Brian SullivanLast year Harvard looked to be on solid ground after Game 1 — a 5-3 win at highly regarded Dartmouth. The footing got a tad more treacherous shortly thereafter, as the Crimson fell off the map with an 0-8-2 tumble. The Ivy took three W’s in a row and tagged on a tie in mid-January, … Read more
Last year Yale topped the 20-win mark for the second season in a row, a feat the program had accomplished only once before, between 1984 and 1986. A seven-game winning streak entering the regular-season finale appeared to portend big, big things for these Bulldogs … but a last-day loss at local rival Quinnipiac proved more … Read more
Last year Dartmouth didn’t respond to an exciting, offensively dynamic fifth-place run in 2008-09 quite the way most prognosticators had imagined. Instead of improving on a scintillating combination of chemistry and youthful energy, the Green fell apart almost literally from Day One. Dartmouth lost its first six games — all of the league variety — … Read more
Last year When Quinnipiac rocketed out to a 12-1-0 start, it looked as though the Bobcats could cruise their way right into the NCAA tournament. Apparently, that sentiment was felt too deep in the locker room as well, as the Q-Cats dozed their way into a 1-11-2 slump and finished the year only two games … Read more
The whole point of a playoff series, as opposed to individual games, is to insure — to a certain extent — that the better team actually wins, right? It’s a solid attempt to diminish the number of “fluke” advancements by teams that simply got lucky. So how does one explain Team A, at 8-17-4, upending … Read more
Last year Another year, another strong run out of Cornell. The Big Red won five of its first six games and never looked back en route to its second straight 20-win season, and the first with a single-digit loss total since 2005-06. Senior netminder Ben Scrivens took home the Dryden Award as the league’s top … Read more
Last year At one point, Colgate was a respectable 7-5-4. Then, just like that, a four-game slide put the Raiders a deuce under .500. But they bounced back with nine points in six games, followed by an opportunistic three-game winning streak to close out the regular season that secured the ‘Gate a first-round bye. The … Read more
Last year St. Lawrence was looking pretty good as the calendars flipped over to February, sitting at 14-9-5 with four home games and three on the road to close out the regular season. Whoops. SLU fell face first with a first-round bye in sight, going 1-4-2 down the stretch and effectively — albeit coincidentally — … Read more
Last year Winning in clumps is a good thing, as long as the clumps aren’t too far apart. Rensselaer did that well last year, with two three-game winning streaks, three two-game runs and a balanced season: 9-9-1 in the first half, 9-8-3 in the second. It was not a glamorous year, but it was exciting, … Read more
Last year Clarkson started the season 3-2-0, despite a pair of tough road losses at Michigan State to open. Then the Potsdam crew hit a bit of a pothole, dropping 18 of 23 and falling to 5-20-3 by early February. Clarkson failed to hit the three-goal mark in 20 of 37 outings, going a predictable … Read more
Last year Just when coach Guy Gadowsky’s Princeton machine appeared poised to declare its dynasty, the gears began to grind. Defending Dryden Award-winner Zane Kalemba was never himself in net, the relentless offense finished a mere sixth in the league in scoring, the defense finished ninth in goals-against, and injuries were the culprit. From the … Read more
First, let’s revisit the last topic: realignment. The primary concern seems to be the amount of long-distance travel that the “new” WCHA would suffer, so let’s see if we can tweak it a bit. Second Iteration: Break Up Minnesota! Let’s try making things a little easier on North Dakota and Wisconsin – because, of course, … Read more
First, let’s revisit the last topic: realignment. The primary concern seems to be the amount of long-distance travel that the “new” WCHA would suffer, so let’s see if we can tweak it a bit. Second Iteration: Break Up Minnesota! Let’s try making things a little easier on North Dakota and Wisconsin – because, of course, … Read more
It’s mid-summer, that time when hockey burns the faintest despite all of our collective passion… but let’s face it, it’s tough to get wrapped up in the game on ice when the concrete is doing all it can to keep from melting. So in accordance with the time-honored tradition of presenting off-season hypotheticals, I give … Read more
It’s mid-summer, that time when hockey burns the faintest despite all of our collective passion… but let’s face it, it’s tough to get wrapped up in the game on ice when the concrete is doing all it can to keep from melting. So in accordance with the time-honored tradition of presenting off-season hypotheticals, I give … Read more
The rule proposal was released, the coaches were repulsed and that’s it, right? Wrong. Nothing is finished in the case of the controversial proposed change to the icing rule. Brian Sullivan reports on how we got to this point and what comes next.
The NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee submitted 22 proposed amendments to the rule book, to take effect at the commencement of the 2010-11 season and to become eligible for review following the 2011-12 campaign. The panel also recommended three experimental rules – which would only be enforced in non-NCAA contests – and noted two “future … Read more
The NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee submitted 22 proposed amendments to the rule book, to take effect at the commencement of the 2010-11 season and to become eligible for review following the 2011-12 campaign. The panel also recommended three experimental rules – which would only be enforced in non-NCAA contests – and noted two “future … Read more
Colgate forward Ethan Cox won the 15th annual BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award, presented at center ice of Ford Field’s ephemeral rink on Friday. Established to acknowledge extraordinarily conscientious NCAA hockey players, the award considers all divisions and genders. The senior co-captain was honored for his outstanding charity work in the greater Hamilton, … Read more
Thursday’s Frozen Four semifinals featured a combined 13-goal differential. Brian Sullivan reports that and other notes from the second semifinal.