GRAND FORKS — David Carle was busy Monday when news hit social media that he signed a contract extension at the University of Denver.
He was in a Zoom meeting with NCAA president Charlie Baker.
Other NCAA head coaches, assistant coaches and administrators were in it, too.
They discussed issues surrounding college hockey.
Baker told the group that the NCAA will reveal a new governance structure in July — one that will streamline processes and give more control to each sport instead of blanket policies.
There will likely be a hockey board or committee to oversee championships and rules.
When discussing championships, Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky put Carle on the spot about his push to go to home sites for NCAA men’s hockey regionals.
Carle put forth several of his arguments — better atmospheres, better pictures for television, fairness, revenue and growing local fan bases.
Baker said home-site regionals work for other NCAA sports — every sport except men’s basketball does it — and asked why there’s opposition.
Carle called on Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf to produce a counterargument.
The NCAA has scheduled neutral-site regionals through 2028. Carle and others are going to push for a change beginning in 2029.
Support for home regionals has increased over the last 10 years, but as of last spring, there was not enough for a change.
With Carle shunning NHL offers to stay in college, he will continue to be at the forefront of the push to bring regionals home.
The discussion with Baker went beyond regionals, though.
Central Collegiate Hockey Association commissioner Don Lucia talked about college hockey’s unique deferred enrollment rule, which allows players to start college at age 21 without losing eligibility.
Although there was previously talk about removing that rule and forcing players into college earlier — an attempt to standardize things across all sports — Baker seemed supportive of it if it works for the sport and helps students graduate.
Pairwise Rankings on way out
The Pairwise Rankings, which have long been used to determine the NCAA tournament field, are likely on their way out.
The Pairwise Rankings are expected to be replaced by the NCAA Percentage Index (NPI), which is used on the women’s side.
Like the Pairwise, the NPI will have weights for different criteria such as winning percentage, strength of schedule, home-road bonuses, quality win bonuses and overtime wins.
The coaches were presented a document that showed last year’s final Pairwise Rankings alongside how the NPI would have looked at the end of the season, depending on different weights.
The NCAA tournament field would have looked relatively similar. In a couple of NPI formulas, Arizona State would have replaced Penn State as the final team in the tournament.
The NPI will likely be used beginning this season.
NCHC could punt on regular-season TV
The National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s national television contract expired at the end of last season.
The league is currently exploring options, including punting on regular-season national television coverage and going exclusively on local broadcasts and streaming on NCHC TV.
CBS Sports, the league’s rights holder since Year 1, asked schools to pick up additional production costs for this season. The schools aren’t interested in doing that.
The NCHC is still working on a potential deal with CBS Sports to broadcast the league’s postseason tournament.
“We’re still in negotiations with CBS,” NCHC commissioner Heather Weems said. “We want to focus on the playoffs and what we possibly have with CBS.”
The NCHC has two years left on its streaming deal with Sidearm Sports. That deal brings significant revenue to some of the teams.
Each team’s revenue share is different depending on how many subscribers the school pulls in. UND makes more than a half million dollars annually on it.
The NCHC wants both its TV rights and streaming rights to open at the same time in 2027, so it can package them together.
Transfer window likely to shrink
Right now, there’s a 45-day window to enter the transfer portal for men’s hockey players in the spring.
But that could change.
The men’s hockey coaching body wants to shrink it to 30 days.
The portal opening date to non-graduates would still occur after the NCAA regionals.
As of Tuesday morning, the men’s hockey transfer portal has been open for 38 days. However, portal entrants always slow to a trickle by this point. Only six players have entered in the last 11 days.
Garrett Lindberg with a notable U18s
The U.S. won bronze at the IIHF Men’s World Under-18 tournament in Texas last week.
UND commit Garrett Lindberg of Moorhead had a notable tournament.
Lindberg, a defenseman, served as USA’s alternate captain. He scored a goal and tallied four points in seven games. His plus-12 rating ranked first on Team USA and third among all players in the tournament.
Lindberg was selected No. 2 overall by the Chicago Steel in the United States Hockey League’s Phase 2 Draft on Tuesday morning. The high selection indicates the Steel believe Lindberg will play 2025-26 in junior hockey before arriving on campus.
UND forward commit Andrew O’Neill of Fargo played in one game at the IIHF World Under-18 tournament. Arizona State defenseman commit Lincoln Kuehne of West Fargo played in three games and tallied an assist.
Local-area players picked in USHL Draft
The USHL held its Phase 1 Draft — players born in 2009 — on Monday night.
Several local and area players were selected.
Forward Colin Grubb of Burlington, N.D., was the third pick of the draft, going to Dubuque in the first round. Grubb plays at Shattuck-St. Mary’s.
Muskegon picked Grand Forks forward Nolan Marto in the second round. Marto is the nephew of former UND defenseman Jake Marto.
Other notable picks included West Fargo forward Jack Larkin (Dubuque, second round), Thief River Falls forward Spencer Anderson (Youngstown, third round), Dilworth forward Evan Wanner (Youngstown, fourth round), West Fargo forward Grayden Peterson (Fargo, ninth round), Warroad forward Gavin Anderson (Omaha, 10th round), Alexandria goaltender Aaron Lenarz (Green Bay, 11th round) and Moorhead defenseman Gunnar Schock (Fargo, 13th round).
Fargo picked UND commit Eli McKamey in the final round. McKamey played for the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League this season. Next season, Penticton is moving to the Western Hockey League.
Victoria holds McKamey’s rights in the WHL and will keep them.
McKamey, of Cowichan Bay, B.C., suffered a lower-body injury in the BCHL playoffs and is currently out of the lineup.
The Phase 2 draft — all eligible players for USHL — started Tuesday morning.
In addition to Lindberg, Warroad defenseman Ryan Lund was selected in the first round. Lund, who played for Austin in the North American Hockey League this season, went No. 6 overall to Tri-City. He is uncommitted.
Shane Pinto headed to Worlds again
Former UND center Shane Pinto is headed to the IIHF Men’s World Championship for a second-straight year.
Pinto has joined Team USA for the event, which will be held in Herning, Denmark, and Stockholm, Sweden, from May 9-25.
Last year, Pinto tallied nine points in eight games for USA in Czechia. He was USA’s fourth-leading scorer behind Matt Boldy, Brady Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau.
Pinto scored 21 goals and tallied 37 points in 70 games for the Ottawa Senators this season.
- One of the biggest discussion points at the NCHC meetings was this year’s league tournament, which will be played entirely at home sites for the first time. “We talked significantly about what we need to do in this transition to have the best student-athlete experience and what we need to do to standardize things on campus,” Weems said.
- College hockey coaches showed support to keep the recruiting window the same. Right now, coaches can begin speaking with recruits on Jan. 1 of their sophomore years. They can offer scholarships and obtain commitments beginning Aug. 1 ahead of their junior years.
- Coaches also showed support for the current rule, which allows 19 players to dress per game.
- Sioux City (USHL) forward Tate Pritchard, who recently de-committed from Minnesota State, has announced a commitment to Minnesota on Monday. Pritchard visited UND last week.
- Colorado College assistant coach Andrew Ogilvie has accepted an assistant coaching position at his alma mater, Notre Dame, opening a second assistant position at Colorado College. The Tigers have spoken with longtime Notre Dame assistant Paul Pooley and Michigan Tech assistant Jordy Murray as potential candidates.
- Michigan is widely believed to be the frontrunner for a pair of top Ontario Hockey League players in forward Malcolm Spence and goalie Jack Ivankovic, who starred at the U18s for Canada.
