Things are starting to come together for the New York Rangers’ NCAA crop, and last week gave a few of them a chance to show exactly where they stand.
The biggest buzz belongs to Malcolm Spence, who wasted no time making an impact for No. 2 Michigan.
The 2025 second-round pick opened with a two-assist night in Friday’s 10-1 rout of Alaska Anchorage, then followed that up by scoring and assisting again in Saturday’s 7-2 win. That gives him five points through his first stretch of the season, and Michigan’s offense ran through him early and often.
Spence’s Friday was effective from the jump. He set up Cole McKinney for Michigan’s first goal just 23 seconds into the game, then added another assist later in the blowout.
The only sour note was a taunting misconduct after he helped on the Wolverines’ 10th goal. Saturday was even better in terms of production: he picked up a primary assist on Michigan’s third goal of the first period, a play that turned out to be the winner, then buried his second goal of the season on a one-timer from the top of the slot in the second period.
Now comes the first real test. Michigan heads to Denver next weekend for two games against top-ranked Denver, which also means a matchup with Rangers 2026 draft class defenseman Ben MacBeath.
Another Rangers prospect, Charlie Morrison, got his college career underway with UConn at the Ice Breaker Tournament. The freshman defenseman made his NCAA debut Friday against No.
17 Penn State and quickly found his way onto the scoresheet. With the game tied 1-1 in the second period, Morrison helped start the go-ahead sequence by feeding Alexandre Blais, who moved the puck to Joey Muldowney for the goal at 15:35.
That stood up as the winner in UConn’s 3-1 victory.
Morrison looked comfortable on the Huskies’ second pair, finishing plus-2 with two shots and an elbowing minor. UConn later dropped the tournament final 5-2 to unranked Bowling Green, and Morrison finished that one with a shot and a plus-1 rating.
At North Dakota, EJ Emery drew a top-pair assignment but did not register a point in either game against Bemidji State. The fourth-ranked Fighting Hawks needed both nights to finish off the sweep, winning 3-2 Friday and 4-3 Saturday.
Emery had one shot in each contest and was plus-1 on Friday, but the offense just wasn’t there. He opened as the top-pair right defenseman, though the source of concern is clear: he needs more production to stay there, just as happened early last season.
Michigan State’s Sean Barnhill also spent the weekend doing useful work without hitting the scoresheet. The sophomore defenseman logged five shots in Friday’s 6-2 win over Northern Michigan, then added three more shots Sunday in a 5-1 victory.
He finished minus-1 in the second game and took a minor penalty, but his usage tells part of the story too - his 19:56 of ice time was second most among Spartan defensemen. That kind of workload suggests the coaches trust him, and the shot volume is a step forward.
Raoul Boilard got his NCAA debut for Lake Superior State on Thursday, and it came in a wild one. The Lakers opened with a 7-4 loss to Lindenwood after giving away a 4-0 lead and allowing seven unanswered goals. Boilard centered the top line, picked up a secondary assist on Lake Superior’s fourth goal, and went 15-for-19 on face-offs.
He responded Friday with a primary assist in a 4-3 win, helping set up Lake Superior’s second goal as the Lakers built a 3-0 lead and held on for the split.
Ty Henricks started his junior season with a secondary assist in Western Michigan’s 6-0 win over Ferris State. He also fired four shots on goal and opened the year on the third line after spending most of last season on the top unit. In the rematch Friday, he was held off the board again, though he did add three shots and finished plus-1.
As for Denver’s Ben MacBeath, he only saw one game last week, an exhibition against the USNTDP Under-18 team. Denver rolled to a 7-1 win, and MacBeath had a quiet night in it.
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