For the second straight season, the EHL will field a main All-Star team, featuring the 'best-of-the-best' players in the league, along with two Divisional All-Star teams.

Opening up the College Series, the Northeast team (North and East Divisions) will play Keene State College on Tuesday, October 22nd and the Wentworth Institute of Technology on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Mid-Atlantic team consists of players from the Central and South Divisions, and they will face Johnson and Wales University on Wednesday, followed by a matchup against Post University on Thursday, October 24th.

Finally, the main EHL All-Star team will face SUNY Brockport on Friday, October 25th and Elmira College on Saturday, October 26th. 

“This event has grown as the years have gone on. Every year, the number of schools that reach out and want to be a part of this increases,” said EHL commissioner Neil Ravin.

As the league prepares for another round of NCAA matchups, here are some of the biggest storylines for next week.

The EHL will be facing a diverse set of NCAA opponents next week. This college series will mark the third consecutive year an All-Star team is facing SUNY Brockport; the Golden Eagles won last year’s contest 3-1 after defeating the All-Stars by a score of 7-3 the prior season.

On the flip side, Keene State will start its first season as an NCAA program and will face the Northeast All-Stars. A vast majority of the Owls’ roster are EHL alumni, most of which are freshmen while some players transferred from other NCAA schools.

The other four schools—Post, Wentworth, Johnson and Wales and Elmira—all have at least five EHL alumni on each of their respective rosters.

Going by last season’s records, Elmira may be the biggest challenge for the EHL All-Stars. In the 2023-24 campaign, the Soaring Eagles finished with a record of 20-8-1, reached the New England Conference semifinal and defeated #14 Endicott College in the NCAA tournament.

Lots of players around the EHL have had strong starts to the season, and most of them will be playing in the college showcase next week.

New Jersey Bears forward Owen House and Providence Capitals forward Deaglan Kelly highlight the forward group for the main All Stars. Both House (10g, 10a) and Kelly (8g, 12a) have 20 points through their first 10 games of the season. On the blueline, Little Flyers’ Cyril Jebousek leads all defensemen with 10 points (5g, 5a) through eight games. Avalanche defenseman Ryan Dann will be playing in his second straight college series, and he scored a short-handed goal against SUNY Fredonia last year.

Express goaltender Alex Koenig leads the EHL with three shutouts and sports a 4-0-0 record to start the season; he’ll represent the main All Stars along with H.C. Rhode Island’s Ryan Rhodes and Bridgewater Bandits’ Lorenz Hofer.

As of this writing, Pennsylvania Huntsmen forward Ryan Arendes (10g, 11a) and Capitals forward Daniel Kroon (9g, 12a) both lead the EHL with 21 points and will represent the Mid-Atlantic All Stars. Other notable names for the Mid-Atlantic team include Connecticut Nor’Easter forward Maciah Bascombe, New York Apple Core defenseman Paulis Leonards Paegle and Capitals defenseman Rodion Trushkin, who is the youngest All-Star this season as an ’07 birth year.

The Northeast team will have the St. Hillaire brothers from the East Coast Wizards, Daxton at forward and Cooper on defense. Joey Ala will also represent the Wizards, and he leads all Northeast All Stars with 13 points (6g, 7a) through 10 games. Vermont Lumberjacks forward Brayson Bennett is also off to a strong start with four goals and 12 points through seven games. Boston Dukes goaltender Brendan Nee, who leads all EHL goaltenders in minutes played and saves, will join New England Wolves’ Cam Reardon and Seahawks Hockey Club’s Isak Saldjoughi as the netminders for the Northeast All-Stars.

While winning exhibition games is not the primary goal for the College Series, it’s still fun to see which All-Star team can pull off an upset. 

Since the EHL started the college series, the All-Stars have won three games against NCAA programs, including one win in each of the previous two seasons. Last season, the Northeast All-Stars defeated Southern New Hampshire University by a score of 3-2. In 2022, the EHL All-Stars upset Nazareth College with a 4-3 shootout victory.

In addition to the upsets, the EHL All-Stars have pushed several exhibition games into overtime, taking programs such as SUNY Fredonia, Lebanon Valley College and Fitchburg State University beyond regulation.