Jim Connelly

Saturday’s second regional semifinal in Manchester is an interesting battle of two totally opposite clubs. Boston College features a senior class that has been to three straight NCAA tournaments and two Frozen Fours. St. Lawrence, having not been in the tournament since 2001, doesn’t have a single game of experience among its players, though head … Read more

New Hampshire coach Dick Umile is not only happy to have his Wildcats team in this year’s NCAA tournament, but he’s also excited by the personalities that surround him. In addition to the BC coaching staff that Umile knows well, he also has long-time friend Joe Marsh, head coach of St. Lawrence, in the Manchester … Read more

As much as I’d love to be able to provide in-depth blog coverage from all of the regional tournaments this weekend, unfortunately cloning has made the advances I’d hoped at this point and thus you’ll have to settle on getting the inside scoop from the Manchester regional. I’ll be up here all weekend, providing you … Read more

I’ve really enjoyed all of the dialogue that’s been going around this blog all week. Nothing like stirring the pot to get the masses of college hockey fans talking. Because there’s been such active participation, particularly from the WCHA and Hockey East fans, I have a question to pose: In regions where your league has … Read more

In my days in college hockey I’ve seen plenty of people give teams the ammunition to win. But in all my time have I seen such little respect given to a team that, in the history of the NCAA tournament, has more championships than any other club. Michigan will play North Dakota this weekend in … Read more

Well, a wild weekend of conference tournament hockey is finally behind us and the resultant is this year’s 16-team NCAA tournament field. Once again, the PairWise Rankings correctly predicted the tournament field. Over the years, I’ve noticed that the general public’s knowledge and understanding of the PairWise has certainly cut down on the griping after … Read more

To become one of the hottest teams in college hockey, skill, discipline and solid play will help get you there. So will a little puck luck. Boston College, riding the backs of two picture perfect four-on-four markers along with two fortuitous bounces that turned into goals, jumped out to a 4-0 lead early and held … Read more

After fans at the TD BankNorth Garden were forced to wait until double overtime to learn the outcome in the early semifinal, Boston College decided to take any suspense out of the tournament’s nightcap. Led by multiple-point performances by five different players, BC opened a four-goal lead through two periods and knocked Hockey East Goaltender … Read more

I just wanted to make a short post here to correct an inconsistency in what I’ve reported over the past few days about Maine’s bonus points. The Black Bears indeed will have bonus points tacked onto their RPI for two road wins at North Dakota, but Maine’s season opening win against Minnesota will not accrue … Read more

Is it realistic that the WCHA could have only three NCAA tournament bids this year? That despite the fact that the conference itself has the best overall RPI of the six conferences and has two of the top three teams in the PairWise Rankings? As scary as it may seem, the answer to that question … Read more