Or as Much as Possible For the Players With Games to Play
by Jane McNally/CHN Reporter (@JaneMcNally_)
LAS VEGAS North Dakota skaters began to trickle around the center ice logo, beginning a series of stretches signifying the end of practice.
Practice was business as usual for the Fighting Hawks, the only true difference on the sheet being emblemized with ‘Frozen Four’ at center ice. Ralph Englestad Arena is not the farthest cry from T-Mobile Arena when it comes to the playing surface.
Jan Špunar, North Dakota’s star goaltender, was finishing up his last shootout reps, taking shots and dekes from teammates and assistant coaches alike. Nothing that the freshman netminder hadn’t seen before.
Only, when he looked over his shoulder, he was met with an unfamiliar sight — Elvis, posed in between two Vegas showgirls, complete with green and red and yellow feathers alike.
That’s the difference between this year’s Frozen Four and all the others.
“It’s a little bit too much for me, I would say,” Špunar said. “I’m from a smaller town in Czech Republic, you know, 800-900 year old city.”
In 2017, the NHL took a risk and kick-started a new era of hockey in Las Vegas. When the Golden Knights stormed all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season, the hockey bug was injected into the desert.
Now, in 2026, college hockey will be displayed on the biggest of stages. There aren’t many lights much brighter than those in Vegas.
“When they first announced the Golden Knights were coming into Vegas, that was back home when I was in San Diego. I was like, ‘I don’t know how that is really going to work,” Denver’s Sam Harris said. “They came in, had the great first year. It’s a great city for entertainment … happy to be a part of it.”
The four teams arrived on Tuesday, giving them some time to explore the sights. For players like Harris, a native of sunny Southern California, the dry heat that exceeded 90 degrees was a welcome change.
For others, it’s been a bit of a struggle.
“I’m a big sweater,” Wisconsin forward Jack Horbach said with a chuckle. “The heat is really taking a toll on me.”
After all, Wisconsin in April is quite different from Vegas. As is Grand Forks, North Dakota, where the Fighting Hawks flew from on Tuesday.
“Obviously coming to Vegas, [there’s] some nice weather,” said defenseman Abram Wiebe. “It was snowing earlier in the week in Grand Forks. It’s nice to get out and enjoy the weather, kind of explore Vegas and everything.”
What does exploring Vegas look like for teams about to lay it all on the line for a national championship? Well, it’s certainly not your typical trip to Sin City.
Wisconsin, for one, made a team trip to the movie theater inside the Badgers’ hotel. “Project Hail Mary” was on the screen for viewing.
“We were talking about it this morning. We [rated it] 7.5,” Horbach said. “We’re tough graders. It was good in our books.”
Outside the hotel, Elvis and the rest of the showgirls have been wandering around the area, snapping photos with college hockey’s biggest talents. Or, at least, they were trying to.
“Saw them yesterday when we got off the bus,” Harris later said.
Neither he nor teammate Eric Pohlkamp posed for a picture.
“Trying to get my tan on here, so…” Polhkamp said.
Make no mistake, though — no hockey player is here to take a vacation. It’s quite the opposite. Michigan’s Josh Eernisse has been to Las Vegas before under the precipice of a relaxing vacation. He was quick to say that he “like[s] these conditions a lot better.”
This year’s Frozen Four is not a trial run for college hockey in Las Vegas — 19 games have been held in Vegas (13 at T-Mobile Arena), with all of them coming since 2018 besides a lone 1995 tilt between Western Michigan and Bowling Green at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center (UNLV has an ACHA D-I team that won the national championship in 2025). During the Golden Knights’ debut season in 2017-18, so came the resurgence of college hockey in Sin City, as the Fortress Invitational was conceived in an effort to capitalize further on an ever-growing market.
The Fortress Invitational — a four-team tournament inside T-Mobile Arena, home of this year’s Frozen Four — was intended to be an annual tournament with different teams entering the rotation each year. The last one, though, was held in 2020 — Cornell, Army, Providence and Ohio State — and was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, a few teams have grazed the ice in Las Vegas — it’s been a post-pandemic world of one-off games in Sin City, with even fewer occurring on T-Mobile Arena ice.
This weekend will change that — and so far, so good for the four participants.
“It’s been great so far,” said Denver coach David Carle. “Think it’s going to be a great atmosphere. They obviously know how to entertain, put events on. We’re really looking forward to playing at T-Mobile. I think it’s going to be a great hit for college hockey.”
The usual tenants of T-Mobile Arena are on the road, and arena staff were quickly tasked with the makeover for the building’s first Frozen Four — in addition to the signage on the boards and NCAA championship banner, that also meant resurfacing the ice with the necessary Frozen Four logo.
Whether fast or slow, players or coaches didn’t seem to care about the surface.
“We talked about this quite a lot of different times — they’ve got an NHL guy here that knows what he’s doing,” said Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings. “I’m just going to say this: it’s hard to [create a new ice surface] for any ice crew. I don’t care where it’s at. We’ve talked about this at regionals for years — when they’ve got to lay a different logo on the ice, it’s a tough task.”
But, as Hastings said, this is an NHL building. A new one, too, that’s been hosting sold-out hockey games in the desert for years. Eight years ago, the Stanley Cup — the prized possession of the NHL — was hoisted on T-Mobile ice when the Washington Capitals took down the Golden Knights.
This Saturday, it will be a similar sight — only this time, it’ll be the crown jewel of college hockey.
“Guys have just been walking around. Had a couple of nice dinners,” Michigan goaltender Jack Ivankovic said of his team’s time in Las Vegas. “We’re just hanging at the hotel, and hopefully save the celebrating for later on.”