Archive of USCHO’s blog content
Time to pick the quarterfinals. I may have been perfect in the opening round, but it’s difficult to pick a best-of-three. So often, if a team wins game one, they sweep. But this year’s Hockey East field is about a tightly stacked as possible. Thus, sweeps will be difficult. That said, even if I pick … Read more
Last weekend, I went a dismal 6-6 (.500) thanks to all the upsets. For the playoffs, I am 24-15 (.615). Let’s see if I can do any better in the NCAA tournament. Saturday, March 15 Boston University at Minnesota A rematch of last year’s championship game, but I don’t see any different outcome. Minnesota 4-2 … Read more
Women’s D-III NCAA Tournament (First round) Friday, March 14 St. Thomas (19-5-3, 14-2-2 MIAC) at Wisconsin-Stevens Point (19-5-4, 9-3-3 WIAC) Wisconsin Stevens Point took both sides of a two-game set last December on St. Thomas Academy ice. The Pointers rely heavily on junior goalie Jenna Beilke-Skoug, as evidenced by her 23 games and 1,394 minutes … Read more
It’s the final weekend of regular-season play. Here’s how Drew Claussen and I have done with our picks so far. Last week Drew: 3-2-1 (.583) Paula: 4-1-1 (.750) Season Drew: 81-41-14 (.647) Paula: 84-37-16 (.672) This week All series this weekend are Friday-Saturday. Minnesota at Michigan Drew: Minnesota needs two points to put a bow … Read more
It’s playoff time, and there are some intriguing matchups to kick off the WCHA tournament. The fact that the first round pits former CCHA teams against leftover WCHA teams (following the league’s breakup) adds to the interest. But the tournament is bigger than bragging rights. A trip to the Final Five is on the line, … Read more
Overall: 71-47-12 It’s the second week of the playoffs in ECAC Hockey, with four berths in the championship weekend at Lake Placid on the line. Each series is a best-of-three, with all games starting at 7 p.m. No. 10 Dartmouth at No. 1 Union Season series: Union 2-0. The Big Green were the only lower-seeded … Read more
I finally got a bigger lead on Matthew in our picks race. Last weekend, I went 5-3 (.625), while Matthew went 3-5 (.375). On the year, I am 92-66-22 (.572), while Matthews is 87-71-22 (.544). The first round brings some brutal matchups, so let’s see how we can do. Thursday-Saturday, March 13-15 Denver at Nebraska-Omaha … Read more
It’s now down to just the remaining 11 teams starting with the first round on Wednesday night. Who ends up in the Frozen Four in Maine and what new champion takes home the title for the 2013-14 season? Our Division III columnists give this their best shot. Katie Carito First Round Geneseo over Nichols Norwich … Read more
A trio of new contenders finished off conference championships with flair, gaining automatic NCAA bids in the process. For a pair of ECAC entities, the script remained unchanged. Lake Forest (17-5-3) No.9 Lake Forest, propelled by a 3-2 comeback overtime triumph over St. Norbert, reaped its first NCAA tournament slot in program history. The newly … Read more
WCHA awards We were disappointed to learn last week that the WCHA scrapped tradition and shut the media out of this year’s vote for league awards. All that research and number crunching down the tubes, right? Wrong! Matt and I put our lists together, shuffled some things around, played some rock-paper-scissors and finally came to … Read more
The three “Ws” of Division III hockey – watching, waiting, worrying. That was plenty of each to go around for teams with NCAA tournament aspirations, especially for top seeds – including three of five in the East – who fell in this past weekend’s conference championship tilts. Ultimately, the news from the selectors was good … Read more
In the penultimate weekend of regular-season Big Ten play, we had more evidence that the upcoming Big Ten tournament has the potential for a surprise or two. 1. Exhibit A: Michigan State. After losing 7-1 to No. 12 Michigan in Ann Arbor Friday night, Michigan State came from behind to defeat the Wolverines 4-3 at … Read more
Two of the four series in the ECAC went to three games this weekend, with Clarkson and Dartmouth both winning Sunday to advance. The Big Green were the only road team to win this weekend, rallying for a 5-4 win against Rensselaer. It was the first time Dartmouth won when trailing after two periods in … Read more
Chaos returns in the second weekend of conference tournaments After the higher seed advanced in all 14 pairings of the conference quarterfinals, results reverted to the occasional randomness seen over the season in the semis and finals. Underdogs prevailed in half of the 12 games. Minnesota was the only top-seeded team able to back up … Read more
All home seeds moved on (more on that in a bit), but it wasn’t as easy as just saying it. A look at three things (okay, four) that made this weekend as insane as I’ll try to make it out to be: Holy Cross Gets Divine Intervention If I had to guess, some late night … Read more
Going into the final night of the NCHC’s inaugural regular season, none of the league’s eight teams knew for sure who they would be playing in the first round of the league playoffs, and that’s undoubtedly what the league’s front office in Colorado Springs wanted. Now that we know who’s playing who and where, though, … Read more
The biggest surprise in the opening weekend of the Hockey East playoffs was that there were not any surprises at all. That leads the list of things I learned this weekend in Hockey East: 1. Favorite survive single elimination Plenty was made about the first-round single elimination series in Hockey East, mostly that some very … Read more
Over the past couple of seasons, Atlantic Hockey’s grown a reputation of having a rough and tumble, unpredictable playoff series where anything is possible. In the true spirit, thereof, two playoff series will go to three games this year in the first round, including the 5-vs-12 matchup reserved for the best team not to get … Read more
With Alaska-Anchorage’s 3-1 victory over rival Alaska in Fairbanks this evening (or morning depending where you are), the first round of the WCHA playoffs has been set. Ferris State won the WCHA outright via a sweep of Lake Superior State while Minnesota State only took three of four points from Michigan Tech. The Bulldogs and … Read more
Going into the final night of the regular season, Ferris State and Minnesota State are still tied at the top of the league standings. Two teams — Michigan Tech and Bowling Green — are fighting for the No. 4 spot and a chance to host a first-round playoff series next weekend. And finally, three teams — … Read more