Archive of USCHO’s blog content
Josh last week: 6-3-1 Josh overall: 35-22-11 Brian last week: 10-3-1 Brian overall: 36-18-8 Josh: Zzzzzz. Oh, wait, it’s Thursday night. Time to wake up from my turkey coma and pass on my great wisdom about the next four days worth of games for ECAC teams. Great wisdom? I must be dreaming. Michigan … Read more
Princeton (2-6-1, 2-5-0 ECAC) at No. 10 Denver (5-3-3, 4-2-3 WCHA) Tyler: The Pioneers are unbeaten in five of their past six games but they need to start finishing games. The Pioneers lost third-period leads in two of those ties. Denver has scored only one goal in third periods in the six-game stretch dating back to Oct. … Read more
Happy holiday weekend, one and all! I hope that you’re able to enjoy some quality time with people and things you love — like the CCHA. Because of the holiday, the picks are abbreviated. Paula’s picks Last week, including Tuesday: 5-4-3 (.541) Season to date: 53-34-13 (.695) I hate the wrong-way splits. This week This … Read more
Last Week: 5-5-3 On the Season: 53-27-9 (.646) This Week’s Picks: Friday, Nov. 25 Rensselaer at Rochester Institute of Technology – The Tigers have never defeated the Engineers since moving to Division I and despite RPI’s record, I have a feeling they may break out of their slump. RPI 3, RIT 2. Saturday, Nov. 26 … Read more
Four teams broke out the brooms; earn weekend sweeps While the Upper Midwest was shoveling out from a pre-Thanksgiving snow, Adrian, Concordia (Minn.), St. Norbert, and St. Thomas won hard-fought sweeps of their weekend games. The NCHA St. Norbert earned two hard-fought road victories this past weekend. The defending D-III national champions defeated Wis.-Eau Claire … Read more
“Picks” is probably a misnomer. It’s one Tuesday night game. Notre Dame at Western Michigan The Fighting Irish have a nine-game unbeaten streak (7-0-2) on the line when they play in Lawson Arena tonight, a number that includes five wins decided by a single goal. The most recent of those was a 3-2 overtime win … Read more
Jumbos Make Big First Impression Since they came into the NESCAC Conference back in the 2002-03 season, the Tufts University men’s ice hockey team has never opened the season with a 2-0-0 conference record. Cross that “never gonna happen” item off the list. With wins over Trinity and Wesleyan on the road this past weekend, … Read more
This past weekend marked the first time that all 49 Division III women’s hockey teams had played a game in the 2011-12 season, with the NESCAC schools finally getting underway. Middlebury and Amherst both held serve with two sweeps, and Bowdoin had a tough loss at Plattsburgh State. We are now on to Thanksgiving week, … Read more
For the MASCAC and the ECAC Northeast, it’s time to take a break. Somewhat of a break. The 15 teams in both leagues will play this week, both before and after Thanksgiving, but this week’s slate is made up entirely of nonconference games and tournament games. Didn’t I write about tournaments just a couple weeks … Read more
Oswego, Plattsburgh begin to nudge ahead It’s a familiar site. Oswego and Plattsburgh, neck and neck, pulling ahead of the rest of the field. This was helped by both teams sweeping the weekend, including key wins against close pursuers. It also helped that one team which was hoping to make a serious run this year, … Read more
Most sports base their standings in terms of winning percentage or games ahead or behind. Hockey’s points system can lead to the impression that one team leads another, when in truth the advantage is entirely due to having played more league games. Hockey East is a prime example, as Providence holds a share of the … Read more
Just when you thought Aaron Dell was going to get some offensive support… …the North Dakota offense lays a goose egg. Bemidji State beat the Fighting Sioux, 1-0, Sunday evening to drop UND’s record to 4-7-1 overall and 2-6-0 in the WCHA. Dan Bakala is a good goaltender and he did earn the 26-save shutout, … Read more
Red and Blue white hot A couple of Ivies are playing with hot biscuits ahead of the holiday, as both Cornell and Yale are riding four-game winning streaks entering Tuesday’s non-conference tilts. Each squad has a reasonable expectation to extend its winning streak to five before Turkey Day, as Cornell hosts Niagara and Yale plays … Read more
The most predictable thing about the 2011-12 CCHA season is that it’s going to change. Every week. Seriously. First place, all alone. Heading into last weekend, Lake Superior State, Notre Dame and Ohio State were tied for first place. After their 3-2 win over Western Michigan Tuesday, the Fighting Irish spent a brief couple of … Read more
Three things I learned from Atlantic Hockey this weekend: 1. Goals are hard to come by Five of the bottom eight offenses in Division I belong to Atlantic Hockey teams. Other than the 6-5 contest between Rochester Institute of Technology and Holy Cross on Saturday, no AHA team scored more than three goals in a … Read more
Here are three things I think I learned from this weekend’s games. Three, BU is back. After Boston University’s season-opening 5-0 win over New Hampshire, I posted how impressed I was with this year’s Terriers. Though the game wasn’t as dominating as the final score indicated, they still played a very solid game and in … Read more
Well, last week both Arlan and I did well, each going 6-1 (.857). He correctly picked Dartmouth upending Cornell, while I correctly picked Providence beating UNH. On the season, I am 51-17-9 (.720) while Arlan is 48-20-9 (.681). We’ve got a lot of games on tap for the coming week before Thanksgiving, with some intriguing … Read more
Last week was a respectable 4-4-0 (.500) slate of picks to start the season. If anything, these two conferences have shown me that it is not easy to pick a favorite, and legitimately every team has a shot every night. Finally, everybody is playing games that count, and one nice thing about the new separate … Read more
Game of the Week Without the benefit of a mark-your-calendar game from the preview, combined with a slew of games that will play a key role in the standings, this is a tough week to pick just one game of the week. There are a trio which are obvious contenders. If I really had to … Read more
It’s that time of the week again – pick six games from the two conferences (including the conference crossover games) and make our best predictions. However, each week’s picks come with a little statistical analysis, and this week’s match-ups even come with a few wrinkles – both hockey and non-hockey. Will those factor into the … Read more