Back to the Smoke Filled Room

Alas, it doesn’t look like there’s going to be a PWR for Division III this season. The NCAA has published its criteria for selecting teams for the national tournament, but has not, and, according to sources, will not say how they are weighing the criteria. One source indicated to me that the weighting is not … Read more

UNH?

Is it me or has most of the college hockey world been blindsided by the fact that New Hampshire has climbed to the number two spot in the PairWise Rankings? The Wildcats have quietly played well over the last couple of months and now are close to locking up a #1 seed in the NCAA … Read more

Canisius-RIT – the suspensions

Some of the longest suspensions in the history of college hockey were handed down by Atlantic Hockey last night in the aftermath of the Canisius-RIT melee that took place last Saturday night. Commissioner Bob DeGregorio issued a total of 20 additional games worth of suspensions to eight separate players, suspending two of the players involved … Read more

Beanpot Post-Mortem

Another Beanpot has passed with plenty of excitement, some outstanding story lines and enough to keep the Boston hockey community talking for a while. Boston College came out on top for the 14th time, this time as the favorite entering the tournament. The Eagles road was far from simple – needing overtime in both its … Read more

Adrian and the PWR

Now’s the time of year when I usually break out the D-III version of Bracketology. Unfortunately, it’s going to have to wait a little longer this year. The NCAA revised its selection criteria this year, moving away from the (frankly) goofy point system to assess a team’s strength of schedule. The new process is closer … Read more

Boys Gone Wild

Is it me or is the college hockey world being overcome by incident after incident that leaves the average fan shaking their head. After a season that’s had a rash of problems for players both on and off the ice, last week saw one of the top scoring players in the nation head to the … Read more

Congrats, Bill

Middlebury head coach Bill Beaney won his 500th game last Saturday with a 6-3 win over New England College, ironically the school where he won his first college hockey game. Beaney won 86 games at NEC before making the move to Middlebury, where he has compiled a record of 414-115-28, including eight national titles. Beaney … Read more

Beanpot Banter

Tuesday was the annual Beanpot Luncheon, officially kicking off the 56th Annual Beanpot Hockey Tournament, which will begin play next Monday, February 4. This yearly “kick-off” event brings together representatives from each of the tournament’s four schools – Boston College, Boston University, Harvard and Northeastern. The luncheon has become a bit of a schmooze-fest, though … Read more

Slow News Week…

It really is true that news is cyclical. Well, at least that’s how I feel. One week after we had everything from Magness-gate to a pact between the WCHA and Bemidji State, we have little in the form of news to report. I even dug into the NCAA’s Website to see if there was anything … Read more

The First Save of Many?

The CHA’s demise seems all but a foregone conclusion. After Air Force departed in 2006, leaving the league with five teams, and Wayne State’s announcment that it will drop hockey at the end of this season bringing the enrollment down to four, it seems impossible for college hockey’s sixth conference to remain. The pending question … Read more

Upon Further Review…

I guess if I’m going to write about how instant replay is used in college hockey, I best do my home work. In my blog posting earlier today, I wrote about how the Denver-Wisconsin game used instant replay to determine that Wisconsin’s tying goal came after the buzzer. After a fellow USCHO staffer wrote me … Read more

How Sweep it is!

It seems this past weekend that the sweep was the preferred method of dealing with opposition, at least for some of the nation’s top teams. Michigan, Miami, Colorado College, New Hampshire and North Dakota all posted back-to-back Ws on the weekend that with either maintain or improve the poll positioning. The sweep that probably had … Read more

Second Period from Geneseo

As the team takes the ice for the second period, the Genny band is playing a kicking version of “Don’t Stop Believing”. Elmira scores it second power play goal of the evening at 1:06, with just six seconds left on the man advantage. Sebastian Gulder’s shot from the point is stopped by Jokic, but Stefan … Read more

Blogging Geneseo-Elmira

I’m not traveling with RIT this weekend – I get one off after trips to AIC, Minnesota and Holy Cross – and had fun last night at home with the family tracking several games at once. I was watching the AHA games on B2, following D-III scores on the USCHO.com message board, and switching between … Read more

Disappointing End for the U.S.

I’m sure that I’m not the only college hockey fan who was totally bummed to see the US drop their semifinal game against Canada and their bronze medal tilt versus Russia last week. Maybe I was fooled by the U.S.’s solid 4-0-0 record in pool play, but for some reason I really thought this might … Read more

New Year and SO much to talk about…

It’s been a while since I’ve had things to write about here, but after a wild week of holiday tournament action, some incredible play by the U.S. at the World Junior Championships and even some off-ice mischief, I return well armed with fodder. Holiday Tournament Madness The annual scrum of holiday tournaments certainly brought out … Read more

Holiday Tournament Preview

This year’s crop of Christmas/New Year’s tournaments bring several intriguing matchups, and I’m impressed by the number of Western teams that are coming east to participate. Five of the seven tournaments have a Western team in the mix. Let’s take a look at the seven tourneys on tap: Salem State Tournament When: December 27 & … Read more