Why your favorite men's hockey team will not win a national championship

The NCAA Regionals are fast-approaching, so it’s time to wonder about what could go wrong for the top teams.

Weak spots are one thing, weak stats are another, but weak players might play a large part in it. Whether it’s a low clutch factor or a broken forecheck, every team has a crutch.

It’s time to take a microscope to the five best teams in the current NPI to see what makes them crack and what will lead to their downfall.

It could be an upset in the Round of 16 or a Frozen Four blowout loss, but here’s why your favorite team won’t hoist the trophy when all is said and done.

No. 5 Penn State: Injuries

A team could do everything right, have all the right pieces, and still be one step behind because of their overall health. Just ask the Dallas Stars.

Charlie Cerrato is day-to-day as of Wednesday, and Braedon Ford and Jackson Smith have dealt with some health issues recently.

Before the season even started, Keaton Peters was ruled out. Dane Dowiak was ruled out for the season as well, though not before recording 18 points in 27 games.

After a rough weekend in South Bend, the concerns are mounting for a Nittany Lion team struggling to keep their stars on the ice.

No. 4 Western Michigan: Tough to repeat

The Broncos won their first Division I men’s hockey national title last year. Congratulations, now do it again.

That hasn’t been done since Minnesota Duluth in 2017–18 and 2018–19, as there have been only nine repeat winners in the 76-year history of the championship.

Only one team has ever repeated as national champions at this level after hoisting trophy No. 1: Boston University in 1970–71 and 1971–72.

While Michigan teams have done fairly well at this stage, winning 21 titles, the state last went back-to-back as Division I champions in 1990–91 and 1991–92.

No. 3 North Dakota: Fighting Hawks, fighting history

Something even rarer than winning it all twice in a row is hoisting the trophy once with a brand-new coach, and Dane Jackson of North Dakota may now carry that struggle.

The last team to be crowned national champions under a head coach in his first year was Lake Superior State in 1988, led by Frank Anzalone.

What does this have in common with the Miracle on Ice? It was an unlikely result in Lake Placid, New York, in the 1980s.

The keyword there is “miracle.” Say what you will about what the Fighting Hawks do right, but you just can’t avoid history.

No. 2 Michigan State: [Bad] luck of the draw

If you want to win it all, you’ve got to create scoring chances by winning the faceoff. Michigan State is currently 24th in Division I with a .511 percentage on the draw.

That’s bad news for the Spartans, as four out of the last five national champions at this level finished in the top 10 for that stat category. The only outlier was Denver in 2023–24.

Sure, the Spartans have banked on their opportunities in other ways, scoring a Big Ten third 3.72 goals per game, but they can’t live and die on solid defense.

Charlie Stramel and Tiernan Shoudy are the top faceoff skaters for Michigan State, though they combine for 681 wins and 583 losses and win the draw 53.8 percent of the time.

No. 1 Michigan: Title drought

Is Michigan cursed? The Wolverines have the longest stretch without a national championship in this group (not including Penn State), having last hoisted the trophy in 1998.

Last year, the maize and blue were swept by Penn State in the Big Ten Quarterfinal series. The year before that, it was a Frozen Four defeat at the hands of No. 1 Boston College.

Even after sweeping through the Allentown Regional in 2021–22, the Wolverines stared heartbreak in the face with a 3-to-2 overtime loss to No. 3 Denver.

Simply put, something is going on in Ann Arbor. Perhaps Brandon Naurato can finally get the job done in his third full campaign, but there’s nowhere to go but downhill for the top dogs.

Bryan Portney is a second-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email bep5295@psu.edu.