With the college hockey seasons gearing up, ESPN and ESPN+ will air more than 800 games in 2024-25, culminating with the men's and women's national championship games.
The 2025 men's Frozen Four will be held April 10 and 12 at St. Louis. Denver, which beat Boston College to win its record 10th national championship in April, looks to defend its title. ESPN's coverage will include every game of the NCAA tournament.
The 2025 women's Frozen Four will be held March 21 and 23 in Minneapolis, with Ohio State the reigning national champ.
The hundreds of games streaming on ESPN+ beginning in October will feature teams from Hockey East and the ECAC and include nonconference and conference games.
TEAMS TO WATCH
Denver begins the season as the No. 1 team in the USCHO.com men's preseason poll, with Boston College, last year's national runner-up, ranking No. 2, and Boston University, also a Frozen Four participant in 2024, at No. 3. BC and BU are the top two teams in the men's Hockey East preseason poll, followed by Maine, Providence and UMass.
Two ECAC teams rank in the preseason top 10: Quinnipiac (No. 8) and Cornell (No. 9). The Bobcats and Big Red both advanced to the regional finals in last year's NCAA tournament. Cornell got the nod in the preseason ECAC coaches' poll over the defending league champ, followed by Dartmouth, Clarkson and Colgate.
On the women's side, teams from the Midwest sit at the top of the national USCHO.com preseason poll, with Wisconsin at No. 1, followed by Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth and Ohio State. The ECAC fills the next four slots with Clarkson at No. 5, followed by Cornell, Colgate and St. Lawrence. UConn of Hockey East sits at No. 9, with Quinnipiac of the ECAC at No. 10.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Boston College returns a pair of high-scoring first-round NHL draft picks in Ryan Leonard (Capitals) and Gabe Perreault (Rangers), the top two returning scorers in Hockey East. The Eagles also return third-round pick Jacob Fowler (Canadiens), who was last year's Hockey East goalie of the year, and add another first-rounder in freshman Dean Letourneau (Bruins).
Boston University returns first-round pick Tom Willander (Canucks) and adds two highly regarded freshmen in Cole Eiserman (first round, Islanders) and Cole Hutson (second round, Capitals).
Other top-round NHL draftees in Hockey East and ECAC include Providence freshman Trevor Connelly (first round, Golden Knights), Northeastern junior Cam Lund (second round, Sharks), UMass sophomores Michael Hrabal (second round, Coyotes) and Aydar Suniev (third round, Flames), Harvard sophomore Ben MacDonald (third round, Kraken) and Clarkson senior Ayrton Martino (third round, Stars).
The top returning players in the women's ECAC include Colgate goaltender Hannah Murphy, who had 15 shutouts last season, Clarkson defenders Haley Winn and Nicole Gosling and forwards Abby Hustler of St. Lawrence and Lily Delianedis of Cornell.