Paula C. WestonAs tight as last night’s 1-1 tie was between the Nanooks and Spartans, this game opened up in the second period — and all Michigan State’s way. After Jarret Granberg gave Alaska the 1-0 lead after one, MSU scored four unanswered goals to cap a two-game set with tonight’s three conference points in a 4-1 … Read more
Congratulations, Chris Bergeron, on your first collegiate win. Couldn’t you have done that on Friday rather than Saturday? Last week, I picked the Falcons to split on the road against Clarkson, and BGSU gifted me with my first wrong-way split of the season. I also picked Western Michigan to sweep, so woot woot for me. … Read more
Congratulations, Chris Bergeron, on your first collegiate win. Couldn’t you have done that on Friday rather than Saturday? Last week, I picked the Falcons to split on the road against Clarkson, and BGSU gifted me with my first wrong-way split of the season. I also picked Western Michigan to sweep, so woot woot for me. … Read more
Wednesday evening, I had a rare opportunity to catch Northern Michigan coach Walt Kyle as the Wildcats were preparing to leave for Oxford, Ohio, to face Miami this weekend. Given that NMU is 0-2-1 to start the season, I wasn’t sure what Kyle would say about his team. “I like our team,” he said. “I … Read more
In case you didn’t read last week’s “15 things,” here’s the deal. My midweek blog will pick 15 things that strike me in a given week. Why 15? This is USCHO’s 15th season. What will strike me? I dunno. Given the interesting things we’re seeing in the early going, I will state the obvious about … Read more
In case you didn’t read last week’s “15 things,” here’s the deal. My midweek blog will pick 15 things that strike me in a given week. Why 15? This is USCHO’s 15th season. What will strike me? I dunno. Given the interesting things we’re seeing in the early going, I will state the obvious about … Read more
Rick Comley, Michigan State’s ever-quotable head coach, gives us a good summation of the CCHA weekend: “I leave this weekend saying, ‘You know what? We can play with really good teams.’” Sure, he was talking about how his team performed against visiting Maine, but the line can stand for just about the whole league this … Read more
Rick Comley, Michigan State’s ever-quotable head coach, gives us a good summation of the CCHA weekend: “I leave this weekend saying, ‘You know what? We can play with really good teams.’” Sure, he was talking about how his team performed against visiting Maine, but the line can stand for just about the whole league this … Read more
Spencer Abbott’s two power-play goals 10 seconds apart for the Black Bears tied this game in the third period, but Dustin Gazley answered on the fly with 5:07 left in the game, lifting the Spartans over Maine, 3-2, for Michigan State’s first win of the season. “You look at their lineup and it’s a junior … Read more
As part of USCHO’s redesign, I’ll be posting my picks for upcoming games on Friday mornings and this season I want to start where I left off, with last year’s CCHA tournament. Why? Because I was right. I so rarely get to say that. In the 2010 CCHA tourney at JLA, I picked Northern over … Read more
As part of USCHO’s redesign, I’ll be posting my picks for upcoming games on Friday mornings and this season I want to start where I left off, with last year’s CCHA tournament. Why? Because I was right. I so rarely get to say that. In the 2010 CCHA tourney at JLA, I picked Northern over … Read more
The rookies Not only is it a shiny new college hockey season, it’s a potentially more interesting season for the CCHA than we’ve had in a long time. Three new head coaches and one single team with more freshman than returning players, plus the specter of the Big Ten and an 11-team conference with creative … Read more
As USCHO enters its 15th season, you’ll notice a few changes around the site. This blog is one of them. I’ll be blogging three times regularly, every week: once on Sundays or Mondays to chat about the doings of the previous weekend; once late Tuesday or early Wednesday to chat about something else; once on … Read more
As USCHO enters its 15th season, you’ll notice a few changes around the site. This blog is one of them. I’ll be blogging three times regularly, every week: once on Sundays or Mondays to chat about the doings of the previous weekend; once late Tuesday or early Wednesday to chat about something else; once on … Read more
Walt Kyle once joked that he had taken Northern Michigan to the CCHA third-place game so many times that the contest would probably be named for him. In late March, however, Kyle and the Wildcats were proverbial bridesmaids no more. NMU finally got the chance to play for the CCHA championship. It was just the … Read more
Alaska capped its 2009-10 season with the program’s first trip to the NCAA tournament, so it’s only fitting that UAF is picked third this season, the highest preseason prognostication in Nanooks history. How does Dallas Ferguson, the third-year coach responsible for turning around the UAF program, follow all of this up? With what got him … Read more
Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson is a fierce competitor, to be sure, but it’s probably a good thing that his experience has taught him a little perspective. The Fighting Irish finished the 2010-11 season in ninth place, far below expectations. Notre Dame just couldn’t seem to catch a break where injuries were concerned — no … Read more
If there’s one team in the CCHA that can be described as a typical, workaday, no-frills team, that would be Lake Superior State. There’s no shame in that. The team’s blue-collar ethic comes straight from coach Jim Roque, who gets every bit out of every player that he can — and the team gives, willingly. … Read more
By this point, most college hockey fans know what the 2009-10 Miami RedHawks endured, but it bears repeating, in brief. • Lost the 2009 NCAA championship game in overtime, after leading by two goals going into the last minute. • Lost a dear friend, 21-year-old team manager Brendan Burke, to a car crash in February. … Read more
Last year, the Michigan Wolverines found themselves someplace unfamiliar for the second round of the CCHA playoffs: on the road. After finishing in seventh place, Michigan swept Lake Superior State at home in the first round of CCHA playoff hockey before having to play through East Lansing to advance to the league’s championship tournament in … Read more