Vegoe’s Top 20 – Final 2024-25

Western Michigan started the season as No. 19 in my poll and they steadily climbed up my rankings all season long. They broke into my top ten on November 18 and I had them at No. 3 headed into winter break. The Broncos were a surprise team in college hockey this season as they were picked to finish sixth in their league by NCHC coaches and a big part of their rise was the jump in production from players like Tim Washe, Grant Slukynsky, Owen Michaels Liam Valente and Cam Knuble.

Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler has taken his team to four consecutive NCAA tournaments in his four years behind the bench and the future looks bright in Kalamazoo as a $515 million shared Athletics Performance Center and Kalamazoo Event Center is almost ready to start construction. The finished product will be shared by WMU hockey, WMU basketball, K Wings hockey, concerts and other events — the project timeline is still a little murky, but should be complete by 2028 or 2029. Ferschweiler’s success with the Broncos has the rumor mill churning about him potentially being a candidate for pro hockey jobs, but he just signed a new contract paying him a $420,000 base salary that will keep him in Kalamazoo coaching his alma mater through the 2029-30 season.

Denver and Boston College were two of the other teams in my pre-season poll and they finished the season ranked No. 2 and No. 4 in my poll. The Pioneers had some issues throughout the season, but got strong goaltending from Matt Davis when it mattered and Zeev Buium shined down the stretch playing iron lung minutes when coach David Carle needed them. Buium did sign with the Minnesota Wild after the season and he’ll be a big hole in the lineup next year for Denver. Boston College finished the year with the top PairWise Ranking, but fell to DU in the Manchester Regional. The Eagles will have to reload for next year as their sophomore star trio of Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perreault and Jacob Fowler all signed pro contracts.

Penn State was the other surprise of the season as the Big Ten coaches picked them to finish sixth in the league with their pre-season poll. They popped up in my Top 20 for a couple weeks at the end of October and early November, but only got as high as 11th for my poll heading into the end of the season. They made a heck of a run taking down No. 1 seed Maine and No. 2 seed Connecticut in the Allentown Regional before losing a 3-1 game to Boston University in their first Frozen Four appearance. Coach Guy Gadowsky has quietly altered the Nittany Lions style the past few seasons and it has paid off.

Minnesota finishes the season eighth in my poll. It was a frustrating end for the Gophers who started the year third in my Top 20 and had a moment where they got my top spot on December 19 after they finished the first half with just three losses. Their last month of the season saw them go 5-5-1, dropping key conference tournament games to Notre Dame and then closing the year one and done in the Fargo Regional by losing to Massachusetts after a few calls by the officials didn’t go their way.

The Gophers will have a very different roster next season as nine players signed professional contracts — which is the most of any team in college hockey so far. Three players without eligibility to return signing were Aaron Huglen, Mike Koster, Mason Nevers, but there were also six early departures by Ryan Chesley, Connor Kurth, Oliver Moore, Sam Rinzel, Jimmy Snuggerud and Matthew Wood.

The biggest misses in my Top 20 to start the year included North Dakota, Colorado College and St. Cloud — clearly my NCHC bias clouded my judgement.

The Fighting Hawks started the season fourth in my Top 20, but finished No. 20. The disappointing season was perhaps due to key injuries early in the season, but AD Bill Chaves lost the faith, fired Brad Berry and elevated Dane Jackson to the head coaching position who will seek to modernize their program. Colorado College actually finished the season with some positive moments including an OT win over Western Michigan and winning the first game of their conference tournament series over Denver, but a 2-7 January essentially ruined their Pairwise Ranking potential. The Huskies endured one of their worst seasons record wise since moving up to Division I hockey. The program had not lost more than 20 games in a season since 2004-05 (Craig Dahl’s last year behind the bench for SCSU) and the number was 21 this year.