Tim Costello
When the calendar turns to February, it is go time for college hockey! There are less than a handful of weekends remaining in the regular season and that means that playoff eligibility, seeding and home-ice berths are all on the line across conferences where there isn’t much of a gap between a lot of teams … Read more
And then there were none… There will not be an unbeaten NCAA D-III champion this season as Hobart finally lost a hockey game to a determined Albertus Magnus squad in overtime on Friday. Just another illustration of the parity that exists where on any given night any team has a chance for a win. This … Read more
When you are the two-time defending national champions and have just established a new NCAA unbeaten streak (currently at 41 games), you might think that everything is perfectly aligned and calibrated with the 17-0-0 Hobart Statesmen. Not so for Coach Mark Taylor and staff who have a very deep roster that competes hard and has … Read more
“Punxsutawney Phil” may be telling us of an early spring or six more weeks of winter come Sunday, but he won’t be telling any teams how much time is left in their season as the calendar month turns to February. The only way to ensure longevity and more meaningful hockey games is to win. Pivotal … Read more
For anyone who might think that playoff hockey hasn’t started yet this season, just checkout the scores that featured 17 one-goal games (would have been higher if not for several ENGs) and 11 overtime contests in the east for the week ending with Sunday’s late action in the MAC and NEHC. Talk about a lot … Read more
A quick look at the conference standings in the east sees some familiar and expected names at the top of the tables. That is until you get to the SUNYAC where a very young Buffalo State roster currently sits atop the standings with a 5-1-0 record in league as they prep for the stretch run … Read more
The battles for conference supremacy begin in earnest this week as virtually every game has implications in the standings up and down the conference slates. While some of the leaders might have a false sense of security based on the current point spreads, no team is taking anything for granted with the number of … Read more
It was quite the weekend in the east as a new NCAA win streak record was established by Hobart, teams like Norwich, Trinity and Anna Maria displayed their game as they try to move towards the top of their conference standings and, of course, there were the requisite number of overtime and come-from-behind thrillers across … Read more
After suffering their first loss of the season last weekend to a familiar antagonist in Elmira, the Geneseo Knights rebounded in a big way with a decisive win over Fredonia and now face their final twelve games of the season in their new UCHC affiliation looking for a conference title and more. “Candidly, I was … Read more
Other than some mid-week games and the odd non-conference matchup to be found sporadically for the balance of the schedule, the action now turns to conference play and all-important wins and points. It is mid-January so if your team is going to make a run it would be best to bring maximum effort and execution … Read more
And then there was one… Coming up on the mid-point of January and the D-II/III landscape now only finds one remaining unbeaten team and it is the defending national champions from Hobart following two highly contested wins over Skidmore this weekend in NEHC action. The other unbeaten entering the weekend, Geneseo, saw their unblemished record … Read more
After winning the Northfield Savings Bank Tournament hosted by Norwich with wins over Plymouth State and the host school just after the New Year, the Hamilton Continentals are nationally ranked in the top ten and are looking to make a strong run for a NESCAC title with only conference games remaining on their schedule. “We … Read more
The action is heating up in the New Year and each team in every conference is about to launch the big push for points and results and maybe, a little scoreboard watching too! Lots to play for and not a whole lot of weekends to make moves in conference races and that makes all the … Read more
Happy New Year College Hockey Fans!! The second half is officially underway and although not every team was in action around the New Year, there were a handful of tournaments that saw Hamilton, Oswego and Salem State winning from the east (Brian Lester will surely have the updates on Wisconsin-Superior and MSOE tournament wins) while … Read more
Happy New Year to All! Well, it isn’t taking long for the second half of the season to kick-off in grand fashion with tournaments and electric, non-conference games on tap. Hopefully all the players went easy on the excesses of the holidays and are ready to pick up where we left off in early December. … Read more
For Keene State head coach Bobby Rodrigue, the 2024-25 season is an opportunity to see his new NCAA level team play an independent schedule and get acclimated to the D-III game before they become part of the new Little East hockey conference next season. After a slow start to the campaign, the Owls entered the … Read more
Dear Santa – we all know the greatest team sport is the game of hockey! It is where “we” is more important than “I” and where everyone doing their job from the crease out makes the difference in consistent performance and results. Wow, Big Guy, that kind of sounds like all your elves who always … Read more
The action is winding down heading into the holidays, but the remaining matchups all have some intrigue among the ranked and unranked still playing. With the light schedule comes some appropriately sized picks as I try to stay in the flow of consistent winners to close out the semester. My weekly picks finished last week … Read more
It was quite a weekend for ranked teams who played each other in the east in what was for many the final weekend of play in the first half of the season. Hobart flexed its muscles handing rival Elmira a couple of lopsided defeats to remain undefeated on the season while Geneseo with a win … Read more
The action so far this season has been fantastic with games featuring lots of goals or very few, blowouts and overtime thrillers and some terrific tournament surprises as we saw last weekend in the east. It seems like the schedulers have also left some of the most interesting matchups for the virtual last weekend of … Read more