David H. HendricksonYou’re The GM It never happens in college sports, of course, but is a staple of the professional scene. There’s an expansion draft to provide talent to a newly formed team. A general manager must protect those players most important to the team in terms of salary, age, position and contribution. Forgetting about salary, let’s … Read more
From The Home Office In Wakefield, Massachusetts… Welcome back, my friends. This marks USCHO’s 10-year anniversary as it does mine writing here about Hockey East. For long-time readers and newbies alike, thanks for your attention. It’s been interesting to see this space evolve from previews of the weekend’s games to the current column format. The … Read more
It’s a whole new world for Vermont as it joins Hockey East as the league’s 10th team. As players and fans will soon find out, the Catamounts have a loyal following and Gutterson Fieldhouse is a tough barn to play in. “I describe [our reaction] as being excited and as a program that certainly is … Read more
Last year could not have been any worse for the Merrimack program. For starters, the Warriors fell to the depths of a 1-22-1 record within Hockey East. The team lost all 14 games after the first of the year. The players then banded together and unanimously called for then head coach Chris Serino to resign. … Read more
Some teams perform a last-to-first rebound from a disastrous season to a tremendous one. Last year, Boston University achieved an almost-last to an almost-first performance. Following the very forgettable 2003-04 season in which the Terriers finished a point out of last place, avoiding the cellar only by an overtime goal in the final game, they … Read more
Stop the presses. Boston College is picked to finish first. Okay, maybe you can unstop the presses. It’s become almost as predictable a rite of autumn as the leaves turning color, mornings growing cold and college students returning en masse to the Hub. Six of the last eight years the Eagles have been picked to … Read more
No team suffered a bigger early-signing loss to the pros than Maine. Chris Bourque left Boston University in the spring. Then, after the new NHL collective bargaining agreement went into effect, Lowell lost Ben Walter, Boston College lost Patrick Eaves and Maine lost Jimmy Howard. BC fans might argue that the departure of Eaves, the … Read more
For Massachusetts, last season was without question a tale of two years. In 2004, the Minutemen posted a 10-10-1 record. In 2005, however, the wheels came off and they plummeted to 3-13-1. Coming on the heels of the breakthrough 2003-04 season in which they finished third in Hockey East, the freefall was disheartening. On the … Read more
Questions, Questions and More Questions This year in Hockey East answers are hard to come by and questions abound. It may be the toughest season to handicap in the decade of USCHO’s existence. The predictions would have been considerably easier had not three late-summer defections to the NHL occurred. Boston College was the clear favorite … Read more
As the season beckoned and the sports highlights showed Ben Walter scoring goals in Bruins training camp, River Hawk fans had to feel both a sense of pride that one of their guys was making an impact at the next level and also a sense of disappointment at what might have been. With the 26-goal … Read more
Not to be negative, but new coach Greg Cronin has his work cut out for him. Northeastern finished sixth last year after two straight seasons in the cellar, which certainly amounted to an important step forward. However, the Huskies then graduated two First Team All-Hockey East stars in goaltender Keni Gibson and forward Jason Guerriero, … Read more
When new Providence coach Tim Army was a senior, the Friars won the Hockey East championship in the legendary 1985 title game, a double-overtime 2-1 win over Boston College. Getting PC back into the Hockey East title picture is Army’s goal. “Our challenge is great,” Army says. “We are in a great conference and the … Read more
New Hampshire’s talent ranks among the best in the league. When have we heard that before? UNH graduated two of the top forwards in the league, but still appears loaded up front with plenty of candidates to pick up the slack. When have we heard that before? The Wildcats should have a stellar power play … Read more
It hadn’t been done for 30 years. Now it’s been done twice in a row. Back-to-back national championships. Boston University achieved the feat in 1971 and 1972. Six times after that teams returned to the title game, but couldn’t pull off the repeat. Another four times they got as far as the Frozen Four, but … Read more
If you score a highlight-reel goal in the national semifinals, you expect to turn the TV set on later to relive your moment of glory. Your buddies will congratulate you on a truly “sick” move while the sportscaster extols your virtues for millions of viewers. So imagine Luke Fulghum’s surprise when ESPNews didn’t show him … Read more
If the decision backfired, the negative headline was already written: It Wasn’t Broke. All season long, Denver coach George Gwozdecky had employed as pure of a goaltending rotation as possible. Sophomore Glenn Fisher would take the opening game of a weekend and freshman Peter Mannino would follow the next night. Heading into the Frozen Four, … Read more
There wasn’t much doubt that at least one of them would be going to Columbus, Ohio. The only questions were how many and which ones? Several Hockey East coaches expressed the hope that the four league teams selected to the NCAA tournament — Boston College, New Hampshire, Boston University and Maine — would be placed … Read more
If it’s your first day at a new job, you don’t want the boss walking into your office while you’re playing video games. If it’s your first night out with a dream date, you don’t want a sudden attack of gastric distress. And if you’re Boston College in the NCAA tournament, you don’t want to … Read more
For some fans, the Bemidji State broadcast would be viewed later on tape. For others, the thought would never arise to record a hockey game, even one as important as the school’s first Division I NCAA tournament appearance. There were funerals to attend. There was grief to express, comfort to provide, horrors to exorcise. Five … Read more
They were the longest shot in the tournament. The 16th seed in a 16-team draw. As a candidate for an at-large berth, the Mercyhurst Lakers wouldn’t have made the Top 25. They got into the nationals in completely legitimate fashion, by winning the Atlantic Hockey tournament, but their season was supposed to end in the … Read more