David H. HendricksonHockey East’s Pedro vs. Clemens Matchups Last Saturday, major league baseball featured one of the most exciting pitching clashes in a long, long time when Pedro Martinez faced Roger Clemens in Fenway Park. (A partisan note: Pedro is our hero while Clemens is a Benedict Arnold who nearly flattened the tires on the New York … Read more
A No-Win Situation Do you pitch to Nomar Garciaparra and let him hit a first-inning home run, or do you walk him intentionally in the third and seventh innings and let Troy O’Leary follow him with a grand slam and then a three-run homer? Cleveland Indians manager Mike Hargrove faced just such a no-win situation … Read more
Paul Kariya … Brett Hull … Chris Chelios. College hockey fans can point with pride to alums such as these who have made their mark in the National Hockey League. The success of these players is obvious to anyone with a TV or a newspaper box score. But for every college hockey alum in The … Read more
Not that anyone asked, but here are a few things that put a smile on my face, along with some random ruminations. • For starters, how about Jill Martin singing the national anthem? The seventh-grader took her knock-’em-dead renditions from Merrimack to the FleetCenter for the Hockey East championships and won over the crowd in … Read more
Teams that reach the NCAA tournament almost always have their game-breaking stars: the top scorers, the all-league selections, perhaps even All-Americans. But sometimes in the march to a national title, the game-breakers get stymied and the unsung players get their chances to be heroes. While Maine’s stars were hardly stymied in its 4-2 win over … Read more
Fans at the FleetCenter should get their money’s worth this weekend. Maine vs. Boston College looks like a photo finish, and anyone who watched Providence’s domination of BU on Sunday had to conclude that the Friars have a shot against New Hampshire. I may have gone 9-0 in my picks last week — no applause, … Read more
One skates with extraordinary grace and agility; the other came into the league looking like a powerskating dropout. One had already left his hometown by grade 10 in the search for stronger competition; the other played for his small-town Midget team throughout high school, his game not yet ready for the big time. One led … Read more
The playoff picture has become a lot clearer now with two weeks left in the regular season. New Hampshire, Maine, Boston College and Providence have all wrapped up tournament home-ice berths. While it’ll go down to the final weekend between UNH and Maine for the top spot, BC and PC are all but mathematically locked … Read more
My apologies for a skeleton preview this week. I’m on the road with minimal Internet access and no hope of contacting coaches. The usual verbosity will return next week. Hockey East Standings Record in picks last week: 6-3 Season’s record in picks: 105-56, .652 Game of the Week No. 4 New Hampshire (22-5-2, 14-3-2 HEA, … Read more
Ah, the rites of spring, or at least late winter. They warm the cockles of the heart. If by that you thought of the Beanpot just past, or of this week’s Maine-BC or UNH-BU matchups — as opposed to Valentine’s Day, you dummy — you’ve earned a few evenings of sleeping on the couch, but … Read more
Can it get any better than No. 2 Maine and No. 3 New Hampshire on Sunday, followed by the Beanpot championship on Monday? Get them VCRs running…. And speaking of the Beanpot, is there any better way to spend the first Monday in February than watching two overtime games in the Battle for Boston? Writers … Read more
And UMass-Amherst gave hope to Red Sox fans everywhere by defeating Boston University for the first time in 79 years. If the Curse of Elton Mansell — the Minuteman coach who won his only game against the Terriers back on Jan. 16, 1920 — is over, can an end to the Curse of the Bambino … Read more
This year, Hockey East instituted a Defensive Player of the Week Award to complement its other awards, which forwards and goaltenders traditionally dominate. After Maine’s first weekend of action, the league selected David Cullen. After Maine’s second weekend of action, the league again selected David Cullen. Two years ago, the Black Bears boasted the best … Read more
KOHO Player of the Week: Jason Krog (F, New Hampshire) scored three goals and assisted on three others in UNH’s sweep of Merrimack. In the process, he became the Wildcats’ fourth all-time scorer. He also leads the country in points-per-game. KOHO Rookie of the Week: Barrett Heisten (F, Maine) finished the week 1-4–5, including the … Read more
So I’m playing a pickup game and I decide to try that backhanded between-the-legs pass that Brian Gionta dished off to Blake Bellefeuille last Saturday for the Fox Sports New England cameras. Next thing you know, the guys in the other jerseys are breaking up ice in the other direction, my teammates are hollering at … Read more
Well, folks, I’ve been kidded about writing a novel in this space every week, but there’ll be no novel this time. In all probability, I’ll be on the road without computer access as you read this. As a result, this preview has been compiled one week early, will have no results or comments from the … Read more
So there I was at the Tsongas Arena back before the holidays, the clock was ticking down and then the buzzer sounded. I’d picked UMass-Lowell to beat Boston University, in part because of BU injuries, but the Terriers had proven me wrong with a 5-3 win. I was trying to type in one more paragraph … Read more
So you want to go to the New Hampshire vs. UMass-Amherst games this weekend? Good idea, since the Wildcats are one of the top teams in the country and the Minutemen have been a very pleasant surprise to date. When are the games? Well, you go to the USCHO schedules first, of course, but until … Read more
After watching the Governor’s Cup this past weekend, I’ve decided to institute the Hendrickson Forget-The-Box-Scores Player of the Week Award to be given to the player whose contributions other than goals and assists I found particularly impressive. Unfortunately, not everyone will have an equal chance at this award. After seeing all the teams at least … Read more
In late-breaking news, Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna has outlawed midweek nonconference games after the league went 0-for-3 against the ECAC on Tuesday. And not that anybody really cares, but should it be the Governor’s Cup or Governors’ Cup? Singular or plural? It is, after all, a competition between four state universities. There are, therefore, … Read more