Why so many unranked teams are pulling off top-10 upsets in men's hockey – NCAA.com

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🏒 Top-10 upsets in men's hockey
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Everyone can beat anyone. 
At least, that’s how the DI men’s hockey season has gone so far. Through four weeks, we have seen 11 top-10 upsets from unranked teams—at this point last season, that had only happened twice. There were four just this past weekend alone:
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Top-10 upsets by unranked teams so far in 2025-26
Top-10 upsets by unranked teams in first four weeks of 2024-25:
So why are so many top-10 teams losing to unranked teams? Here are a few possible explanations:
The 2025-26 men’s college hockey season brought about lots of changes with the new rule allowing Canadian major junior players to play NCAA hockey. The change saw a major influx of top Canadian talent flow into top programs like Michigan State and Penn State. But there were a lot more players coming to the NCAA than there were roster spots on the “blue bloods.” That means many of these CHL transfers found their way to smaller schools or programs lacking the traditional prestige. The result? Deeper rosters around the country. 
There are two sides to this coin. First, CHL transfers to mid-major teams are making those lineups deeper than before. Couple that with the fact that opposing coaches now must gameplan against new players that they haven’t seen before, and you have a recipe for mid-majors to shock higher-ranked opponents. 
You can really see this in effect in two-game series. Lots of these upsets have come in the first game of a weekend, when the teams are still feeling each other out, while the higher-ranked team usually wins Game 2. Some examples include: 
It seems like some of these CHL transfers are helping their teams sneak up on the powerhouse programs in Game 1 of their series. Whether it be a lack of scouting or deeper lineups in general, the underdogs have been stealing series-opening games.
Some of those top programs, like Michigan State and Penn State, saw lots of roster turnover, each with a handful of CHL transfers. There’s no question that college hockey is different from juniors—teams usually play twice per weekend, compared to CHL teams playing four or five times a week.  These players now spend more time in the gym and in class. They are playing against bigger, tougher opponents in college—in fact, that’s a major reason why a lot of CHL players made the jump to the NCAA in the first place.
📈 READ MORE: Top CHL transfers to watch in college hockey this season
The result seems to be an adjustment period for some of the nation’s top teams. Big transfers like Penn State’s Gavin McKenna and Michigan State’s Porter Martone haven’t been as dominant in college hockey as they were in the CHL, yet. As these players settle into the college hockey lifestyle and adjust to the different style of play, expect these top teams to start to separate themselves from the pack as we get further into the season. 
Of course, it’s still very early in the season, and the small sample size means the early rankings are always inherently flawed when trying to identify the nation’s best teams. As we get into the thick of conference play, things should start to even out in the top-10 as we see who the real best teams are, and whose rankings might have been inflated. 
Still, the number of ranked upsets and the early-season success from unranked squads reflects an overall trend in college hockey this season—everyone can beat anyone. 
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Torin Smith joined NCAA.com in January 2025 as a Digital Editorial Intern. He is a fall 2024 graduate of the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Throughout college, he held multiple internships with a focus on digital journalism and sports media. Smith is also a NATAS Southeast Emmy Award winner as the executive producer of a student documentary on the 2024 Apalachee High School shooting. You can follow him on LinkedIn.

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