David H. HendricksonIn the end, the hot team advanced to the Hockey East semifinals while the clock gonged midnight for Cinderella. It wasn’t midnight literally, but it did take 94 minutes and 18 seconds for New Hampshire to defeat Providence, 2-1, and earn a fifth straight championship weekend appearance. The Wildcats amassed a 61-35 shot advantage, including … Read more
Jason Tejchma had gone 12 games without scoring a goal, but ended that drought with the game-winner at 14:56 of the third period to give Massachusetts-Lowell a 3-2 win over Vermont. Tejchma and linemate Jeremy Hall had collaborated on a late second-period power-play goal to give the River Hawks their first lead and did so … Read more
Who’s King Of The Hill? It’s that time of year when ballots start circulating so here’s a look at the major awards from this writer’s point of view. Player Of The Year Can there be any doubt that the landslide winner of this award is Chris Collins? The senior is tied for second in the … Read more
A fracas near the end of a 4-1 Maine win over Merrimack tarnished an otherwise important victory for the Black Bears and a spirited effort by the Warriors. The incident, which occurred with 1:25 remaining, involved several players and Merrimack assistant coach Darren Yopyk. As a result, Maine’s Rob Bellamy and Jon Jankus received game … Read more
Down The Stretch So much can happen over these final two weeks — just ask Boston College on the negative side and Maine on the positive — but the Hockey East playoff picture has gotten a good deal clearer. Even though the potential exists for a five-way tie for first place. Yup, a five-way tie. … Read more
Boston University’s Beanpot championship owes plenty to two sides of Peter MacArthur, Dave Hendrickson says.
Bloodied But Unbowed Three weeks ago, the story surrounding Vermont was that it was ranked sixth in the country while being sixth in Hockey East. Now, that half-empty, half-full perspective has given way to double half-empties. The Catamounts are still in sixth place, but with the rankings having given way to the PairWise, they’ve tumbled … Read more
It’s steady as she goes for BC captain Peter Harrold, who showed his abilities at both ends of the ice in Monday’s Beanpot semifinal, Dave Hendrickson says.
Volatility To The Nth Degree A week ago, Hockey East would have placed only a single team, Boston College, in the NCAA tournament. For comparison’s sake, the ECACHL was enjoying a prospective four berths. However, one weekend’s worth of action changed all that. In a perfect display of how volatile the rankings are at this … Read more
Fess Up If we’re gonna thump our chests when we’re the toughest guy on the block, then we have to fess up when we’re having a pocket protector season. This week’s release of the PairWise says it’s fess-up time for Hockey East apologists. Only one team from the league is in the top 10, that … Read more
Coming Up Sixes They’re simultaneously sixth in the country and sixth in the Hockey East standings. Go figure. Admittedly, the Vermont Catamounts have games in hand against every other league opponent except for Maine, but even so there’s quite the dichotomy between their 8-1 nonconference record (with two tournament wins) and their 5-4-2 mark within … Read more
Letters To Santa It has happened again. Two years ago, I gained some weight and got the letters. Same thing this year. Once again snow on the envelopes has smeared the writing and letters intended for “The Fat Guy On The North Pole” got redirected to me, “The Fat Guy On The North Shore.” And … Read more
Vermont And The Hockey East Schedule All but the newest Hockey East fans can recall the scheduling problems the league faced in past years with an odd number of teams. Down the stretch, one school was inevitably the odd man out, sitting out a weekend or playing at most one game at a time when … Read more
Giving Thanks If you and your loved ones are healthy and you’re reading this column, then you have plenty of reason to be thankful. Not that this particular scramble of words is a sign that you’ve been fortunate. This week’s mishmash isn’t likely to be any better than the swill I offer up any other … Read more
What’s Goin’ On? If you can figure out what’s going on in this league, there’s a Nobel Prize nomination in your future. In non-conference games, Hockey East is 3-7-0 against the ECACHL and 1-2-0 against Atlantic Hockey. In past seasons, league teams were expected to win all the games against the Atlantic and a clear … Read more
By the end of the second period, frustrated Massachusetts-Lowell fans might have been wishing their team would stay on the ice for the receiving end of the Chuck-A-Puck promotion. Maine led 5-1 after 20 minutes and 8-1 after 40, en route to a dominating 9-2 victory. Fourteen different players contributed to the scoring, led by … Read more
A Hero Among Us Sacrifice is a word invoked often in team sports. Without question, the collective willingness to subjugate the individual for the greater whole is often the difference between success and failure. Here, however, it’s time to look at sacrifice in an even more significant context, one particularly appropriate in light of the … Read more
It was a storybook ending in more ways than one for the Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks. After opening the season with three losses in their first four Hockey East games, they headed into the third period against Merrimack facing a 1-0 deficit despite holding a 35-15 shot advantage. On the precipice of what could have been … Read more
First Impressions One new team and three new coaches. Look at their results and you’ve got four really good first impressions. Vermont, Hockey East’s new member, is now the only undefeated team in the league and has shot to 11th in the USCHO.com/CSTV poll. Last weekend, Providence, led by new coach Tim Army, stunned Massachusetts-Lowell, … Read more
They went almost an entire period without a shot. They allowed two power-play goals while scoring none of their own. They were on the road in front of a sellout crowd. And they won anyway. The North Dakota Fighting Sioux weathered several storms to defeat New Hampshire, 3-2, in the opener of a weekend series. … Read more