The North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team at the Grand Forks campus of the University of North Dakota. They are members of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) and compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ice hockey. North Dakota is widely regarded as a premier college hockey school and has one of the most storied programs in NCAA history. UND has made over 30 appearances in the NCAA tournament, appeared in the Frozen Four 22 times, and has won 8 NCAA Division I Championships. The program has also achieved 15 WCHA Regular season Championships, 5 NCHC Regular season Championships, and 12 Conference Tournament championships. The school's former nickname was the Fighting Sioux, which had a lengthy and controversial tenure before ultimately being retired by the university in 2012 due to pressure from the NCAA. The official school nickname is now the Fighting Hawks, a name that was chosen by the university on November 18, 2015.

The Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents the University of Denver. They play at Magness Arena in Denver, Colorado. The Pioneers are a member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). Previously, they were members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), from its creation in 1959 to the end of its men's hockey competition in 2013.