College hockey is back! The 2025-26 NCAA men’s hockey season kicks off later this afternoon and won’t conclude until a National Championship is awarded in April.
The season starts with a bang, as projected 2026 No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna will make his highly anticipated debut with Penn State against Arizona State at 9 p.m. CT, with the game televised in the United States on NHL Network.
Ahead of the season, the USCHO recently released its Division I Men’s Preseason Ice Hockey Poll. The defending National Champion Western Michigan Broncos are at the top of the rankings, and established programs Boston University, Michigan State, and Denver are right behind them.
The NCAA has been a pivotal development tool for the Blackhawks in recent years, with top prospects like Sam Rinzel (Minnesota), Frank Nazar (Michigan), Artyom Levshunov (Michigan State), Oliver Moore (Minnesota), and Ryan Greene (Boston University) blossoming during their time playing college hockey. Going back even further, Alex Vlasic (Boston University), Wyatt Kaiser (Minnesota-Duluth), Drew Commesso (Boston University), and Landon Slaggert (Notre Dame) are four other Blackhawks’ draft picks who developed nicely in college before turning professional.
The 2025-26 college hockey season is once again littered with Blackhawks prospects, with five recent draft selections skating in the league.
Let’s break down where each of those prospects is playing, and where their respective teams are slotted in the USCHO Preseason Rankings.
(2) – Boston University Terriers
Blackhawks 2024 first-round pick (No. 18 overall) Sacha Boisvert transferred to Boston University over the summer after a standout freshman campaign with North Dakota. Boisvert led the team in both goals (18) and points (32) as an 18-year-old in 37 games, earning NHCH Rookie of the Year honors.
Following North Dakota’s firing of long-time head coach Brad Berry in March, Boisvert entered the transfer portal and ultimately chose to join the Terriers for his sophomore season. Personally, I thought this was a wise decision by Boisvert, as BU is one of the best programs in the country at developing players and preparing them for the next level. There have also been strong ties between the Blackhawks’ pipelines and Boston University in the last decade, as mentioned earlier.
The Terriers open up the 2025-26 season on Saturday at home against LIU, and it appears that Boisvert is going to play a massive role right out of the gate. During practice on Friday morning, Boisvert centered the team’s top line and was part of the first power-play unit.
Practice lines for BU men’s hockey:
Eiserman – Boisvert – Ricthie
Murtagh – Bednarik – Svoboda
McNelis – McLaughlin – Harvey
Frechette – Morrello – Merrill/Feldberg
Hutson – McCarrthy
Boumedienne – Celebrini
Kim – Amico
Vass – Trethewey
— Boston Hockey Blog (@BOShockeyblog) October 3, 2025
Boisvert has a tremendous opportunity to lead a stacked BU roster this season, and he’ll be playing with much more talent than he did with North Dakota. If the strong-shooting forward picks up where he left off last year, it will likely be his final season of college hockey.
In a recent article shared by Boston Hockey Blog, Sacha’s father, Jimmy, was asked how long he thinks his son will remain with the Terriers. Jimmy provided a blunt response, saying, “One year. That’s the plan. He’s gonna win the Championship with BU. So after that, go to Chicago.”
Sounds good to me!
(9) – Providence Friars
Similar to BU, Providence has been a development stop for a few Blackhawks’ prospects in recent years. Connor Kelley and Taige Harding, two defensemen selected by Chicago in the 2021 NHL Draft, each played multiple seasons with the Friars before turning pro. While Kelley never signed with the Blackhawks, Harding inked his entry-level contract last spring and will open his rookie season with the Rockford IceHogs in the AHL.
Well, there will be another pair of Blackhawks’ prospects playing for Providence in 2025-26 — 2024 third-round pick (No. 67 overall) John Mustard and 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 98 overall) Julius Sumpf.
Mustard, a 6-foot, 185-pound forward, tallied 20 points (7G, 13A) in 37 games as a freshman with the Friars last year. Now heading into his sophomore campaign, Mustard should take on a larger role and will hopefully be a key part of the top-six forward group. He finished tied for fourth on the team in points last season as an 18-year-old.
Sumpf, already 20 years old, recorded 65 points (26G, 39A) in 58 regular-season games for the QMJHL champion Moncton Wildcats in 2024-25. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound center also added 16 points (10G, 6A) in 19 postseason contests. Now playing his first year of college hockey, Sumpf will likely fit somewhere in the Friars’ middle-six, where his size, skill, and two-way play will come in handy.
Providence plays its first exhibition contest on Friday night at home against Simon Fraser University. While it’s still unknown precisely what roles Mustard and Sumpf will play to begin the season, both will rack up great experience playing in the deep Hockey East Conference.
(15) – University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Blackhawks 2025 first-round pick (No. 25 overall) Vaclav Nestrasil played a big factor in the Muskegon Lumberjacks winning the USHL championship last year, as he posted 13 points (7G, 6A) in 14 postseason games. Nestrasil had a solid regular season, with 42 points (19G, 23A) in 61 contests, but he found another gear in the playoffs, which helped his draft stock rise tremendously. Without his performance in the postseason, Nestrasil likely wouldn’t have been selected in the first round.
The mammoth 6-foot-6 winger is now taking his talents to UMass for his freshman season of college hockey. Still somewhat of a raw prospect with little experience in North America, the 18-year-old Nestrasil might not jump into a serious role with the Minutemen for their first game. However, he definitely possesses the upside to command a middle-six opportunity, and there are plenty of spots up for grabs in the UMass forward group.
Nestrasil played on a line with Jack Galanek for the Lumberjacks last year in the USHL, and both players committed to the Minutemen as part of the class of 2029. Nestrasil mentioned in an article written by The Daily Hampshire Gazette in mid-September that UMass head coach Greg Carvell kept the duo together to begin practices.
As promised, here’s the story on Vaclav Nestrasil, #UMass hockey’s gifted freshman forward.
Plus, Longmeadow native Coleson Hanrahan hopes to win job on Minutemen blueline : https://t.co/EPWTzUE40b
— Ryan Ames (@_RyanAmes) September 16, 2025
Nestrasil also spoke about how facing strong competition in the Hockey East was a key reason he committed to UMass. Playing for a consistent top-20 program against quality opponents night in and night out should benefit Nestrasil massively (lol) in his first year of NCAA action.
The Minutemen play their first game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday night at home against Northern Michigan. It will be interesting to see where exactly Nestrasil slots in the lineup for his debut.
(NR) – University of Minnesota-Duluth
The fifth and final Blackhawks’ prospect playing college hockey this season is 2023 second-round pick (No. 35 overall) Adam Gajan. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound goaltender is set to return to the University of Minnesota-Duluth for his sophomore season, and he’ll get another chance as the Bulldogs’ No. 1 netminder.
Adam Gajan is getting another crack as the Bulldogs’ No. 1 goaltender. He’ll start the season opener Friday in Fairbanks, and likely be the guy beyond that.
A look at UMD’s goaltending group in 2025-26, plus other preseason tidbits from Sandelin: https://t.co/ueI448ZEOL
— Matt Wellens (@mattwellens) October 1, 2025
It’s been a struggle for the 21-year-old Slovakian since being selected as the first goaltender off the board in 2023 by the Blackhawks. In his final season with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers in 2023-24, Gajan posted a measly 3.35 GAA and .893 Sv% in 43 appearances. His freshman year with UMD in 2024-25 didn’t go much better, as Gajan went 7-12-1 with a 3.33 GAA, .885 Sv%, and 1 shutout in 21 games.
Gajan is still very early in his development path, and he’ll likely remain with UMD for at least another two years before turning pro. Regardless, it’s still been a disappointing last two seasons, but the hope is that he’ll find his footing and build alongside the Bulldogs squad.
Currently unranked in the USCHO Preseason Poll, the University of Minnesota-Duluth was also projected to finish sixth out of nine teams in the NCHC this season, according to the NCHC Preseason Media Poll.
UMD kicks off the regular season at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Friday night, where Gajan is expected to get the start in net.
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