Archive of USCHO’s blog content
Happy holidays and welcome back to college hockey action. If you celebrated Christmas, I hope you laughed as much as I did with my family in Florida. If you’re stranded somewhere because of the storm on the East coast, I hope you’re safe and warm and have access to both the Internet and the NHL … Read more
Happy holidays to all; I hope your delays and frustrations are minimal. There is a lot of action just ahead of us, so let’s get right to it. Welcome back Clarkson ’03’s Benjamin Davis, who bested me a few weeks back by having minimal faith in Union. He really had to go all-out in his … Read more
Well, the big guy in the red suit has already come and gone. Now the teams in the ECAC East and NESCAC conferences get to ramp it up for the second half with whatever gifts of good cheer and more consistent hockey that were left in their stockings or under the tree. The first half … Read more
Niagara has announced the immediate commitment of goaltender Cody Campbell, who will join the team for its next games at Holy Cross on Jan 7 and 8. The Purple Eagles were down to just junior Chris Noonan in net after the season-ending injury to rookie Carsen Chubak and the sudden departure of Andrew Hare. Campbell, … Read more
So I said this was coming this week … although I think I’m a day later than planned. Oops. In any case, here are my annual WCHA Mideason Grades, with teams in alphabetical order. Alaska-Anchorage (t-eighth) – C – Needs improvement; meeting/exceeding expectations – It’s good that the Seawolves have been able to earn a … Read more
The Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association has already produced a few first-half surprises this season. Here is a mid-term look at five developments to keep an eye on as the season resumes. Milwaukee School of Engineering’s invincibility The No. 9 Raiders stormed out of the gate by winning nine of their first 10 games, which was … Read more
Two Wolverines will miss the Great Lakes Invitational Tournament because they’ll be representing the U.S. in the IIHF World Junior Championship tournament Dec. 26-Jan. 5. Freshman defenseman Jon Merrill (5-7–12) and sophomore forward Chris Brown (2-8–10) are the only players from the CCHA on this year’s roster, which features 14 collegians: seven from the WCHA, … Read more
On the fly Saturday, December 18 Vermont 4 at St. Lawrence 6 Frosh Greg Carey scored two power-play goals – including the game-winner – as the Saints took an early lead and held on in a wild non-conference affair. Senior Nick Pitsikoulis also buried a pair, and rookie Kyle Essery and junior Rick Carden added … Read more
Christmas came early for the CCHA in the form of three nonconference wins. Northern Michigan beat Michigan Tech, 6-2, and Western Michigan swept No. 12 Union, 2-1 and 3-1. The Wildcats netted four second-period goals in their win, two from sophomore defenseman Wade Epp, his first two collegiate tallies. Epp told USCHO arena reporter Daver … Read more
Johnson & Wales closed out first semester action in the ECAC Northeast and MASCAC with a 10-2 thrashing of Southern New Hampshire Thursday night. With that in mind, here’s some quick hits on each team and a brief outlook for the remainder of the year. Teams are arranged by current conference standings. ECAC Northeast 1. … Read more
Not much action this past weekend, so obviously this is going to be fairly short. – Oh Michigan Tech … I wish you could turn things around. I’m also pretty sure your fans weren’t happy seeing you fall 6-2 to your UP rivals. – With the loss, the Huskies saw their losing streak extend to … Read more
There were just five games in the week leading up to the Christmas break, but two teams picked up big non-conference sweeps. Robert Morris continued its best start ever with a home sweep of Colgate. The Colonials got a goal from Nathan Longpre in overtime to win 3-2 on Saturday, and then came back with … Read more
Last week Theresa: 6-4-2 Season Theresa: 61-41-11 Last week Tyler: 9-1-2 (!) Season Tyler: 60-26-7 Not a lot of games this weekend, as schools gear up for the holiday break. Therefore, not a lot of insight, either, to make this quick and simple (though we may edit more in later). Friday, December 17 through Sunday, … Read more
Former American International goaltender Tom Fenton got to suit up for the Phoenix Coyotes last night. You can read about his experience here.
This week, we welcome yet another victim to the slaughter: Mr. Benjamin Davis. A former equipment manager at Clarkson (class of ’03), Davis feels he has the hockey savvy to take down your loyal puck pundit. We’ll see about that. Prediction precision Last week: 8-1-0 (.889) Season record: Me: 61-29-11 (.658) Guest guessers: 38-31-6 (.547) … Read more
Jim had another excellent week, perfect until Vermont toppled Dartmouth, while Dave was mediocre. Just one game on tap until the holiday tournaments. Happy Holidays to all! Dave last week: 4-3-0 Jim last week: 6-1-0 Dave’s record-to-date: 48-21-18 Jim’s record-to-date: 48-15-15 Here are this week’s picks (oops, make that pick): Saturday, December 18 Vermont at St. … Read more
There are plenty of good combinations in the world; duos that, together, are so much better than the sum of their respective parts. Ivy Leaguers and Sperry Top-Siders. Ebony and ivory. Foie gras and Sauternes. (Who am I kidding? Sauternes would be great with Raisin Bran.) And so it is in hockey, too. Gretzky and … Read more
T’was ten days before Christmas, and all through the rink, no games were they playing so the Zamboni did sleep. The skates were hung in the locker with care in the hopes that the new calendar soon would be here. And coaches with game films, more analysis you see, are hoping Santa leaves the gift … Read more
Nebraska-Omaha is near the top of the WCHA standings and St. Cloud State is fighting to stay out of the cellar. Those are the biggest surprises, and meanwhile, North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth are right where everyone thought they would be. College hockey is at the midpoint of its season and the WCHA has four teams … Read more
As we wind down towards the Christmas break, it’s a good time to look at where each team in Atlantic Hockey stands. What’s been going well (and what hasn’t), as well as who’s making the biggest impact. Air Force (6-7-2; 4-3-2 AHA) Plus – The Falcons have a couple of nice wins this season, including … Read more