Paula C. WestonThe Bottom Look Like Up So, Michigan State tops the conference, followed by Western Michigan, Northern Michigan, and Bowling Green. Western Michigan? Bowling Green? While Notre Dame and Ohio State linger near the bottom of the standings, other programs more familiar with the cellar in recent years are seeing some daylight, and the team with … Read more
Reversal of Fortune Western Michigan’s in second place, and Alaska-Fairbanks is tied for fifth with #10 Northern Michigan. Ohio State has one win to its credit, and shares ninth place with Lake Superior. Notre Dame–with no league wins in four games–anchors the basement along with Nebraska-Omaha. A hole in the space-time continuum? A witch’s curse? … Read more
The NCAA and major juniors Hey kid–you wanna play hockey? You already play major junior? Not a problem. Just come south of the border and sign this letter of intent… The NCAA is considering passing legislation that will allow professional athletes to pursue careers at U.S. colleges. The sport this would affect most in Canada … Read more
Calling Dr. Kildare… Stop the presses! Hold all tickets! With one week of official play on the books, the CCHA looks a bit different than it did just ten days ago. When Josh Blackburn slipped on a Buckeye–at least according to the Michigan daily student paper–and tore ligaments in his left foot, Michigan’s defense took … Read more
Archrivals Michigan and Michigan State split the favorite’s role in the CCHA’s preseason polls, announced Tuesday. League coaches favored the Wolverines, while the media anointed the Spartans as the league’s best coming into the year. In the coaches’ poll, Michigan received 10 of 12 first-place votes and 140 points to edge Michigan State, which garnered … Read more
For Jason Krog, the road to the Hobey Baker Award and an appearance in the NCAA title game was a long one, literally as well as figuratively. Born in Fernie, British Columbia, the senior co-captain for the New Hampshire Wildcats and this year’s recipient of college hockey’s highest honor, was cut twice from junior teams … Read more
Ever drive 80 miles an hour on dangerously icy roads because you were worried that you’d miss the first drop of the puck in the Great Lakes Invitational? Ever risk losing your job to attend an NCAA Regional? How about attending the Beanpot on the same day as your wife’s grandmother’s funeral? Did you propose … Read more
It’s impossible to think of Mike York as someone who would intentionally hurt another person. The Michigan State senior forward — the CCHA’s Player of the Year and Best Defensive Forward, and a Hobey Baker finalist — is really just a soft-spoken guy from Waterford, Mich. “He’s kind of quiet and shy,” says Bob York, … Read more
Did you know that when the Spartans beat the Wildcats last weekend, they made a little bit of NCAA history? Wait a minute, you say — wasn’t it the Wildcats who beat the Spartans 5-3 in the CCHA semifinals? Yes, but there were two sets of Spartans and Wildcats playing that weekend: one on ice, … Read more
This weekend, three CCHA teams lived life on the bubble–and one was hoping that its hadn’t burst. The only team heading into the CCHA semifinals with a guaranteed NCAA berth was the Michigan State University Spartans, winner of the regular-season CCHA championship. Michigan, Ohio State, and Northern Michigan were the undecided cusp teams. Northern Michigan … Read more
At The Joe this weekend, Michigan State is the number-one seed, Michigan is second, Ohio State is third, and Northern Michigan is fourth. A year ago, Michigan State was first, Michigan was second, Ohio State was third, and Northern Michigan was fourth. This is the first time the same four teams have appeared in back-to-back … Read more
On Mar. 6, Bowling Green led Ohio State 2-0 late in the third period of each team’s last regular-season game. When the Buckeyes pulled Jeff Maund in favor of the extra skater, they left more than an empty net; they left the puck close to the boards, near the OSU blue line, and near the … Read more
It’s coming down to the wire, CCHA fan, just as it does every year in this tight, competitive league. Congratulations to the No. 2 Michigan State Spartans, who clinched the regular-season CCHA title and the NCAA bid that goes with it. Congratulations to the No. 10 Ohio State Buckeyes, who secured home ice for the … Read more
For the second week in a row, four CCHA teams are ranked among the top ten teams in the country. Last weekend, one of those teams, Notre Dame, lost to a team that was sixth in the conference standings before the start of last weekend’s action. Another of those teams, Ohio State, lost to a … Read more
Last year at this time, we learned that hockey means never having to say you’re sorry. In fact, we learned that the word hockey can be substituted for the word love universally–when used as a noun and not a verb, of course, but let’s save that for another column. Hockey makes the world go ’round. … Read more
When Ernie Hartlieb arrived at Miami University as a freshman in the fall of 1997, the campus he’d visited just once seemed eerily too familiar. When nearly every classroom, dining hall, or dorm the RedHawk forward entered gave him a peculiar sense of deja vu, he realized he had seen all of these places before. … Read more
Recently, the sparring on the USCHO Message Board among college hockey fans has reached an all-time high–or low, as the case may be. The flip side of such animosity is sportsmanship, even friendship. As CCHA Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online, I’ve met my fair share of poor sports; however, the majority of people I’ve … Read more
With all the buildup surrounding this week’s game between No. 5 Michigan and No. 3 Michigan State, an important story may be lost in the hype. Last Friday, when University of Alaska-Fairbanks head coach Dave Laurion announced his resignation effective at the end of the season, the ripples throughout the college hockey world were small, … Read more
Couple this with upsets, suspensions, and ties, and you’ve got a whole lot of CCHA fans who are getting downright squirrelly. Now, if your roommate or spouse or child is chanting, "Bring me Shegos" while watching The Shining, you may be witnessing some small symptoms of S.A.D., or Seasonal Another-call-goes-against-my-team-and-I’m-going-to-snap Disorder. Relax; this behavior is … Read more
On Wednesday, Jan. 6, the family of college hockey lost one of its most ardent supporters when former University of Michigan men’s ice hockey sports information director Brian Fishman died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. Fishman–or Fish, as he was known to most of us–had just returned from Winnipeg where he was working for Team … Read more