Todd D. Milewski

The WCHA and Minnesota State both sent word today that Mavericks center Trevor Bruess has been suspended for one game. The crime? Conduct “detrimental to the game,” the league said. How about a release to explain the release? You have to have some background knowledge to understand what the league is getting at when it … Read more

A few random thoughts as we close another weekend of college hockey: ** There aren’t many (weeks, that is) left before we get into postseason play. Two in Atlantic Hockey, the CCHA and ECAC Hockey; three in the CHA, Hockey East and the WCHA. Yale has a chance to put away its first ECAC title … Read more

Here’s an interesting case: Wisconsin moved into a tie for first place in the WCHA by completing a two-game road sweep of Minnesota on Saturday night, and it didn’t even move up into an at-large spot for the NCAA tournament. The Badgers are 15th in the PairWise Rankings — the usual cutoff is 14 because … Read more

With news Thursday that the WCHA women’s league won’t use the result of shootouts to determine tiebreakers in the league standings, everyone is in agreement. The CCHA and the Hockey East women’s league already made that same determination, and it only seems to make sense. Those leagues are awarding shootout winners an extra point on … Read more

After Friday’s games, the top eight teams in the WCHA standings were separated by eight points. After Saturday, it was seven points between first place and eighth place. At that rate, this is going to get ridiculous. But the WCHA, as close as it is, isn’t without company in the tight-standings department. In ECAC Hockey, … Read more

Alabama-Huntsville is applying for a spot in the CCHA, the Huntsville Times reported today. At the same time, UAH is expressing some interest in the WCHA, with athletic director Jim Harris telling the newspaper that it will send a “letter of intent” to the WCHA in regard to making an application. The WCHA briefly opened … Read more

Two teams. Two news releases. Two leagues. Two notes of support. Two different messages. That about sums up what we got today in the wake of incidents last Saturday night in the CCHA and the WCHA. First, the more severe one. Michigan State has suspended Corey Tropp and Andrew Conboy for the rest of the … Read more

Watching my e-mail over the last few days, I’ve noticed a few teams pointing out that they’re choosing to practice outside. Yale did so on Tuesday, taking to a pond on the school’s golf course for a skate that associate head coach C.J. Marottolo said “makes you realize why you love the game and how … Read more

I wasn’t surprised to see that the WCHA voted Thursday to suspend its moratorium on expansion. I was surprised — and commissioner Bruce McLeod said he was, too — that the vote was unanimous. You may ask: What’s the harm in lifting the moratorium? It doesn’t put the league on the hook to approve anyone. … Read more

Just a heads-up that the NCAA convention is next week in Washington, D.C., and during it, the WCHA will hold meetings that could change the college hockey landscape. The league meetings on Thursday include a discussion of the moratorium on expansion that has been in place since Minnesota State joined in 1999. Six of the … Read more