Columns, excluding “This Week” columns
The Rivier Raiders have kicked off their first NCAA season successfully by winning three of their first five games. But it isn’t about wins in building the program says head coach Matt Keating, the goal is to build a culture of character players both on and off the ice with the results mirroring the effort … Read more
Minnesota Duluth is the No. 4 team in the county and has reached the last four Frozen Fours, winning two of them. Seldom do the Bulldogs see scoring as a huge chore. Neither do other teams of that caliber, so what sets them apart from the rest are players who can do a bit of … Read more
A 6-4 victory over North Dakota in Nashville put a bow on the early portion of the Penn State’s nonconference schedule and gave the Nittany Lions a 6-1-0 record. The start of the Big Ten schedule hasn’t been as kind to the team from Hockey Valley. A trip to Minneapolis gives Penn State another chance … Read more
Four-point-weekend. It’s a goal for every team in conference play but all so difficult to reach for most. Two wins on a weekend where the competition is always tough. There were a few teams that met the challenge this week and several more that found three points of four. Teams don’t want to get caught … Read more
When the NCAA Division I Competition Oversight Committee approved expanding the women’s hockey tournament field from eight to 11 teams on Wednesday, they showed they are more interested in manufacturing the appearance of equality than in actually achieving it and ruined any illusions I may have had that fundamental, structural changes would take place in … Read more
Despite a lot of new faces in the lineup, Rensselaer is picking up right where it left off at the end of the 2019-20 season. RPI has won four of its last five games heading into this weekend’s games at Colgate and Cornell. That stretch comes after the Engineers ended 2019-20 as one of the … Read more
A quirk in the Hockey East schedule will bring two teams to Lowell, Mass., this weekend, and with it, a chance for the 20th ranked UMass Lowell men’s hockey team to inch its way further up the USCHO.com poll. The River Hawks (4-1-2, 2-0-0 Hockey East) host No. 17 Northeastern (7-3-0, 4-2-0) visits the Tsongas … Read more
Losing isn’t usually the norm for a Bob Daniels-coached team. The Ferris State head coach has been behind the bench for 29 seasons. He’s guided his Bulldogs teams to three conference titles, four NCAA tournament appearances and one Frozen Four in that time frame. The usual expectation for the Bulldogs is to be competitive at … Read more
When discussing American International, his opponent last weekend, Rochester Institute of Technology coach Wayne Wilson referred to the Yellow Jackets as “battle tested.” AIC is just nine games into the 2021-22 campaign but has already squared off with No. 12 Providence, No. 9 Massachusetts (twice), No. 5 Quinnipiac (twice) as well as series against Army … Read more
Miami coach Chris Bergeron on Tuesday approached the dais at his weekly press conference appearing to have a point to make to his team. The good news for the RedHawks out of last weekend’s series at No. 9 Omaha was that Miami (2-5-1) earned a road split against a top-10 team. Still, Bergeron wasn’t exactly … Read more
There are numerous ways one can describe a hockey team. Jeff Jackson, though, would appreciate it if people stopped using one term to describe Notre Dame. “I really hate when people say we’re a defensive team,” Jackson said Monday night. “We’re a puck-possession team, in my opinion. We really focus on our ability to possess … Read more
This weekend is the first time nearly a year and a half that all dozen ECAC Hockey teams will play a conference game on the same night. And right away, there’s already a marquee matchup on the schedule. Cornell and Harvard play Friday night in Cambridge, Mass., in the league opener for both teams. The … Read more
A stretch of seven consecutive games played on enemy ice would be a challenge for any team, but goalie Darion Hanson of the Connecticut men’s hockey team chooses to focus on the positive. Long bus rides together and hanging out in the hotel with teammates have been valuable bonding experiences for him and his teammates, … Read more
Rensselaer coach Bryan Vines and graduate student Lauren Severson say their team is focused on the present and enjoying the fact that their team is finally able to return to the ice after 19 months passed between their final game in February 2020 and when they dropped the puck in September this year. But while … Read more
When members of the media were looking at the teams in the newly-reconstituted CCHA this fall as we started to do our preseason picks and previews, one team made it easiest on everybody. And maybe it wasn’t the team you think. Have your guesses in? It might shock you to know that it was Michigan … Read more
Michigan State defeated Michigan in a – let’s just keep things simple and say entertaining – football game last weekend. Spartans’ head coach Danton Cole was asked if his team could possibly feed off that energy and keep things rolling when the two schools meet in a home-and-home series on the ice this weekend. “Well, … Read more
At 4-2-2, Rochester Institute of Technology is off to a strong start. The only Atlantic Hockey team currently over .500 overall, the Tigers sit atop the Atlantic Hockey standings, three points ahead of Mercyhurst. RIT took five of six points from the Lakers at home last weekend. While head coach Wayne Wilson isn’t completely satisfied … Read more
Fans of several NHL teams may have been noticing the creation of land acknowledgements, in which teams publicly recognize that their facilities sit on land stewarded by Indigenous peoples since time immemorial. Western Michigan is one of a growing list of universities also participating in this practice. In September 2019, the university’s trustees approved an … Read more
If this past weekend is a true indicator for the level of play, we will see in D-II/III this season, then sign me up for the premium package please! The games were seriously beyond outstanding this weekend with big-time matchups, a shootout to determine a tournament title, overtime games galore, a first ever program win … Read more
After videos went viral last March detailing the inferior weight room setup provided to the women’s basketball championship, NCAA president Mark Emmert commissioned an external gender equity review across all sports. Phase one of the report came out in early August and focused specifically on men’s and women’s basketball. Monday’s report was the second phase … Read more