six tournament teams, but as you can see from “First Six Out,” there are others waiting in the wings. Those teams in front of them, however, have not slipped up yet.
Boston College looks set for Manchester barring the unforeseen. Michigan State should get Toledo, as it is the closest to them. Fargo for Minnesota seems like the most logical place. Boston University drew the short straw here, having to go out to Fargo, but one of those Hockey East teams had to do it.
January 29
No changes to the composition of the tournament from last week, but UConn is now a 1-seed, which is thanks in part to their recent surge. They were in essence tied with Maine for that spot, but either way, a Hockey East team would get that second top seed.
Arizona State is the last team in, while New Hampshire has been the first team out for several weeks.
January 22
You still might as well call this the Hockey East and Big Ten Invitational, because that’s more or less how this tournament looks. They combine for 10 out of 16 bids, and last week, it was more. Boston College is back on top of the rankings and can resume their favorable placement in Manchester.
Speaking of, this particular bracket sets up a potential Battle of Commonwealth Avenue in the tournament. Could you imagine?
January 15
It is absurd how many teams Hockey East has in the field. Because it is based on a mathematical formula, we are not blowing smoke up anyone’s you-know-what. They are on track to get seven teams in the field, which is almost half of it. Five conferences plus independents are left scrounging for the remaining nine spots. Hockey East is the dominant conference this season and it’s not particularly close.
The Big Ten is still sitting at four, while the NCHC drops back to two and all others will have to settle for their automatic bid. Once upon a time, the NCHC and ECAC were both getting multiple teams into the tournament, but this year, it’s Hockey East’s turn, apparently.
January 8
Boston College is the top team in the PWR, and therefore the top team in the bracket. They will stay relatively close to home by traveling to Manchester. Should they get through the first game, they could have a conference foe awaiting. Those two teams met in the second round in Worcester back in 2014, and the resulting game was epic. History may repeat itself.
Minnesota will get sent to Fargo, and Michigan State won’t have far to go to get to Toledo, if this is what happens in March. Providence remains as the last 1-seed, and they have to go somewhere, so Pennsylvania it is.
UNH is the host of the Manchester bracket so they cannot go there, nor can they play a Hockey East rival in the first round, so it’s off to Ohio with them.
