Fan enthusiasm for the opening weekend of college hockey usually is tempered by a variety of ho-hum matchups: exhibition series with Canadian universities, regional contests that don't count in the standings and lopsided out-of-conference tilts.

After a successful weekend in Pennsylvania at the Fall Classic, 14 of the 16 USHL teams are back in action this weekend. Nine games are on the docket and there are several early-season storylines around the league. Without further ado, here’s a look at the week ahead.

Every year there are a few players in college hockey that are playing their first season of NHL Draft eligibility. The 2022-23 NCAA season, however, will feature no fewer than four candidates that have a chance to be selected in the first-round including three potential lottery-range picks.

Summer is nice, but if you’re a hockey fan it doesn’t get much better when the calendar flips to October. This year, the Oct. 1 will also bring the first official action of the men’s college hockey season with a series of exhibitions, but also a pretty large slate of non-conference games and even a couple of full-on conference showdowns.

Former University of Minnesota coach Don Lucia returned to the front lines of college hockey last season as commissioner of the CCHA. Until the third period of the 2022 NCAA Championship Game, it was a Cinderella ride for Lucia and his new league, with the Hobey Baker winner and an NCAA finalist shining bright in Boston this past April.

You couldn’t walk two steps at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex without running into an NHL scout or college recruiter. The top rows of each of the two arenas were lined up with black jacket-clad, notebook-toting individuals hoping that they might be catching a glimpse of their next big prospect for their NHL organizations or college hockey teams while at the 2022 DICK’S Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic. There was plenty for them to see, of course.

CRANBERRY TWP., Pa. – After a deluge of games on Days 1 and 2 of the DICK’S Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic, Saturday saw just three contests. With Thursday and Friday’s teams heading home, six USHL clubs took center stage on the penultimate day of the league’s premier fall event.

CRANBERRY TWP., Pa. – If there was a theme of Day 2 of the DICK’S Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic, it’d probably be goals galore. Every single game featured one of the teams scoring six or more goals on their way to victories. There were 38 goals total scored among the five games, an average of 7.6 goals scored per game. So if you liked scoring, Friday’s games were for you.

The chatter about prospects grows louder, breakout contender lists grow, and ‘way too premature’ articles begin to flood social media—that’s right hockey is almost back.

Shortly after lunch on Monday, the news was spreading fast up in the Soo: Lake State had been picked sixth in the CCHA coaches poll. The team’s captain sought out the coach.

CRANBERRY TWP., Pa – The 2022-23 USHL season is officially underway. Five games opened the action at the DICK’S Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic with plenty of good games and solid individual performances.

Starting Thursday, USHL players will be taking their first skate strides of the 2022-23 season at the DICK’S Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic. For some, this will be their first chance in a live game to show what they can do for the NHL draft, for others it might be their first foray into junior hockey, but for all it’s another important year of development as each looks to make progress to ascend the hockey ladder to the next levels.

After Columbus Blue Jackets towering president John Davidson folded himself into his regular spot at Traverse City’s Molon Arena, hovering 12 rows over the defensive zone hashmarks for the entire NHL Prospects Tournament, he spent most of his time studying his favorite position: goaltender.

The 2022-23 USHL season begins Thursday at the DICK’s Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic near Pittsburgh, Pa. All 16 teams will play their first two regular-season games at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex as part of the league’s annual season-opening showcase.

The 2022-23 USHL season begins Thursday at the DICK’s Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic near Pittsburgh, Pa. All 16 teams will play their first two regular-season games at the UPMC Lemieux Family Sports Complex as part of the league’s annual season-opening showcase.