This Week in NCHC Hockey: Away from the rink, North Dakota’s Driscoll finding pickleball a rewarding, humbling experience

We can’t all be the Tom Brady of our sport, but North Dakota goaltender Zach Driscoll feels he has a couple of irons in the fire. A graduate student who played the last three hockey seasons at Bemidji State, Driscoll in the summer of 2020 was introduced to the sport of pickleball by fellow Twin … Read more

NCHC 2021-22 Season Preview: With ‘hopefully a normal season to come,’ conference seeing balance throughout teams

October is basically hockey’s spring. Hope abounds for each new season, and this time around, that extends to what’s going on amid a pandemic that has affected all of us for a year and a half. NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton knows all about that. Lucky guy. When the conference began play eight years ago, he … Read more

Frozen Four College Hockey Team Preview: St. Cloud State without Brodzinski, but still hungry to win two more games in Pittsburgh

This is the second of four team previews for the teams that have reached the Frozen Four this week in Pittsburgh. ST. CLOUD STATE Season record: 16-9-0 How they got to Pittsburgh: Beat Boston University 6-2, beat Boston College 4-1 in the Northeast regional Top players: Freshman forward Veeti Miettinen (11-13-24), sophomore forward Jami Krannila … Read more

Hockey Humanitarian Award finalist spotlight: Saint Mary’s women’s captain Wolf ‘going to accomplish whatever she wants to do’

Volunteerism has taken on a different look during the COVID-19 pandemic, but one thing hasn’t changed for Saint Mary’s women’s hockey coach Sarah Murray: She doesn’t know how her captain gets enough sleep.

It’s no surprise that Cardinals senior defenseman Delaney Wolf is a Hockey Humanitarian Award finalist for the second year running.

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Conference embracing involvement with College Hockey for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

More and more, athletes and coaches around the sports world are increasing their commitment to positive cultural changes while making their spheres more welcoming.

The same goes for college hockey, including in the NCHC.

League commissioner Josh Fenton, Omaha assistant coach Paul Jerrard and North Dakota forward Jasper Weatherby are each involved in College Hockey for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, a task force that was unveiled earlier this month but has been meeting since last summer.

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Nebraska product, Western Michigan senior Frank takes in pod on native turf

The city of Ethen Frank’s birth and the metro area in which he spent much of his youth both have NCHC teams, but the Western Michigan senior forward plays for neither of them. More and more, Denver and Omaha’s loss has been the Broncos’ gain. Frank just finished a nearly month-long stay between Omaha, Neb., … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Midway through pod play in Omaha, positives aplenty, according to UNO’s Kemp

When former Omaha coach Mike Kemp became the school’s associate athletic director for events and facilities in March of 2019, he couldn’t have anticipated the kinds of hours he’s working these days. Under normal circumstances — remember those? — Kemp would keep regular weekday hours at his Baxter Arena office and show up a couple … Read more

NCHC 2020-21 Season Preview: Omaha ‘pod’ kicks off what may be surreal hockey season for league teams

It seems surreal. The last time I sat down at my computer to do a story on the NCHC, I had interviewed Denver coach David Carle about the abrupt end to the college hockey season. Carle, in a statement that seems prescient, said, “I think the lesson to be learned, or one of the many, … Read more

After leading turnaround season in 2019-20, North Dakota’s Berry tabbed USCHO Coach of the Year

North Dakota finished the NCAA tournament-less season first in the PairWise Rankings. It was some season for the Hawks, recovering in a big way after missing back-to-back NCAA tournaments for the first time since the mid-1990s. Because of that turnaround, UND’s Brad Berry has been voted as USCHO Coach of the Year (photo: Bradley K. Olson).

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Western Michigan has to keep winning to have NCAA tournament hopes

Western Michigan’s 5-2 home win last Friday against Miami, combined with St. Cloud State’s loss that night against Minnesota Duluth, clinched a home-ice playoff spot for WMU. Another Bronco win Saturday kept Western in with a shot at qualifying for the NCAA tournament. The Broncos aren’t there yet, though (photo: Bradley K. Olson).

North Dakota playing as one unit, ‘knowing that everybody is doing their job instead of doing something outside of your job’

Good hockey teams know how to redeem themselves following a setback. Great teams don’t worry about having that happen too often. This season’s North Dakota team is comfortably somewhere on that line, with the Fighting Hawks looking at holding the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA tournament if it began today (photo: Jim Rosvold).