Tim Costello
The newest conference starting in 2025-2026 is the Little East which adds a deep ten-team conference that merges the Little East athletic conference schools with some associate members from the former NEHC. The league also features Keene State in first season affiliated with a conference as well as the introduction of Western Connecticut State … Read more
If only the hockey gods and maybe a friendly bounce or two had gone the right way for three teams from the west in last year’s NCAA tournament, the Frozen Four would have looked very different. All of those teams from the NCHA (Aurora, St. Norbert & Trine) are back and looking forward to … Read more
The NE-10 never lacks for excitement as very few teams have been successful in translating regular season success into the D-II conference championship. Assumption is one of the few teams in recent years to do so. St Anselm and St. Michael’s seem to find themselves playing for the big prize frequently and often against … Read more
SUNYAC has seen its own fair share of changes over the past couple of seasons. First, Brockport and Geneseo departed to join the ranks of the UCHC. Two familiar rivals in Oswego and Plattsburgh battled for the conference title with the Lakers earning their fist SUNYAC title in many years. Now this season, the … Read more
The UCHC, like virtually every other conference, will have a new look this season with the additions of Albertus Magnus and Elmira from the now defunct NEHC along with St John Fisher which commences NCAA play this season. The new nine-team league will certainly add more excitement to the pursuit of the conference title … Read more
New looks, there are a lot of them this year across the D-III hockey landscape. OK, you might even say why is the guy from the east covering the WIAC? Well, like the hockey landscape so too has the coverage changed. I will only hope to be able to come close to all Brian … Read more
After an incredible regular season and sensational NCAA tournament with Hobart winning their third consecutive national championship, it was time for the annual USCHO awards. Now after further time to digest the season that was and begin to look ahead to the 2025-26 campaign, here are some thoughts on what was, what will be different … Read more
While the bid for the national championship fell just short in Utica last weekend, the Curry Colonels achieved significant milestones as a program including the CNE regular season title, the CNE tournament title where thy defeated three-time champion, Endicott, the top-seed in the NCAA tournament and a quarterfinal win over Hamilton that earned the Colonels … Read more
Sometimes the decisions on award winners are just fairly obvious. Case in point would be the current Player of the Year in the CNE; AHCA First Team All-American; Sid Watson Award winner; Joe Concannon Award winner and newly announced New England Hockey Writers’ D-II/III MVP in the person and goaltender that is Curry’s Shane Soderwall. … Read more
Among the many outstanding first-year players at the D-III level this season, two clearly rose to the top of the list with their exceptional play on the ice and helping their teams to both conference and NCA tournament success. Ryan Burke from Oswego and Landry Schmuck from Aurora are this year’s winners of … Read more
We all just needed to take a little breather after that amazing season and sensational national tournament, but no worries the intrepid East/West duo of myself and Brian Lester have come up with this season’s All-USCHO teams and the representation of talent on the ice is nothing short of spectacular. This year we have fifteen … Read more
The quarterfinal round shaped up with the top two seeds joining the action in the tournament while three of the four contests featured east v. west matchups that was expected to and did create a lot of excitement. They say the worse lead in hockey is a two-goal lead and the teams from the west … Read more
After a scintillating Saturday of first-round action, we now move to the quarterfinals where three of the four games are an east vs. west affair that will determine not only the participants for the Frozen Four to close out the season at the end of March but also the location for the semifinal and championship … Read more
The sole representative from the west that will be hosting a quarterfinal game is Aurora who earned the right with a 3-2 win over Wisconsin Eau-Claire in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Their opponent from the east is the newly crowned champions of the UCHC, Geneseo, who punched their ticket to the quarterfinals … Read more
The only quarterfinal game that does note feature an east v. west matchup will be played on Saturday when top-seed Curry hosts Hamilton. The Colonels received a first-round bye as the No. 1 seed in the tournament while Hamilton traveled to Maine where they defeated UNE by a 4-2 score to advance to the quarterfinal … Read more
In another powerhouse east vs. west matchup, last year’s Frozen Four participant Utica plays host to five-time national champion St. Norbert with the winner advancing to the final weekend of play. The Pioneers are coming off a comfortable 5-1 first-round win over Fitchburg State while the Green Knights advanced with a 3-1 win over the … Read more
Following last weekend’s first-round bye, Hobart will begin defense of their national championship with a first ever matchup with Trine on Saturday night in Geneva, NY. The Statesmen are unbeaten on home ice this season and look to extend that streak against a strong challenger in a Thunder team that knocked off Oswego in the … Read more
The first round of the 2024-25 NCAA D-III men’s ice hockey championship tournament is in the books with six teams joining Curry and Hobart in the quarterfinal round set for Saturday, March 22. The first round saw six games with three set between teams from the east, two from teams from the west and one … Read more
Here we are at the final three weeks of game action that will determine the 2024-25 national champions. Fourteen teams have made the cut for this year’s tournament and not without some surprises in the mix. Kudos to the NCAA (don’t say that often) for opening up the checkbook and spending some money to set … Read more
It’s a good thing the games are played on the ice because a look at paper with statistics and rankings such as national rank, NPI and tournament seeding has the NESCAC champions from Hamilton and CNE semifinal round losing UNE almost in a dead-heat in a head-to-head comparison. While the Nor’easters have been away from … Read more