2026 NCAA Frozen Four Finals Preview

The New York Rangers have benefited from the NCAA season winding down, as Brody Lamb and Drew Fortescue have joined the Hartford Wolf Pack and Rangers, respectively, upon their school’s elimination from the race to the Frozen Four.

Lamb has kept up his collegiate point production at the AHL level, as he began playing at just under a point-per-game pace (two goals, four assists for six points in seven games played). Drew Fortescue, on the other hand, picked up his first career assist in his first NHL game and has fit in nicely throughout his first few games in a Rangers jersey. 

The Rangers may benefit even more in the near- and long-term with two of their prospects leading the charge for their respective programs as they remain in the hunt for am NCAA Frozen Four championship. 

Malcolm Spence and the University of Michigan Wolverines will take on the Denver University Pioneers, and the University of Wisconsin Badgers will face EJ Emery’s University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks in the Frozen Four semifinals. These match-ups will take place Thursday, April 9 in Las Vegas with the winners battling for the championship on Saturday, April 11. It’s been almost 30 years since Michigan’s last championship, when they beat Colorado College 3-2 in overtime in 1988. For North Dakota, their last championship was a bit more recent, beating the Quinnipiac Bobcats 5-1 in 2016. 

Leading up to the most exciting weekend of the college hockey season, here's where two of the Rangers' top prospects stand.

Malcolm Spence 

One of the key storylines for Rangers prospects heading into this season was how Malcolm Spence’s transition from the OHL to the NCAA would go.

After back-to-back seasons with the Erie Otters, averaging 67 points per season in that stretch, Spence was ready for a new challenge and got off to a strong start with Michigan. In his first two games played, Spence collected two goals and three assists for a total of five points. While his production slowed down a bit as the season went on, Spence finished the year with a total of 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points in 39 games played. 

The University of Michigan opened their postseason against Bentley University and came out on top with a decisive 5-1 win. While Spence had just one shot on goal and a blocked shot to show for his effort, he would have more involvement in the game that advanced his team to the Frozen Four, picking up an assist in the Wolverines 4-3 win over Minnesota-Duluth. Spence showed good defensive instincts on the shift leading up to the goal, as he left a backhand drop pass for Jayden Perron which ended up in the back of the net, extending Michigan’s lead to 4-1. 

Spence will absolutely be a player to watch in the Frozen Four, as the Rangers need him to become an NHL player down the road. When Joe and Eric spoke with Scott Wheeler of The Athletic during last week's episode of the podcast, Wheeler mentioned the Rangers will look for him to become a bottom six forward in the future. Wheeler also credited Spence's strong start to the season but wouldn't classify his freshman campaign as a great year. The one x-factor for Spence compared to the rest of the Rangers' prospect pool is that he's a good skater who forechecks effectively.

This is a player who, similarly to Perreault, was a higher-ranked prospect who ended up falling on draft day. The Rangers were lucky to have him on the board when they picked in the second round, and should have hopes for him to become a potential middle-six forward when his time at Michigan comes to an end. As a freshman, Spence has played in the middle six and moved up the lineup as needed. That's precisely what the Rangers could use out of his game long term.

Michigan has not yet played Denver this season and will certainly have their work cut out for them, as Denver has been on a tear all season long with a record of 27-11-3. Denver fell in the Frozen Four Championship to Western Michigan last season and will be hungry to get back to that position, claiming what they left on the table this time last year.

EJ Emery

There was lots of attention on the Rangers' 2024 first round pick after a disappointing freshman year at North Dakota where he had just one assist in 31 games played. While Emery doesn’t play the type of game that calls for a high point production, you’d like to see your top defense prospect do a bit more to stand out in the NCAA. This season, he has picked his game up a notch, recording three goals and 10 assists for a total of 13 points in 37 games. He even carried a four game assist streak through the early parts of North Dakota’s postseason. 

His rise in point production as well as overall performance is likely a combination of several factors. For starters, North Dakota is a much better team than they were last season as they head to the Frozen Four with just nine regulation losses on the season. Last year, they fell to Western Michigan in the semifinals and now have a good chance of getting back to the championship game. Emery also had a full season of college hockey under his belt heading into his sophomore year, giving him more experience to back his efforts this season.

When Joe and Eric spoke with Scott Wheeler of The Athletic during last week's episode of the podcast, Wheeler did express some concerns that Emery still looks like he is a long way away from being NHL-ready. In a vacuum, that's fine—for now. Emery is making a run to the Frozen Four in his sophomore season, he likely has at least another season of college hockey ahead of him to make significant progress. If he needs time in the AHL, it's not the end of the world. But, ideally, you need him to be sniffing the NHL by 2028, if not sooner.

North Dakota heads to the Frozen Four semifinal with a pair of wins over Merrimack and Quinnipiac University. It's worth noting that North Dakota has not yet allowed a goal in this tournament, beating Merrimack 3-0 and Quinnipiac 5-0. While goaltending played a big part in that, North Dakota’s defense gets some credit here, as Emery has been a staple to their blueline, playing a key shutdown role in the top four. 

Emery was held pointless in the 5-0 win against Quinnipiac but picked up two shots on goal in the process. Against Merrimack, Emery had an assist on the empty-net goal to secure the 3-0 win, had one shot goal, and a blocked shot.

While North Dakota hasn’t played Wisconsin or Michigan yet this season, they have beaten Denver in one of their two outings during the regular season.