Tim Costello
The teams you expect to be playing well are for the most part, but a growing list of teams off to a good start are in position to show why they are ready to contend in their respective conferences. Points are important in any conference game and teams are focused on earning them. Last week … Read more
Following this weekend’s two wins over conference rivals Massachusetts-Boston and Babson, the New England College Pilgrims are off to a 3-1-0 start to the NEHC season. Leading the way with ten goals in his first six games is sophomore forward Nikita Pintusov whose nose for the net has the Pilgrims scoring in bunches. “It was … Read more
Several “statement” games were played in conference play with some surprising results. Oh, and then were the dramatic last second goals for wins from Endicott and Brockport. The coaches always say it needs to be a sixty-minute effort, so it really hurts when 59:59 or 64:59 isn’t good enough. Here is this week’s recap of … Read more
There seemed to be a lot of scoring last week with several teams posting six or more goals in conference play contests. This week the story may be more focused on the defensive end and whether Norwich will surrender a goal after three shutout games to open the season. Great contender match-ups this weekend to … Read more
For head coach Kyle Wallack, the road to Albertus Magnus’ first season as an NCAA D-III program took about 700 days but he believes he has the right recruits and built the foundation for a solid and competitive program in the highly competitive New England hockey landscape. Going 0-2-2 in their first four games, Coach … Read more
The road to the championship in recent years has often traveled through Hartford, Connecticut and the Trinity Bantams. This year there is maybe reason to believe that the overall depth and talent across the conference will lead to yet another dynamic race right into February where several teams could lay claim to the title … Read more
Last year’s surprise team from Wilkes saw head coach Brett Riley step down to take and assistant coach position with Colgate from the ECAC. New head coach Tyler Hynes inherits a solid team that knows how much of a battle every game is in the UCHC. The pre-season coaches’ poll showed some of the usual … Read more
The sole D-II conference in college hockey is now a seven-team league with Post University officially joining the NE-10 hockey conference. That addition sets up an 18-game conference schedule with each team playing league opponents three times. The addition of Post does not change the playoff structure where only the top four teams will qualify … Read more
If you wanted to see lots of goal scoring then this was the weekend for you as teams like UNE, Norwich and Hobart showed off some firepower in conference play. The UCHC saw a lot of goals too as Elmira, Nazareth and Utica all had big offensive nights in big conference wins. Great action everywhere … Read more
Entering this weekend against the defending national champions from Minnesota Duluth, the 8-0 and top-ranked ranked Denver Pioneers see only an opportunity to continue their journey and growth as a hockey team (photo: Denver Athletics).
It was an outstanding opening weekend with favored wins, upsets galore and some overtime thrillers. Looking for more of the same this week as more conferences jump into league play this week raising the sense of urgency for wins and points. Last week my picks finished at 6-2-1 (.722) so off to a good start … Read more
The Curry Colonels made a splash on the opening weekend of the season when they knocked off not one, but two ranked opponents on the road in come-from-behind fashion. The wins moved Curry into the national rankings, but as conference play begins this weekend, head coach TJ Manastersky is hoping the momentum and experience building … Read more
Nothing like starting the season with NCAA tournament contenders from a year ago facing-off to start the 19-20 campaign. Play is just starting, and we are already seeing great match-ups like UNE v. Norwich, Salve Regina v. Plymouth State, and Geneseo v. Plattsburgh just to name three games featuring nationally ranked teams or pre-season favorites … Read more
Plymouth State won the conference last year winning both the regular season and conference tournament to punch their ticket into the NCAA tournament. The path was not an easy one as teams like Massachusetts-Dartmouth and Westfield State made end of season runs to challenge for the championship. If there is a conference where last year’s … Read more
The CCC will be creating more excitement in conference games this year as they adopt new overtime rules for conference standings purposes only during the regular season. Games will still go through a five-minute overtime period if game is tied after regulation time and that result at the end of overtime will be the official … Read more
The conference has already made news with the announcement of Elmira joining the NEHC in a couple of seasons matching the move made by Hobart a couple of seasons ago. For this year, the competition is again expected to be at a high level as four teams are included in the pre-season rankings. Last year’s … Read more
Last year’s surprise team from Wilkes saw head coach Brett Riley step down to take and assistant coach position with Colgate from the ECAC. New head coach Tyler Hynes inherits a solid team that knows how much of a battle every game is in the UCHC. The pre-season coaches’ poll showed some of the usual … Read more
There is a new-old coach in Plattsburgh as long-time assistant Steve Moffat takes the reins following Bob Emery’s retirement and move to become the Head of Hockey Operations at Merrimack College. Moffatt has a lot of familiarity with the Cardinal program and should have them battling among the favorites despite a young roster that includes … Read more
While most teams are kicking off the new season with non-conference action, the SUNYAC teams will be jumping right into some key conference match-ups while there are other ranked teams looking to get a fast start early in the campaign. It is just great to have D-III hockey starting the season and it certainly looks … Read more
With the best goals-against numbers in the nation and having set a single-season shutout record for NCAA competition, Geneseo goaltender Devin McDonals is the USCHO Player of the Year for 2019.