Drury Named New England MVP by Hockey Writers

Chris Drury was named Most Valuable Player and Best Forward in New England by the New England Hockey Writers. Drury, an All-America center from Boston University and runner-up for the Hobey Baker Award, was voted as the recipient of the Leonard M. Fowle Award as New England’s Most Valuable Player and the Herb Gallagher Plaque … Read more

New Season-Opening Tourney To Debut In October

The Ice Breaker Cup, a new season-opening college hockey tournament, debuts at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago next October. The tournament will feature four Division I teams, one from each of the four major conferences,in a single-elimination competition on Oct. 11-12, the first weekend of the NCAA college hockey season. “The Ice Breaker Cup is … Read more

NCAA Shifts Tourney Dates

To avoid conflicts with the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, and to improve the opportunity to sell tickets, the NCAA is moving the Division I men’s ice hockey championships a week later. As reported last fall on U.S. College Hockey Online, starting next year, the hockey semifinals and finals will be played one week after … Read more

All-America Teams Announced

Led by Hobey Baker Award winner Brendan Morrison, Michigan boasts four members on the 1996-97 Titan University Division I All-America teams, the most of any school in the nation. The University Division teams, selected by members of the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA), consist of 24 players divided into East and West, First and Second … Read more

Matt Henderson: Wasted Years

When you feel you’ve wasted two years of your life, what tack do you take? If you’re ever going to be the Most Outstanding Player of a national championship tournament, you have to change course and make up for lost time. That’s the exact approach taken by North Dakota junior forward Matt Henderson. In the … Read more

Bob Gaudet To Be Named Head Coach At Dartmouth

Bob Gaudet, who was the goalie on Dartmouth’s last NCAA Tournament teams in 1979 and 1980, will leave his current position as head coach at Brown and fill the head coaching vacancy at his alma mater, according to sources close to both teams. Gaudet, 38, is expected to be formally introduced as the next coach … Read more

Tinkering With The Rules

The first full season of the Referee-Assistant Referee concept of officiating college hockey nationally is one game shy of completion. As most frequently explained, the Assistant Refs (ARs) are to call penalties the Referee doesn’t see. It’s an explanation that may not be completely accurate, but short of getting a court order for the NCAA … Read more

Face Off: Week 8

Welcome to U.S. College Hockey Online’s roundtable discussion. We’ll be debating a college hockey topic every other week in this space, where various members of our staff meet to argue. Sometimes serious, sometimes silly — but either way, watch the feathers fly: no punches will be pulled, and no quarter given, when these people face … Read more

On the Scene

I’ve had the pleasure of living in both Milwaukee and Cincinnati during my radio/TV career. I was the play-by-play radio mouth for the Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL, and the Cincinnati Tigers of the then-formidable CHL. The two locales are the reigning and most recent NCAA Frozen Four sites — two distinctly different cities and … Read more

Preview: NCAA Final Four

This is it: the whole season in a nutshell. Of the forty-odd teams which began the season vying for the NCAA Division I championship, only four still have a shot. Those four — Boston University, North Dakota, Colorado College and defending champ Michigan — meet this Thursday in the semifinals at the Bradley Center in … Read more

Finalists Announced For Penrose Award

The American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) has announced its list of eight finalists for the 1996-97 Spencer Penrose Memorial Award, given to the Division I Coach of the Year. None of the eight finalists, who include representatives of all four major conferences, have ever received the award before. The finalists range from veterans to first-year … Read more

Preview: NCAA West Regional

Scarcely had the NCAA tournament selection committee announced its seedings before the hue-and-cry began — especially in the West Regional, where the Minnesota Golden Gophers, fourth in the nation in the Pairwise Rankings, ended up the number-four seed. That puts the Gophers up against two Michigan teams: first Michigan State, and then the defending national … Read more

Understanding The Process

Over 100 letters have already passed through the desk of St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh. And in various ways, they all say the same thing: how lousy a job Marsh did as chairman of the NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey tournament committee. Many have come from Minnesota, and most haven’t been quite that diplomatic. … Read more

Preview: NCAA East Regional

Despite losing the ECAC tournament final to Cornell, the regular-season champion Clarkson Golden Knights earned the top seed in the East, and the consequent bye. Cornell, though, was sent out West, leaving room for two WCHA teams to join the action in Massachusetts. Colorado College and Denver will take on New Hampshire and Vermont, respectively. … Read more

ECAC Awards Announced

Regular-season champion Clarkson boasts two of the six ECAC First Team All-Stars, it was announced today. One of them, ECAC scoring champion Todd White, was selected Player of the Year by league head coaches. White was also the only unanimous First Team selection this year. He is the first Clarkson player to win the scoring … Read more

WCHA Awards Announced

Junior defenseman Mike Crowley of Minnesota was named the 1996-97 WCHA Player of the Year in balloting conducted among league coaches, media, sports information directors and team captains. Crowley, who was also named to the All-WCHA First Team for the second year, is the first defenseman honored with the Player of the Year award since … Read more

NCAA Tourney Analysis

Editor’s note: This analysis was compiled before the Colorado College-Denver game Thursday evening, and does not account for that result. This analysis is based on an examination of the Pairwise Ranking, the computer ranking system used by the NCAA tournament selection committee. The PWR compares each tourney-eligible team in Division I which has a .500 … Read more

CHUSA Names WCHA Players’ All-Star Team

College Hockey U.S.A. named its WCHA Players’ All-Star team for the 1996-97 season this week. Each WCHA school was sent 20 ballots for players to pick the best in the league. Players are not allowed to vote for their teammates. This is the 24th year of the poll, which was formerly run by WDAZ-TV in … Read more

CCHA All-League Teams Announced

Returning honorees Brendan Morrison of Michigan and Andy Roach of Ferris State and top vote-getter Randy Robitaille of Miami head up the All-CCHA First Team, announced by the league March 9. The team consists of the three highest vote-getting forwards, the two highest defensemen, and the top goalie. This is the third time Morrison has … Read more

ECAC Announces All-Rookie Team

The voting is in for the ECAC All-Rookie Team. The league’s head coaches nominated no fewer than 25 players for consideration for the team; voting, conducted to determine the top six qualifiers, identified six players above the pack — four forwards, one defenseman and one goaltender. The All-Rookie Team is as follows: Player School Pos … Read more