Archive of USCHO’s blog content
First things first There are two regular-season games remaining. Here is where your team, your rival, and everyone else may finish. Controlling fate For three teams, a bye is theirs to lose. Ok, so QU has it wrapped up. Quinnipiac… seriously? First. First and first only. Don’t be ridiculous. Rensselaer: Second through sixth. Two points … Read more
Note: Penn State and Wisconsin are set to take part in a rare Sunday-Monday series in Madison, Wis.. The two-game set was pushed back due to the Wisconsin high school wrestling championships taking place at UW’s Kohl Center over the past few days. Penn State at No. 18 Wisconsin: Matthew: I can’t get over a … Read more
Last week: 3-7-1 Overall: 85-88-29 Quinnipiac’s unbeaten streak finally ended last weekend. Now the Bobcats will be looking for their second win this month against local rival Yale. That game, which will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network, is the highlight of the weekend, along with senior nights for Princeton, Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Cornell, … Read more
Last Week: 7-5-1 On the Season: 122-62-26 (.643) This Week’s Picks: Friday, Feb. 22 and Saturday, Feb. 23 Holy Cross vs. AIC – The Yellow Jackets are one of the hottest teams in the league while the Crusaders had a huge stumble on Tuesday, a 7-3 loss to previously winless Sacred Heart. I’m reversing … Read more
It is the most wonderful time of the year, playoff hockey time! Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association quarterfinals start this weekend with two exciting match-ups. Lawrence will be hosting Northland in a tight defensive battle, while Lake Forest is traveling to its rival, the Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders. The winners this weekend will face either … Read more
I’ve been predicting NCHA games since the beginning of November, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: picking winners in this conference is difficult. With two top-five teams and two others on the cusp of reaching the USCHO.com Top 15, it’s hard to argue against the NCHA being the most competitive league in … Read more
So, my final regular season picks finished at 4-2-0 (.667). Admittedly I would have never predicted the outcome of the 10-5 Trinity win over Bowdoin in Monday’s make-up game, so I am hoping to really get it right for the playoffs. My overall record finished at 48-19-8 (.693), so I missed the 70 percent target … Read more
Well, the time has finally arrived in not only the MASCAC, but also all of the men’s NCAA D-III conferences. It’s time for playoff hockey. The MASCAC postseason tournament kicks off this Saturday with six of its seven teams ready to battle (Framingham State did not qualify) for the chance the hoist the MASCAC championship … Read more
A 3-1-2 (.583) weekend wrapped up the regular season and showcased some of the challenges in picking games right with so much riding on the outcome. The overall season numbers finish at a very respectable 56-19-9 (.720). A pretty solid performance for the regular season is nice, but let’s see if there is any correlation … Read more
Playoff prognostications can be positively perilous. After all, who would have thought last summer that the Los Angeles Kings would win the Stanley Cup as a lowly No. 8 seed. Yet that turn of events did happen, with the subsequent message being that if high seeds are going to take lesser ones lightly, they do … Read more
As we head into the penultimate weekend of CCHA regular-season play — ever — here’s how I’ve done so far. Last week: 3-6-1 (.350) Season to date: 106-79-26 (.564) I suppose I should content myself with the possibility of an overall regular-season picks record above .500. This week With two weekends left, every game in … Read more
Last week, I was struck by the Curse of Nicole. Let me explain. Nicole, my daughter, was offended that I picked Boston College to defeat Northeastern in the Beanpot championship game. (She and her husband Greg are Northeastern graduates.) When she found out that Jim had picked the Huskies, she told me that he was … Read more
No. 6 North Dakota at No. 10 Denver: Matthew: In only picking up one point from a possible four last time out against intrastate rival Colorado College, DU missed an opportunity to keep its name on the still fairly large list of WCHA teams that still have a realistic chance of winning the league’s regular … Read more
Well, a couple of ties, a couple of splits, and I held off Arlan once again on a week when we had the most number of different picks all year. Arlan and I both went 20-3-3 (.826). Entering the final weekend of the regular season, I hold a one-game lead in the race for the … Read more
I went 4-0-1 last week, and was 49-13-5 (.828) for the regular season. Preliminary Round Picks No. 6 Nazareth at No. 3 Neumann Neumann has been playing well since early January and will be at home, where the Knights are 9-1-2 this season. Nazareth has shown some growing pains the last few weeks, and is … Read more
Four out of the five conferneces wrapped up their regular season schedule this past weekend with the MIAC being the lone hold out with another week left of the regular season. 1. Plattsburgh completes unbeaten regular season Although in my 20 bold predictions, I did predict that either Plattsburgh or Gustavus Adolphus would finish the … Read more
Last weekend in NCAA Division III teams were either wrapping up the regular season or beginning the postseason. Here’s a look at some of the highlights: Semifinals set in NCHA After an exciting first round of the Peters Cup tournament, the semifinals of the NCHA playoffs are set for Saturday, Feb. 23. Sixth-seeded Wisconsin-River Falls … Read more
Haves and have-nots This weekend’s action saw five teams play without losing, and four more get swept. It’s not exactly how I would have imagined events to occur, given the tightness of the league, but here we are. Rensselaer beat Brown and Yale in Troy, extending their season-long winning streak to six games, and making … Read more
A little bit of everything and extra of some I would claim that it was a wacky week, but as I seem to be doing that on a regular basis. Apparently, it was just a typical week in our game’s current landscape. The extra this week was bonus hockey, both due to making up games … Read more
These are the three things I think I learned this week. 1. It’s anyone’s ballgame. Going into Sunday’s games, only four points separated first-place Merrimack from sixth-place Massachusetts-Lowell. At that point, all six teams had played exactly 20 games. (As a tribute to Warrior fans who years ago paid their dues and then some, I’ll … Read more