Written By Frank Mills
The graduating class of 2026 has 296 NCAA Division I commitments to date. We took a look at where these commitments are coming from and how this has changed from previous years. For this class more than others in the past, there was a lot of movement between clubs – especially later in their pre-collegiate years. There were also a number of players who crossed the United States and Canadian border for their final season. For the purposes of this article, we focused only on 2026 graduates and identified them with the team they played for in the 2025-26 season.
The most glaring change for this class was the drop off in commitments from Minnesota public high schools, which was half of what it was for the class of 2025. The other major development was the doubling of European players committing to NCAA programs from 5% to 11% of the total. Most of the other categories stayed consistent with last year’s results. Players on Canadian teams made up 36% of the total, down 3% from last year, and players on American teams comprised 53%, down 4% from last year. The two biggest breeding grounds for collegiate talent were hockey academies and private schools in the United States and the Ontario Womens Hockey League (OWHL), which both had 65 commitments, respectively.
The OWHL produced 65 NCAA Division I college commitments for the class of 2026, over 60% of all the players from Canadian programs. The Etobicoke Dolphins (10 committed players) and Mississauga Hurricanes (nine players) led the league as they did in 2025. Other strong program representation included the Nepean Wildcats (six) and Barrie Sharks, Durham West Lightning, Stoney Creek Sabres, and Whitby Wolves (all with five players each). Wisconsin commit and former Shattuck St. Mary’s and Team USA U18 national standout Haley Box put up 66 points in 45 games with Etobicoke this season. She was joined on the Dolphins by the Bishop sisters, Rachel and Renee, Quebec natives who have played prep school hockey in Connecticut the last few seasons and who both committed to Cornell. Etobicoke teammate Maddie McCullough, committed to Minnesota next season, led the league with a gaudy 90 points in 46 games. Stoney Creek’s Aubrey Moorison, a Colgate commit, scored 76 points in 46 games.
Canadian hockey academies and private schools accounted for 25% of Canadian college commitments, with Quebec’s Stanstead College leading with nine players and Kelowna’s RINK Academy producing six. Stanstead’s Rosalie Tremblay, a Wisconsin commit who has been a mainstay on Canada’s U18 Women’s National Team, averaged just below two points per game this season. RINK Academy’s Hayley McDonald and Alida Korte, both members of the Canadian U18 team, have both committed to the Ohio State University for next season.
Canadian Tier I girls programs contributed 16 players, with heavy representation coming from western Canada. Alberta-based clubs produced 11 commitments, with seven coming from the Edmonton Jr. Oilers alone. The St. Albert Slash’s Madison Terry, who represented Canada on the U18 national team, will be headed for Colgate next season. Her teammate and fellow Team Alberta alum Tayla Lamabe has committed to St. Cloud State.
For players on US-based clubs, 42% played for hockey academies and private schools and 17% played for Tier 1 club teams exclusively. Additionally, 12% played for Minnesota public high schools while nearly one-third of American players came from New England prep schools where they played a split season with a Tier I club.
For Minnesota public schools, Warroad and Edina were the leaders with three commitments each. Minnetonka, which produced a slew of college players for the class of 2025, had only two players committed to play at the Division I level. Warroad’s standout goaltender Payton Rolli, a North Dakota native who will be playing for Minnesota next season, posted a 1.43 goals-against average for the Warriors in 30 games this season. Woodbury High School star sisters Alaina and Brooke Gnetz will be taking their talents to the University of Minnesota Duluth next season.
For US hockey academies and private schools, the pack was dominated once again by Minnesota’s Shattuck St. Marys (14 commitments) and Rochester’s Bishop Kearney (13 commitments). The Boston area’s Lovell Academy (10 players) and the North American Hockey Academy (nine players) showed themselves to be major players as well. They were followed by Minnesota’s Holy Family (seven players) and Lake Placid’s Northwood School with six commitments. Three Shattucks players helped win gold for Team USA at the U18 world championships this year, including Kylie Amelkovich (Penn State), Sloane Hartmetz (Minnesota), and Morgan Stickney (Penn State). Bishop Kearney’s Nela Lopusanova, a Wisconsin commit, has starred for Slovakia’s U18 national team for several years, and at this year’s tournament, she tied Kendall Coyne Schofield for the most career points (33) in IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship history.
Of the 46 New England prep school players committed to playing Division I hockey, 45 played split seasons with a Tier I team. Massachusetts’ Dexter-Southfield led all with six commitments, followed by Deerfield Academy and Phillips Academy Andover, each with four players. Connecticut’s Loomis-Chaffee School produced five college committed players. Connecticut and western Massachusetts players helped bolster the Mid Fairfield Stars program, which produced eight college commitments. Massachusetts powerhouses Mass Spitfires (12 players), Assabet Valley (nine players), East Coast Wizards (six players) and Valley Jr. Warriors (six players) made up the bulk of Tier I representation. Groton’s Christina Scalese and Phillips Andover’s Caroline Averill, who split their time with Assabet Valley, both head to Princeton for the 2026-27 season. Yale’s scouts were busy in the New England region, picking up seven commitments for the class of 2026 (Deerfield’s Chloe Cleaves and Sophie Frost, Dexter-Southfield’s Sawyer Merrill and Evelyn Doyle, Loomis-Chaffee’s Annie Schwarz, Noble’s Gretta Hulbig, and St. George’s Maddie Lahah).
For American Tier I club teams outside of the New England region, the Chicago Mission (seven committed players), Detroit’s Little Caesar’s (six players) and Pittsburgh Penguins Elite (six players) led in commitments. Penns Elite goaltender Bianca Birrittieri heads to Providence after an amazing gold-medal showing at the 2026 U18 world championship. Little Caesar’s continued to produce top-level talent, with Nina Geric committing to Syracuse and Natalia Dilbone committing to Quinnipiac.
European players playing on European teams doubled their representation for college commitments for the class of 2026. Of the 32 players committed to NCAA programs, one-third hail from Czechia. Of the total European players, 31% played for teams in Sweden and 19% played for teams in Finland. Swedish clubs Djurgardens and Frolunda produced seven commitments between them, including Barbora Proskova who heads to RPI and Maja Helge who head to St. Lawrence. Lindenwood University was heavily invested in scouting the European ranks, picking up nine players in total.