Jim ConnellyProvidence head coach Paul Pooley officially resigned Friday and will head to Notre Dame next season to serve as an assistant to recently-hired head coach Jeff Jackson, ending days of speculation about the future of the Friars’ coach. Pooley, having just completed his 11th season behind the Providence bench, will reunite with Jackson, after the … Read more
Canisius has found its man, and to many it comes as a bit of a surprise. Dave Smith, who was an associate head coach this past season at Mercyhurst College, leading the Lakers to this year’s NCAA tournament, has been hired by the Griffs it was announced at a news conference Friday. Smith replaces Brian … Read more
Atlantic Hockey will expand to 10 members beginning in the 2006-07 season when it will add Air Force, commissioner Bob DeGregorio announced at a news conference on the Air Force campus today. The league formerly had announced it will add RIT in the same season, which takes the total from the current eight members to … Read more
The stage was set and the story was all but written. North Dakota had risen from the ashes. Rebounding from a 15-13-3 record late in the season, UND rallied to make the NCAA tournament and pulled off three straight blowouts to make it to the national championship game against defending champ Denver. Add in the … Read more
Boston College’s Sarah Carlson says that she’s made volunteering a lifestyle. It’s that lifestyle and her commitment to helping others that has earned her this year’s Hockey Humanitarian Award presented annually to “college hockey’s finest citizen.” Carlson was presented the award at a ceremony held Friday as part of Frozen Four weekend in Columbus — … Read more
It takes six and a half hours to fly from Anchorage, Alaska, to Grand Forks, N.D. If you add in connections, plus the time it takes to get to the airport and home again, you’re looking at a 12-hour trip. On February 20, those 12 hours must have felt like an eternity for the North … Read more
As a hockey coach, you hope to rely on what is expected: that your top scorers will create offense, and that your goaltender can play steady, if not pace your club’s defense. Thursday night, North Dakota got those things in beating Minnesota, 4-2, to advance to the national championship game. The Sioux got solid goaltending … Read more
It was surprising to most that Denver and Colorado College combined for eight goals in Thursday’s first semifinal, as Denver came out on top, 6-2. More surprising, stunning even, was the fact that all eight goals came on the power play. Denver finished the game 6-for-12 with the man advantage, while CC was 2-for-8. For … Read more
It’s a coach’s worst nightmare. You execute your game plan perfectly. You dominate your opponent at the game’s opening. And what do you have to show for it? Nada. Zilch. Zip. After a sluggish start Saturday for defending national champion Denver that resulted in the Pioneers needing overtime to get past underdog Bemidji State, the … Read more
It was like déjà vu all over again. For the third time in two days, the top-seeded team in an NCAA regional was pushed to the brink. This time it was defending national champion Denver, with CHA champion Bemidji State fighting hard. But similar to Friday’s near-upsets between Boston College and Mercyhurst in the East … Read more
North Dakota knew it faced a difficult test in this weekend’s NCAA East Regional. Sioux fans will be happy to report that the team passed with flying colors. After blowing out Boston University on Friday night, the red-hot Sioux plastered Boston College, 6-3, in Saturday’s East Regional final to earn a bid in this year’s … Read more
Cinderella had more life than most expected, but, in the end, top-seeded Boston College ended the fantasy. Mercyhurst, which only qualified for the NCAA tournament by winning its conference tournament, gave the Eagles the scare of their collective ice, staying with the Eagles in aspect of the game but finally succumbing, 5-4, in the opening … Read more
He began the year on the bench for Mercyhurst. He ended as the league tournament’s Most Valuable Player having netted possibly the biggest goal in school history when his overtime game winner against Quinnipiac gave Mercyhurst the Atlantic Hockey Championship. Scott Champagne is simply a quiet, unassuming player. But taking anything for granted if you’re … Read more
Some may say that Boston College’s cup has runneth over. It might be better said after Saturday night’s 3-1 win in the Hockey East championship game that it has “Boyled” over. Sophomore Brian Boyle scored two goals, including the game winner on the power play late in the second period that broke a 1-1 tie … Read more
Boston College junior Patrick Eaves, who led the Eagles to a dramatic finish culminating in a regular-season championship in Hockey East, was presented the 2004-05 CCM Hockey East Player of the Year award on Thursday night at the league’s annual awards banquet. Eaves, who finished tied for second in league scoring with linemate Ryan Shannon, … Read more
Quinnipiac is hosting this weekend’s Atlantic Hockey tournament, raising questions about the Northford, Conn., venue; and Jim Connelly previews the AHA final four, all the way to the NCAA-bound champion.
Undermanned, outshot and at times outplayed — none of it mattered Friday night to the Boston College Eagles. The top seed in the Hockey East tournament survived an early onslaught from fourth-seeded Maine, got clutch goaltending from rookie Cory Schneider and, in the end, celebrated when senior defenseman Andrew Alberts’ wrist shot found the back … Read more
After its fourth conference championship, the Providence women’s hockey team is finally going to the NCAA tournament.
For Providence women’s coach Bob Deraney, a former BU goaltender, this weekend’s Hockey East Women’s tournament at Walter Brown Arena was full of nostalgia.
If you’re returning from a long trip or a month away on a deserted island, you might not want to let the Boston College hockey team serve as the welcoming committee. As goaltender Cory Schneider returned from nearly four weeks on the shelf with a knee injury, his BC defense allowed Massachusetts forward Matt Burto … Read more