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Summer 2026 | ahcahockey.com 4 FROM THE MEDIA DIRECTOR | C O N T I N U E D F R O M PAG E 3 Also serving the Gophers was Brad Frost (Bethel '96), the University of Minnesota's championship-winning head coach for 19 seasons. Frost led the Gophers to four NCAA titles and a record of 554-133-43 (.788). His 554 wins rank him fourth overall in NCAA women's hockey and third in Division I, trailing only Mark Johnson of Wisconsin and Mike Sisti of Mercyhurst. Hats off to these coaches! The final breakdown of where this year's NCAA hockey players came from is in this issue. This one breaks down ALL NCAA players, by division and gender. I like taking a deep dive into these numbers and here are some take- aways. Massachuses: What is going on in my state? We produced 198 Division I male hockey players 25 years ago (2000-01 season). That number fell to 115 ten years ago. And this year? Just 84. New England vs. Warm Weather States: This is some- thing I have compared over the years. New England con- tinues to drop. My arbitrarily chosen "warm" states had great growth from 25 years ago to 10 years ago but they seem to have leveled off. We started seeing significant growth in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas as the NHL presence in those states exploded. New England lost more than half of its numbers in this period while those four "warm" states grew more than 400%. Check out these DI numbers: DI NEW ENGLAND (6) 2025-26 2015-16 2000-01 Massachusetts 85 115 198 Connecticut 37 30 42 New Hampshire 13 11 24 Rhode Island 4 4 25 Maine 4 3 9 Vermont 7 4 9 NE Totals 149 167 307 U.S. vs. The World It looks like the last decade has seen significant changes in the balance between U.S. play- ers and others. The 10-year comparison below doesn't show the effect of Canadian Major Junior men being eligible just this past year. But here is a decade-long comparison: ALL NCAA MEN 2025-26 2015-16 161 Programs 143 Programs U.S. Players 3,030 2,960 (67.3%) (74.5%) Canadian Players 1187 862 (26.4%) (21.7%) "Other" Players 286 152 (6.3%) (3.8%) ALL NCAA WOMEN 2025-26 2015-16 124 Programs 97 Programs U.S. Players 2,276 1,767 (76.2%) (78.5%) Canadian Players 591 435 (19.8%) (19.3%) "Other" Players 120 50 (4.0%) (2.2%) Miami University is mourning the death of former coach Bill Davidge, who passed away in mid-May at the age of 72. Davidge was the second varsity head coach for Miami, starting out as a graduate assistant with the team in 1977. He earned a master's degree from the school in 1978 and worked as an assistant under Steve Cady before serving as head coach from 1985-1989 while also teaching in the university's physical education department. According to a release from the school, Davidge was instrumental in the development of the Miami Hockey program, helping it transition from club sport to varsity sport. His name adorns the program's outstanding offensive player award each season. Davidge went on to scout for several different NHL teams before becoming a broadcaster for the Columbus Blue Jackets, a role he held for nearly two decades. DI WARM WEATHER (4) 2025-26 2015-16 2000-01 Arizona 12 8 2 California 53 56 10 Florida 12 19 2 Texas 10 17 2 "Warm" Totals 87 100 16 Minnesota Consistency: The State of Hockey remains a constant presence atop DI men: MINNESOTA DI MEN 2025-26 2015-16 2000-01 Minnesota 223 207 225 Brad Frost Bill Davidge

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