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: January 15, 2025
Bracket Update: S-Curve (All Teams Ranked 1-16)
| # | School | Conf | AQ/At-Large | PWR Rk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan State | Big Ten | AQ | 1 |
| 2 | Boston College | Hockey East | AL | 2 |
| 3 | Maine | Hockey East | AQ | 3 |
| 4 | Minnesota | Big Ten | AL | 4 |
| 5 | Providence | Hockey East | AL | 5 |
| 6 | Denver | NCHC | AL | 6 |
| 7 | Western Michigan | NCHC | AQ | 7 |
| 8 | Boston University | Hockey East | AL | 8 |
| 9 | Ohio State | Big Ten | AL | T-9 |
| 10 | UMass-Lowell | Hockey East | AL | T-9 |
| 11 | Connecticut | Hockey East | AL | 11 |
| 12 | Michigan | Big Ten | AL | 12 |
| 13 | New Hampshire | Hockey East | AL | 13 |
| 14 | Quinnipiac | ECAC | AQ | T-15 |
| 15 | Minnesota State | CCHA | AQ | T-15 |
| 16 | Sacred Heart | AHA | AQ | 36 |
Teams by Conference
| Hockey East | 7 |
| Big Ten | 4 |
| NCHC | 2 |
| AHA, CCHA, ECAC | 1 |
Last Four In
| 4 | UMass-Lowell | Hockey East |
| 3 | Connecticut | Hockey East |
| 2 | Michigan | Big Ten |
| 1 (Last) | New Hampshire | Hockey East |
First Six Out
| 1 | Arizona State | Independent |
| 2 | St. Cloud State | NCHC |
| 3 | Massachusetts | Hockey East |
| 4 | Wisconsin | Big Ten |
| 5 | North Dakota | NCHC |
| 6 | Augustana | CCHA |
2025 College Hockey Bracket Update: Projected Bracket
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
| 1 | Boston College (Hockey East) |
| 4 | Minnesota State (CCHA)* |
| 2 | Western Michigan (NCHC)* |
| 3 | UMass-Lowell (Hockey East) |
FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA
| 1 | Minnesota (Big Ten)* |
| 4 | New Hampshire (Hockey East) |
| 2 | Denver (NCHC) |
| 3 | Connecticut (Hockey East) |
TOLEDO, OHIO
| 1 | Michigan State (Big Ten)* |
| 4 | Sacred Heart (AHA)* |
| 2 | Boston University (Hockey East) |
| 3 | Ohio State (Big Ten) |
MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE
| 1 | Maine (Hockey East)* |
| 4 | Quinnipiac (ECAC)* |
| 2 | Providence (Hockey East) |
| 3 | Michigan (Big Ten) |
Bracket Update Notes (Most Recent at Top)
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.
