Archive of USCHO’s blog content
Welcome to the New Year, and if the hockey we have seen to officially start 2012 is any indication, we are all in for a very good year as fans of the game. Thought I would change up the weekly blog this time around, as there were some interesting games over the past weekend and … Read more
In every season, there is a week or two where everything seems to play out opposite of what one would expect. The first full week of action in 2012 was such a time. Of the USCHO top 10, eight teams were in action against opponents ranked below them. Six of those resulted in ties or … Read more
Freshman Tommy Traversa blew Hobart’s game open in the third period on Friday scoring a natural hat trick to break a 2-2 tie. Traversa tallied his first two goals in a 2:27 span early in the period and then threw in an empty netter with 36 seconds remaining to seal the 5-2 victory. Hobart finished … Read more
I didn’t expect 2012 to be such a fascinating year. Sure, the Mayans have predicted some exciting things, but I certainly didn’t think that the scenery would move so quickly the first weekend in January. Here are three things that have changed my perspective a bit following the past weekend of hockey. 1. Six points … Read more
What Huntsville really exposed Alabama-Huntsville shocked the college hockey world once again when it upset Denver, 3-2, Friday night. No one saw that coming. Not anyone who looked at the matchup going into the weekend, not George Gwozdecky and neither did us when we picked Denver to sweep the series. The Chargers did it by erasing a … Read more
Yes, there were other games but when I looked at the top three things I learned, they all centered on the Fenway games. 3. The Minutemen are heating up In the first half, Massachusetts had some very nice ups (wins over Boston College and Northeastern) and some not-so-nice downs (two five-game winless streaks). More recently, … Read more
Some quick observations from this weekend: Three points for Cornell: The Big Red made their first trip to the Mountain Time Zone since 1995 count as they took three points from No. 6 Colorado College. Andy Iles turned away 39 shots Friday to help Cornell take a 3-1 win, and the Big Red rallied from … Read more
Three things I learned from Atlantic Hockey this weekend: 1. Every second counts – There was plenty of high drama in this weekend’s Robert Morris – Bentley series. On Friday, the Falcons got the game winner from freshman Alex Grieve with 9.7 seconds remaining for a 2-1 win. On Saturday, it was the Colonials’ turn … Read more
“We have to find our Fenway.” The Vermont Catamounts have endured a brutal season so far, entering their Frozen Fenway contest against Massachusetts with a 4-14-1 overall record and even worse, a 1-10-1 mark within Hockey East. That left them seven points behind in the race for the last playoff berth. But going against UMass, an … Read more
Whenever you play an outdoor game and the temperature rises, the immediate concern is how well the ice will hold up. While the temperature dropped to a manageable 49 degrees by the start of the second game, it stood at 59 degrees for the first. “It was a little bouncy out there, I’m not going … Read more
The New Hampshire – Maine nightcap to the Frozen Fenway doubleheader is now expected to start at 8:00. It was originally penciled in for 7:30, but the actual time depended on how long the first one lasted. Of course, if there’s overtime — Vermont and Massachusetts are now tied, 2-2, partway through the third period … Read more
While fans of the schools involved (and those not involved) will certainly focus on the change in teams, there are a few other differences from the first Frozen Fenway, two years ago in 2010. First, the 2010 weather made the phrase Frozen Fenway truly apt. Family members of mine who attended both ends of the doubleheader were … Read more
No. 5 Notre Dame (12-6-3, 8-3-3-0 CCHA) at No. 3 Minnesota (15-6-1, 11-3-0 WCHA) Saturday only Brian: The Irish have proven to be notoriously slow starters thus far this season having allowed the game’s first goal in 12 of 21 games and fallen behind by two in half of those contests. Opponents have outscored Notre Dame … Read more
RIT: 6 Adrian: 2 RIT too tough for Adrian in rematch of last year’s NCAA Quarterfinals. Elmira: 4 Manhattanville: 1 Lots of history between these two schools including back-to-back appearances against each other in the 2002 and 2003 national championship games with Elmira taking both. EC keeps rolling in this one. Gustavus Adolphus: 5 Stevens Point: … Read more
My picks were respectably mediocre over the holiday break. It is always an interesting challenge to try and figure out how teams will hit the ice after a break. Will they be rust?y Or will they be re-focused? You never know. This week, the ECAC West continues its roll through nonconference games, with most … Read more
Oh, my friends, how poorly I fared for the holiday tournaments. Last week: 6-8-0 Season to date: 71-52-14 (.569) The week There is a lot of action this week, including games that pit ranked teams from a couple of different conferences against ranked CCHA teams. Days and times are noted in each series or game. … Read more
Game of the Week The next two weekends consist of all nonconference games for the SUNYAC teams. Thus, there are a lot of games taking place — 14 this weekend, with another four spread out during the week. Brockport plays four games this upcoming week. So, picking just one game of the week is impossible. … Read more
Of last week’s picks, all six games were decided by one goal. Four of those six games went to overtime. If this is any kind of indication of any sort of competitive level, consider that all six of the games picked and predicted were nonconference games for both the ECAC Northeast and the MASCAC. Another … Read more
Last week, with a challenging group of tournament and nonconference games to choose from on New Year’s weekend, Saturday’s picks were 5-0, which led to a strong 7-2-1 for the weekend. Those picks built my season record to 23-9-4 (.694) and have momentum swinging my way in the first full weekend of conference action on … Read more
The MIAC will host NCHA teams this weekend in nonconference action. The games will be the final warm-up before teams head into the second half of the conference schedule. After starting out hot last Friday, going 4-0, I came crashing down in predicting the rest of the games, going 0-3. That makes me 17-11 for … Read more