10 Notable College Hockey Things You Might Have Missed in July

Summer isn’t known for its hocley.

Sure, the NHL had the start of free agency, with scores of players switching teams and landing new deals. The World Junior Summer Showcase was played in Windsor, Ontario, and the Under-18 Men’s Select Team is set to open play in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton.

But with colleges set to welcome students for the fall semester, it doesn’t mean there hasn’t been much going on. To get you up to speed, here are 10 things from the past five weeks (give or take) that you may have missed:

1) The Protect College Sports Act

If you’ve been waiting for Congress to get its act together just enough to help create some guardrails for college athletics, now appears to be the time to start paying attention. On the heels of last month’s approval by the NCAA to change the age rules so the five-year eligibility begins at either enrollment or age 19, whichever was earlier, the Big Ten and SEC endorsed the latest version of the Protect College Sports Act at the end of July. The bill, which could pass the Senate this week, seeks to standardize the NCAA’s transfer and eligibility rules, and put stricter controls on multiple transfers. If the bill passes both houses of Congress, the NCAA can receive limited antitrust protection — which would be crucial for hockey, non-revenue and Olympic sports programs.

2) New NCAA Coordinator of Officials

The NCAA named a new national coordinator of men’s ice hockey officials. Jeff Fulton. On Sept. 1, he’ll replace Frank Cole, who had the position for 27. Fulton has been the NCAA men’s and women’s ice hockey secretary-rules editor as the national interpreter of NCAA ice hockey rules since 2020.

“College hockey has provided me with incredible opportunities throughout my career, and I look forward to working with our conference coordinators, officials, coaches, administrators and NCAA committees to continue elevating officiating across the country,” Fulton said in a statement. “My vision is centered on communication, education, consistency, transparency and collaboration, while investing in the development of both current and future officials.”

3) Athletic Director News

Michigan and Warde Manuel agreed to a buyout of the final three years of his contract. He will step down at the end of 2026 … New Hampshire named Ryan Colton as its next athletic director. … Dr. Ron Moses is the new athletic director at Robert Morris.  … Remember Tennessee State, which has cancelled or postponed its inaugural season three consecutive years? Athletic director Mikki Allen was placed on administrative leave following an internal investigation.

4) UNH coach to lead U.S. Collegiate Selects

New Hampshire men’s hockey coach Mike Souza is heading back to the Spengler Cup in Switzerland, this time as head coach of the U.S. Collegiate Selects. He was an assistant coach on last year’s team that reached the finals of the world’s oldest invitation hockey tournament against a tournament field of professionals.

Souza will be joined by UMD’s Scott Sandelin and Cornell’s Casey Jones, who will be the assistant coaches. The U.S. Collegiate Selects will be made up of 25 players from all six NCAA Division I conferences. 

5) Coaching News

Speaking of Sandelin, he’s agreed to a contract extension through 2030. He’ll make $654,000 for the 2026-27 season, $664,000 (2027-28), $675,000 (2028-29), and $686,000 in the final year of the new deal.  Meanwhile, the Grand Forks Herald reported that North Dakota coach Dane Jackson will get a similar bump in salary after making $400,000 during his first season. He’ll make $620,000 this season, and then a $35,000 raise each season through 2029-30, when he’ll make $725,000.

Additionally, Merrimack signed coach Scott Borek to a multi-year extension, and Alex Gettens was named the new women’s head coach at Maine. However two coaching items that really caught our eye were:

• Chris Lazary, who had bene the head coach of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit since 2018, was named an assistant coach at Michigan. He replaced Rob Rassey, who was hired to be the head coach at Harvard.

• Brian Idalski was named the head coach of the Syracuse women’s program. He previously coached the PWHL’s Vancouver Goldeneyes, and previously had the same role at St. Cloud State.

6) Surprise Retirement

Speaking of Harvard, when the program had four players enter the transfer portal on April 27, just before the deadline, it stood out because three of them had been drafted by NHL teams. Among them, Mason Langenbrunner has subsequently retired as a player.

You probably recognize the name as his father Jamie was an NHL player for nearly two decades and also played for Team USA in two Olympics. After 11 seasons in the Bruins front office, including as an assistant general manager, he’s well regarded around the league and considered a top prospect to be a future general manager.

However, in May, Jamie joined the Predators as a special assistant to their new general manager, Chris MacFarland.

Mason, who had been 2020 fifth-round draft pick by the Bruins, walked away from the game even though he was considered a good prospect. He also played a position that’s in demand, right-shooting defenseman.

As for the other three late Harvard departures, defenseman Ryan Healey (2022 fourth-round selection by the Wild), will play for the AHL’s Hamilton Hammers; forward Jospeh Miller (2020, sixth round Maple Leafs) is headed to play for the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones; and undrafted forward Philip Tresca has joined the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.   

7) Boston College Makes Big WHL Splash

After June wrapped up with news that potential 2027 No. 1-overall pick Landon DuPont will play at Michigan this upcoming season, Boston College landed its first WHL prospect with Matias Vanhanen.

The forward had 87 points in 62 games for Everett last season. He was the New Jersey Devils’ second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. With his addition, the Eagles are set to have eight players selected in the first three rounds of an NHL Draft next season.  

8) Big Money at Next Level

You probably heard about Macklin Celebrini’s five-year, $94 million contract extension that will play him $18.8 million a year, making him the league’s highest-paid player to terms of average annual value (AAV).

But he doesn’t have the record for biggest contract signed by a former collegiate player (in total value), in part because the league and NHLPA have agreed to limit the length of contracts.

The longest deal that was signed was 17 years, $102 million by Ilya Kovalchuk in 2010, with the New Jersey Devils, which is the league tore up due to violating salary cap rules.  The re-worked deal was for 15 years, $100 million.

However, the deal that served as inspiration for the Collective Bargaining Agreement to establish the maximum length of contract being eight years when signing with their current team, or seven years with a new team, was former Boston University goaltender Rick DiPietro.

Selected first overall in the 2000 NHL Draft, he signed a record 15-year, $67.5 million contract with the New York Islanders in 2006. After numerous injuries took their toll, DePietro ended up taking a contract buyout in 2013.

Suter’s AAV was just $7,538,462, well under half of Celebrini’s average.

For a little more perspective, Jonathan Toews (UND) was next on the list with his eight-year, $84 million deal with the Blackhawks in 2015, defenseman Charlie McAvoy (BU) has an eight-year, $76 million extension with the Boston Bruins, and defenseman Zach Werenski (Michigan) signed a 6-year, $57.5 million extension with the Columbus Blue Jackets through the 2027-28 season.  

9) Recruiting Update

The end of July brought about a key date in the recruiting process, as August 1 was the first day rising high school juniors could verbally commit to a program. Henry Meier, one of the top American players and the grandson of the first Hobey Baker Award winner Neal Broten, committed to Minnesota. A day later, Joey Cullen, who might be a potential No. 1 draft pick in 2028, also committed to the Gophers to play alongside brothers Brooks, and Wyatt (No. 10-overall selection by Nashville in 2026 NHL Draft). He’s considered the top-ranked American forward in the recruiting Class of 2028. Minnesota has also landed USNTDP forwards Nash Roed, Brayden Willis and Freddie Schneider.

10) Offseason? What offseason?

The 2026-27 college hockey season opens Oct. 2. That’s just 60 days away.

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