Jim ConnellyThe field of 16 teams for the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship was announced on Sunday with Hockey East regular and post-season champion Boston University taking home the number one overall seed. The Terriers were joined by Michigan, Notre Dame and Denver as the tournament’s top seeds. Overall, the seedings were as expected, though that … Read more
Wisconsin goaltender Jessie Vetter might need to make a shopping trip before leaving Boston after her Badgers team captured the National Championship with a 5-0 victory over Mercyhurst on Sunday. With all the hardware she’s taken from this trip, she’ll probably need a new suitcase to carry it back to Madison. Vetter, who on Saturday … Read more
It wasn’t easy and at times wasn’t pretty, but Saturday night’s 1-0 victory for top-seeded Boston University was still enough to earn the Hockey East championship over Mass.-Lowell. Playing a game that Terriers coach Jack Parker called “lacking the necessary intensity,” BU had just enough to hold off the River Hawks thanks to a perfect … Read more
The Cardiac Kids live for another day. Fifth-seeded Mass.-Lowell — which has to win the Hockey East tournament to advance to the NCAA tournament — rallied from a 2-0 deficit by scoring the tying goal with 19.9 seconds remaining in regulation before Chris Auger scored the game-winning goal at the three-minute mark of overtime to … Read more
A word to the wise for any coach that plays Boston University from here on out: don’t take a single minute of the game off. The top-seeded Terriers, after playing lackluster hockey for 51 minutes in Friday’s second Hockey East semifinal against No. 6 seed and archrival Boston College, scored a Hockey East tournament record … Read more
The 25th edition of the Hockey East championship tournament is upon us and within the next couple of days, a champion will be crowned. If the final four is anything like the quarterfinals, expect plenty of shock and awe. Assuming that the regular-season standings dictated a “script,” last weekend’s quarterfinals simply ripped that script in … Read more
The top 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award were announced Thursday afternoon, and the 58 Division I coaches who selected the finalists sent a clear message: scoring isn’t everything. Just two of the top eight scorers in the nation made a list of finalists that included five forwards, two defensemen and three goaltenders. … Read more
When looking for a hero in the deciding game of a college hockey playoff series, it’s not too often that you look to a freshman. Unless that freshman is Northeastern’s Alex Tuckerman. Tuckerman, who scored a big-time insurance goal in Saturday night’s 4-1 victory that forced a deciding game three, scored two goals on Sunday, … Read more
After Greg Cronin’s Northeastern team, the No. 2 seed in the Hockey East quarterfinals, dropped the best-of-three series opener to seventh-seeded Massachusetts on Friday, he knew things needed to change. Little did he know that his biggest personnel move would pay off in spades. Cronin inserted junior Kyle Kraemer, a winger who has played just … Read more
Friday the 13th may be known as the day that many horror movies hit the theater. Friday’s opening game of the Hockey East quarterfinal series between second seeded Northeastern and seventh seed Massachusetts played out as a horror on the ice for Huskies coach Greg Cronin. Northeastern, which a week ago was a single win … Read more
I won’t proclaim to be the master of the PairWise, but cursory analysis this morning makes me believe that BU may have already locked up the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament. Much of this is due to the strongest RPI and a sick, I am talking SICK record against Teams Under Consideration. … Read more
I won’t proclaim to be the master of the PairWise, but cursory analysis this morning makes me believe that BU may have already locked up the number one overall seed in the NCAA tournament. Much of this is due to the strongest RPI and a sick, I am talking SICK record against Teams Under Consideration. … Read more
For 142 days, the No. 4 Northeastern Huskies have held onto first place in Hockey East. After a 4-1 loss against No. 20 Boston College, that still may not be enough. The Huskies, who have been atop the league standings since the first day of league play, seemed like a team of destiny, particularly after … Read more
Before Friday night’s contest between Maine and host the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, the River Hawks honored All-American goaltender and current Edmonton Oiler Dwayne Roloson. So it only seems fitting that on the same night, Lowell would end an ugly streak that dates back to Roloson’s senior year. Paced by four power-play goals, including three in … Read more
When the Boston College Eagles took the ice on Friday night, it seemed for the first time all season they felt they had something to prove. After beginning the season number one in the country in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports poll, the Eagles have slowly and consistently fallen, and for the first time this season … Read more
Breaking Down the Final Two Weeks The finish line, my friends, is almost in sight. Hockey East has two weekends of play remaining with each team playing a pair of two-game sets between now and March 8. But even with the end in sight, what is visible is still pretty murky. There’s a two-horse race … Read more
After a 5-1 victory for Merrimack over Providence on Sunday afternoon, one has to wonder if the Warriors’ theme for their weekend series with the Friars was “misery loves company.” With Merrimack’s playoff chances slim — a Merrimack loss or a Maine win in the final two weekends of the season spells the end of … Read more
The old adage in sports is that it’s not always how you start a game that matters. It’s how you finish it. The New Hampshire Wildcats may beg to differ. For the second straight night, No. 12 UNH jumped out to a lead and held off a late charge by No. 17 Boston College after … Read more
The Quiet Conquerors “Quiet” is a word that is pleasant to the ears of Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon. He himself is relatively soft-spoken. A Harvard graduate, Sneddon speaks authoritatively but with little pomp and circumstance. Behind the bench you’ll see a stoic yet focused coach. His team, in a way, has assumed their coach’s … Read more
Success is hardly how you could describe Mass.-Lowell’s history when facing Boston College. Entering Friday’s game against the Eagles, Lowell had just 30 victories in 89 meetings, and sported an ugly 8-29-0 record since the beginning of the 1997-98 season. In one evening, the River Hawks released much of their pent-up frustration. On the strength … Read more