The Ducks will have six prospects participate in the 2026 NCAA Hockey Tournament beginning tomorrow, Thursday, March 26. Center Roger\u00a0McQueen\u00a0(Providence College), center\u00a0Eric\u00a0Nilson\u00a0(Michigan State), defenseman\u00a0Drew\u00a0Schock\u00a0(Michigan), center\u00a0Alexandre\u00a0Blais\u00a0and defenseman\u00a0Anthony\u00a0Allain-Samake\u00a0(UConn) and right wing\u00a0Kyle\u00a0Kukkonen\u00a0(Wisconsin) will represent their respective schools in the 16-team tournament.<\/p>\n
They can join three current Ducks players in winning an\u00a0NCAA championship title: Chris Kreider (Boston College, 2010 & 2012), Troy Terry (University of Denver, 2017) and Tim Washe (Western Michigan, 2025).<\/p>\n
Roger\u00a0McQueen \u2013 Center, Providence – Anaheim first round (10th overall) in 2025
McQueen was named the Hockey East Rookie of the Year in 2025-26, the fourth Friar overall to win the league’s award. McQueen scored 11-16=27 points with a +6 rating and 45 penalty minutes (PIM) in 35 games. He was also named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team. Among Providence leaders, he ranked second in points and assists, and was tied for third in goals. He also ranked eighth nationally among rookies with 313 faceoff wins (313-568, 55.1%).<\/p>\n
Eric\u00a0Nilson \u2013 Center, Michigan State – Anaheim second round (45th overall) in 2025
In his freshman season, Nilson scored 3-8=11 points with a +6 rating and 37 PIM in 33 games for the top seed in the Albany Regional with a 25-8-2 record. He recorded his first collegiate goal Oct. 17 in a 4-2 victory over Boston and recorded a career-best three-game point\/assist streak Jan. 15-23 (0-3=3, +1). Nilson also helped Sweden to a gold medal at the 2026 World Junior Championship, scoring 1-2=3 points in seven tournament games.<\/p>\n
Drew\u00a0Schock \u2013 Defenseman, Michigan – Anaheim fourth round (101st overall) in 2025
In his freshman season, Schock recorded 1-9=10 points with a +5 rating and 22 PIM for the tournament\u2019s No. 1 seed Wolverines with a 29-7-1 record in 2025-26. He scored his first career NCAA goal as part of a multi-point game Oct. 10 at Providence.<\/p>\n
Anthony\u00a0Allain-Samake \u2013 Defenseman, UConn – Anaheim sixth round (168th overall) in 2025
In his freshman season, Allain-Samake helped UConn to the Hockey East championship game after scoring 1-8=9 points with a +1 rating in 37 games. He finished the season ranking fourth among UConn blueliners in scoring and assists. UConn posted a 20-12-5 record this season and is making its second straight appearance in the NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n
Alexandre Blais \u2013 Center, UConn – Anaheim fourth round (100th overall) in 2024
In his freshman season after three seasons with Rimouski in the QMJHL, Blais scored 6-13=19 points with a +2 rating in 37 games this season. Among UConn leaders, he was fourth in assists, helping UConn to a 20-12-5 record and its second-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament (also 2025). Blais recorded a career-best four-game point streak, Nov. 21-Dec. 5 (2-2=4, +2).<\/p>\n
Kyle\u00a0Kukkonen \u2013 Right wing, Wisconsin – Anaheim sixth round (162nd overall) in 2021
In his senior season, Kukkonen scored 2-4=6 points in 24 games. In his first season with Wisconsin as a junior in 2024-25, he recorded 10-9=19 points in 37 games, ranking third among Badgers skaters in goals, fourth in scoring and ninth in assists. Kukkonen will make his second tournament appearance, having helped Michigan Tech to the Providence Regional Semifinal as their alternate captain in 2024.<\/p>\n
*
2026\u00a0NCAA Tournament Schedule (Ducks Players):*<\/p>\n
Thursday, March 26<\/p>\n
Providence (McQueen) vs. Quinnipiac, 2 p.m. PT (ESPN+) \u2013 Sioux Falls Regional
\nMichigan State (Nilson) vs. UConn (Blais, Allain-Samake), 10:30 a.m. PT (ESPN2) \u2013 Worcester Regional
\nWisconsin (Kukkonen) vs. Dartmouth, 2 p.m. (ESPNU) \u2013 Worcester Regional<\/p>\n
Friday, March 27<\/p>\n
Michigan (Schock) vs. Bentley, 2:30 p.m. PT (ESPNU) \u2013 Albany Regional<\/p>\n
Saturday, March 28<\/p>\n
\\Sioux Falls Regional final, time and broadcast TBD
\n *Worcester Regional final, time and broadcast TBD<\/p>\n
Sunday, March 29<\/p>\n
Albany Regional Championship, time and broadcast TBD<\/p>\n
Frozen Four Schedule \u2013 April 11 and 13<\/p>\n
T-Mobile Arena – Las Vegas, Nevada<\/p>\n
Semifinal Games
Thursday, April 9, 2 and 5:30 p.m. PT, ESPN2 (order of games TBD)<\/p>\n
Sioux Falls Regional Champion vs. Worcester Regional Champion (ESPN2)
\nAlbany Regional Champion vs.\u00a0Loveland Regional Champion (ESPN2)<\/p>\n
National Championship Game<\/p>\n
Saturday, April 11, 2:30\u00a0p.m. PT, ESPN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ducks will have six prospects participate in the 2026 NCAA Hockey Tournament beginning tomorrow, Thursday, March 26.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-236618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}