NCHC 2023-2024 PREVIEW
By Jason Combs
Sept. 2023
The weather is getting cooler. Leaves are starting to fall. That means a new hockey season is upon us! Many of the hockey publications have put out their “expectations” for the NCAA and NCHC men’s hockey season and MavPuck is ready to jump aboard the train.
As a fan-centered site, we offer a different perspective from other outlets, hence we will not be publishing a traditional ranking list here. If you want that, you’ll need to watch Jon and Jason in the season preview of the Mavpuckcast podcast. Instead, what follows is a “ceiling and floor” for each National Collegiate Hockey Conference team and the factors that will determine success for each team.
While any team could hypothetically finish anywhere from first through eighth, the analysis below is a more reasonable attempt to determine where the teams will fall in the 2023-24 season. 
Omaha
Ceiling: 2nd Place
Floor: 7th Place
The Mavericks have one of the largest margins for placement and a lot of questions that will dictate what this season will hold for the program. The strength of this team is its experience — especially the team’s talented (and deep) defensive core. The biggest questions this year are essentially the same as the 2022-23 season. Will the team be able to produce enough offense — and will the goaltending be where it needs to be — to grind out close games down the stretch?
Goaltending
Simon Latkoczy returns for his sophomore season and is expected to be Omaha’s No. 1 netminder (2.32 GAA, .919 SV% last season).
He was one of many Mavericks who overperformed last season, posting a .919 save percentage. He will need stay near that mark this season for UNO to make a run at the top half of the NCHC.
The Mavericks dipped into the transfer portal to nab Seth Eisele from Lake Superior State University. Eisele should be a more than capable backup. If he can perform well enough that Latkoczy only “needs” to play around 20 games, it will benefit the team.
Eisele had 2.59 GAA across three seasons with the Lakers (2.86 in 14 games with LSSU last season).
Defense
The Mavericks have a pair of portal players joining a defensive core that featured two NHL draftees last season (Joaquim Lemay and Victor Mancini). Former UMass defenseman Noah Ellis (a Vegas draft pick) and former Ohio State blueliner Dom Vidoli will skate alongside six returning Mavericks.
UNO needs its experienced backend to generate some offense if they want a chance at landing in the NCAA tournament. Last season’s defensive corps tallied 97 total points. Departed defenseman Jonny Tychonick accounted for 26 of those points (8 goals, 18 assists).
Joaquim Lemay finished with 2 goals and 10 assists in his first season with Omaha. Look for him to increase that production this year (but hopefully not so much that he gets poached by Washington at the end of the season). Jacob Guevin had a good first year. If he can get back to the point-per-game pace he was at in the USHL, it will give the fans a lot to talk about this season.
Offense
Jack Randl returns after a surprising junior season that saw the forward net 18 goals (34 total points last season). He had 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists) as a freshman and 20 points (9 goals, 11 assists) as a sophomore. The big question is whether the jump in goals during Randl’s junior campaign was an anomaly. If he continues to increase his point totals this season, it will be of great benefit to UNO.
Coach Gabinet preaches culture and “playing the right way” — emphasizing a consistent, workman-like effort over play that is flashy. UNO needs to play a possession game to be successful this season. A number of NCHC teams might look more talented on paper, but hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.
Look for sophomore Jacob Slipec to increase his production from a single digit performance as a freshman (5 goals, 4 assists).
Notre Dame transfer Jesse Lansdell will need to find some chemistry in the lineup and look for ways to contribute to the offense. The same is true for junior transfer Zach Urdahl, who never realized his full potential in two seasons at Wisconsin.
The freshmen forwards — Charlie Lurie and Tanner Ludtke — will need to find ways to contribute early.
Omaha fans might recognize Lurie from his tenure in the USHL. (He played 42 games with the Omaha Lancers last season.) If Lurie can tally 10 to 15 points this season, it will be a solid start for the Shattuck St. Mary’s alum.
Ludtke looks to be a legitimate scoring threat coming out of the USHL (his brother Griffin is a sophomore defenseman on UNO’s roster). If the Mavericks want to repeat as a top finisher in the NCHC, he needs to be an impact player early. Playing in the USHL for the Lincoln Stars last season, he had 66 points (32 goals, 34 assists) in 57 games!
Denver
Ceiling: 1st Place
Floor: 4th Place
Denver goaltender Magnus Chrona is finally off the roster for Denver — to the relief of every team in the NCAA. Junior goaltender Matt Davis appeared in nine games last season, posting an 8-1-0 record (and led the team with a 1.77 GAA). Senior Jack Caruso and freshman Freddie Halyk are also available goalies in the lineup.
Looking out from the net, you’ll find a number of talented skaters on the roster, including forward Massimo Rizzo (17 goals, 29 assists in 2022-23) and defenseman Shai Buium (his brother Zeev is a freshman with DU this season).
Miami (OH)
Ceiling: 7th Place
Floor: 8th Place
The basement of the NCHC has been Miami’s home for a while, and (unfortunately) it doesn’t look like they are changing zip codes anytime soon. It has certainly been frustrating for fans of the program considering the team’s success in the early 2000s.
Coach Chris Bergeron has to find a way to help this program claw its way up in conference play.
Losing a steady goaltender like Ludwig Persson to North Dakota in the transfer portal didn’t help. It also didn’t help the team’s offensive fortunes losing forward Red Savage to Michigan State.
But the RedHawks do see senior forward Matthew Barbolini (the team’s top point producer last season) and senior forward PJ Fletcher (5 goals, 10 assists in 2022-23) return.
For Miami, this season is about finding success in the non-conference schedule, grinding out as many wins as possible in the NCHC slate, and building for the future.
Colorado College
Ceiling: 4th Place
Floor: 7th Place
The Tigers made some significant strides the past few years, and if they want to contend for the top of the conference, they need to stay on track. Kaidan Mbereko backstops the Tigers — he was a standout last season. Look for him to be the same this year.
The loss of forward Hunter McKown to the NHL won’t help the team’s offensive fortunes this season (21 goals, 6 assists in 2022-23), but the team’s second leading point producer Noah Laba is back (11 goals, 11 assists in 2022-23).
Watch out for freshman forward Zaccharya Wisdom. He ranked 14th in the USHL in goals last season (28 goals) for Cedar Rapids in the USHL (he also had 20 assists ). If he proves himself to be as consistent a point producer at the collegiate level, he could give teams headaches.
North Dakota
Ceiling: 1st Place
Floor: 5th Place
As usual, there is a roster of NHL-caliber talent on the Fighting Hawks this season — including standouts like sophomore Jackson Blake (who had 16 goals and 26 assists in his freshman season).
Fixtures like forward Riese Gaber — who led the team with 20 goals last season — will be important for UND this season.
Chemistry is critical for North Dakota, having rebuilt the defensive corps during the offseason. If the newcomers mesh well with the veterans, they very well could be the best team in the conference.
I expect their netminders to be good enough to keep them within striking distance of first place. The Fighting Hawks grabbed one of the bigger “portal prizes” during the offseason in Miami goaltender Ludwig Persson (who seemed to have Omaha’s number during his tenure with the RedHawks).
Keep on eye on former Omaha forward Cam Berg this season. It will be interesting to see what role he plays with North Dakota.
Minnesota Duluth
Ceiling: 3rd Place
Floor: 6th Place
Nothing flashy here. Like Duluth teams of the past, expect them to play a tight checking game that will frustrate teams.
Coach Scott Sandelin is prepared and will have his team ready to play. Most of the time, that translates into on-ice success for the Bulldogs.
UMD is one of the bigger enigmas in the conference. The question is whether the underclassmen (UMD had 10 freshmen and five sophomores on the roster last season) continue to progress this season.
Top point producers Ben Steeves (21 goals, 17 assists in 2022-23) and Dominic James (10 goals, 18 assists in 2022-23) return to the Bulldogs. The addition of Penn State’s Connor McMenamin (who had 24 points last season for the Nittany Lions) will help.
A key to the team’s success will be the performances of senior goalie Zach Stejskal (who had a 2.96 GAA last season) and fifth-year goalie Matthew Thiessen (who had a 2.64 GAA last season).
St. Cloud State
Ceiling: 1st Place
Floor: 5th Place
It’s surprising the number of talented goalies in the NCHC. Dominic Basse is another one. Basse had a solid campaign with the Huskies last season (after transferring from Colorado College), posting a 2.30 goals against average and a .910 save percentage in 19 games. Look for him to continue to build off those numbers.
Basse split time last season with Jaxon Castor (who had a .924 SV% and a 2.02 GAA in 23 games for SCSU).
With Castor now playing professional hockey, it will be interesting to see how Basse does shouldering more of the load — and whether or not he is pushed by St. Cloud’s two talented-looking freshmen netminders.
If they can stay healthy, they are built like a team that could develop into a solid performer as the season wears along.
I’m most interested seeing whether or not Veeti Miettinen (who has 33 goals and 50 assists in his career for the Huskies) and his brother Verner (who is a freshman on the team) appear on the same line this season. Verner had 17 goals and 17 assists in the USHL last season with the Fargo Force.
Western Michigan
Ceiling: 2nd Place
Floor: 5th Place
Forwards Jason Polin and Ryan McAllister have completed their WMU Hockey careers.
I have a feeling senior forward Luke Grainger (12 goals, 23 assists in 2022-23) will be the team’s top scorer as he takes the reins of a talented stable of forwards that includes senior Tim Washe (7 goals, 11 assists in 2022-23), junior Dylan Wendt (8 goals, 14 assists in 2022-23), and newcomer Alex Bump (who split time between the Omaha Lancers and Tri-City Storm in the USHL last season. Over the season, he tallied a total of 14 goals and 25 assists).
If the offense performs as it has in recent seasons, then this will be a very dangerous team.
Look for the Broncos to focus on building early leads and use consistent pressure to wear out opponents.