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Flames prospect Cole Reschny to return to North Dakota for sophomore season
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Photo credit: Steven Ellis/Daily Faceoff
Ryan Pike
Apr 14, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 14, 2026, 01:04 EDT
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After falling just short of a national title in 2025-26, one of the Calgary Flames’ top prospects is headed back to college for a second crack at the NCAA championship.
As the college hockey world was abuzz with transfer portal fever on Monday, the Grand Forks Herald‘s Brad Elliott Schlossman broke the news that 2025 first-round selection Cole Reschny, who just finished his freshman season with the University of North Dakota, will be returning to the Fighting Hawks in 2026-27 for his freshman year.
Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg also confirmed the news on social media.
Here’s a snippet from Schlossman’s report, including Reschny’s rationale for his return:
“I put a lot of time and effort into thinking about it, talking about it and weighing out the pros and cons if I were to sign or if I were to come back,” Reschny said. “At the end of the day, I just felt like the situation I’m in with the Flames, coming back for another year to develop and grow my on-ice game more and more is beneficial to me, so I will be that much more ready to play pro hockey and in the NHL.”
A product of Macklin, Saskatchewan, Reschny spent two seasons with the Western Hockey League’s Victoria Royals. He had 59 points in 61 games in his 16-year-old season (2023-24) and then 92 points in 62 games in his 17-year-old season (2024-25), leading to him being selected at 18th overall by the Flames in the 2025 NHL Draft. (A stellar run with Canada’s entry at the Under-18 Worlds didn’t hurt either.)
Reschny was one of the first high-profile NHL-drafted prospects to avail himself of the new opportunity for Canadian junior players to pursue American collegiate hockey, heading to the NCAA and joining the University of North Dakota for his 18-year-old season (2025-26). He posted 35 points in 36 games with North Dakota, helping them to get to the Frozen Four semi-final where they lost to Wisconsin – though Reschny nearly scored a heck of a goal shorthanded.
Reschny was named to the NCHC’s All Rookie Team and was named the conference’s Rookie of the Year. As a 2007-born player selected out of the CHL in the first round, Reschny would have been eligible to play in the AHL in 2026-27 under the exemption that’s expected to be formalized prior to this coming season, but instead he’s headed back to college.
With a bit of turnover at North Dakota, including Flames prospect Abram Wiebe going pro, Reschny will be leaned on even more in his sophomore season. We’ll see if he’s up to the challenge, and if it’ll help him progress towards going pro himself – perhaps as soon as the end of next season.

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