Columns, excluding “This Week” columns
With the NCHA playoffs ramping up this weekend and the MCHA pairings all set despite one week of regular season conference action to go, what is there to talk about this week? How about the fact the first public edition of the NCAA Regional Rankings was released this Monday? Here they are for the West … Read more
Quietly Playing Well Two weeks ago, it looked like Elmira had run away with the regular season title and that Manhattanville and Hobart would have to be content with battling for second place. Oh how things have changed. Elmira has taken a nose dive, losing its last three games. The Soaring Eagles special teams collapsed … Read more
It’s here. The final week of regular season play in the ECAC Northeast has arrived. And much has rightfully been written about the tight race in the MASCAC, as the top spot and three other home ice spots are up for grabs as the season winds down. Below is a look at each of the … Read more
Last Weekend As we head into the last weekend of regular season play, let’s get the easy information out of the way. Oswego has clinched first place and home ice throughout the SUNYAC playoffs. “If you told me we would have been in this position at the start of the year with 12 freshmen and … Read more
Columnist Dave Starman sees a little bit of coaching legend Herb Brooks in the way Nebraska-Omaha coach Dean Blais dominates the locker room.
Could Vermont miss the Hockey East playoffs and still make the NCAA tournament? That’s a topic for discussion this week for USCHO senior writers Jim Connelly and Todd D. Milewski.
New Kids On The Block The Manhattanville women’s hockey team started off the 2008-2009 season much like every other season in the program’s history. The Valiants started the season 13-1 before going on to finish the season 7-6, including a loss in the ECAC East semifinal to Salve Regina. Manhattanville coach Eric Lang wasted no … Read more
The dog days of winter are here and that means the end of the 2009-10 campaign is already looming on the horizon. Plenty of action remains to unfold, however, as MCHA and NCHA teams get one final chance to jockey for playoff position as both leagues wrap up their conference schedules this weekend. Aside from … Read more
Middle of the Pack The teams in the middle of the ECAC West standings re-exerted themselves this past weekend, demonstrating the depth of the league. In the Game of the Week highlighted in this column, third place Hobart went into the Thunderdomes last Saturday and handed Elmira its first conference loss, 5-3. Special teams were … Read more
Settling In With just three games left in the regular season (except for Morrisville, who has four left), teams are starting to settle into certain positions. Of course, some of this is due to two teams not eligible for postseason play. The two bye positions are virtually settled. Oswego still holds a five point lead … Read more
If this season’s outdoor games have taught us anything, it’s that when they’re done with regional rivalries, a big chunk of the college hockey country doesn’t pay attention. Dave Starman writes that it’s time to scrap the outdoor idea in favor of more appealing indoor games.
The final two weekends of the regular season are here. Eight points — all extremely valuable — are up for grabs for each team over the final four games and, interestingly enough, they are virtually all just “two pointers†for teams in both conferences. I know, you’re thinking “hey dummy all games are worth just … Read more
Down the Stretch They Come This is the second-to-last weekend of regular season games in the MIAC, and the playoff picture is as muddy as ever. The parity in this league becomes more prevalent each week as teams continue to demonstrate that any team can beat anyone else on a given night. The top two … Read more
Massachusetts is no stranger to massive construction projects, as any Boston commuter in the 1990s or earlier portion of the last decade can tell you. But while the behemoth remodeling of the city’s major road artery is complete, there’s another rebuilding project taking place at Western New England College, where first year head coach Greg … Read more
So where do Boston College and Boston University go after the Beanpot? That’s what USCHO senior writers Jim Connelly and Todd D. Milewski are discussing this week.
Goal in Mind Everybody loves a big upset (unless of course you are cast in the role of the forlorn favorite), so last week’s surprising 2-1 win by Niagara over No. 1 Mercyhurst caught plenty of notice across the hockey spectrum. The architect of all that eyebrow arching was junior netminder Jenni Bauer, a self-described … Read more
St. Catherine Continues to Impress in MIAC The St. Catherine women’s hockey team got off to a strong 9-1 start this season and few people took notice as the Wildcats never cracked the top 10 in the USCHO.com rankings. Granted, St. Catherine didn’t play an all-world schedule in the first half of the season but … Read more
With just three weeks remaining in the regular season, the pressure is on to really refine the level of play in order to garner as many points as possible in the final half dozen games of the season. This refinement will not only help define the teams’ playoff positions but also set the stage for … Read more
Push for the Playoffs After last weekend, there are three weeks left in the MIAC schedule. With the season nearing its conclusion, in some leagues this would be the time of year when the playoff picture is becoming clearer and teams are left jockeying for positioning. In the MIAC though, where only five teams make … Read more
The Aftermath Now that a week has passed since the NCAA announcement sanctioning Buffalo State and Geneseo, the two teams involved have had some time to let it sink in. Their reactions have been admirable, and any anger they have is channeled properly. “In terms of how the team is handling it, they are remarkably … Read more