Columns, excluding “This Week” columns
People hadn’t even carved their turkeys yet this year when the Johnson & Wales University hockey team had earned their fourth win. Last year, folks were making New Year’s Eve plans when the Wildcats finally garnered win number four. With his team 4-0 in league play, and 4-0-1 overall, coach Eric Noack can’t help but … Read more
Jim Connelly and Scott Brown look back at a memorable weekend and look forward to this season’s holiday tournaments, with an impromptu geography quiz thrown in.
Hello Neumann! This past weekend the Neumann Knights notched their name into the ECAC West discussion with an impressive sweep of previously eighth ranked Utica. Just a few weeks after Utica asserted their name among the ECAC West elite after splitting with Plattsburgh, Neumann now must be considered a legitimate threat as well after taking … Read more
It may be a small sign, but a significant one nonetheless, of how far women’s college hockey has come. That two teams who are far behind the sport’s elite, namely Maine and Vermont, can hook up to produce a dandy of a hockey game. Over the ages, we’ve seen some doozies, from the five-overtime Providence … Read more
The preparations have been made, the hype meter is full and Jim Connelly and Scott Brown are ready for the games — it’s Air Force against Colorado College and Denver.
The overnight temperature in Madison, Wisc. on Thursday was 16 degrees with a wind chill of 5. The outlook for Ft. Myers, Fla., on Friday called for 77 degree temps and breezes. It would seem like a good time for a hockey team, say No. 1 ranked Wisconsin, to take a pre-holiday tournament southward, which … Read more
Get Out The Brooms Fans of the MIAC were promised a league full of hard-fought games and parity: teams on the bottom improving against teams at the top. And they were promised a gobbled mess of league standings that would be an adventure to decipher every week. What a difference a week makes. The MIAC … Read more
Elmira defends their No. 1 Ranking The Elmira College Soaring Eagles faced their sternest test to their top ranked position this past weekend as they took three of four points from ECAC West rival R.I.T. at the Murray Athletic Center in Pine Valley, N.Y. On Friday night, Elmira pounded the Tigers 6-1 behind senior forward … Read more
This has been an enjoyably baffling couple of weeks so far, with a number of bipolar teams making solid assessment practically impossible. Harvard is 4-2-1 and atop the standings, but has played more games than anyone else, and lost back-to-back games at RPI and Union two weeks ago. Princeton and Cornell reside in the third … Read more
Fast Start Fuels Colonels Off to the hottest start in the ECAC NE are the Curry College Colonels, with a 4-0 mark. All four wins have come against conference opponents. Coach Rob Davies is pleased with his teams’ fast start. “Obviously we happy at being 4-0,†coach Davies said, “especially with as many new guys … Read more
Another Wild One The game lived up to its billing. And instead of a one goal, low scoring affair, Fredonia and Buffalo State did one better — a high scoring deadlock. Just how wild was it? One team jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead and couldn’t hold on. The other team scored four unanswered … Read more
NESCAC Season Preview Last weekend Middlebury, Trinity, Williams, and Wesleyan half kicked off the start of the 2008-2009 season for the NESCAC schools. Middlebury downed rival Williams 5-1 and Trinity hung seven goals on Wesleyan en route to a 7-1 win over the Cardinals. Finally, this weekend all 45 Division III women’s teams will have … Read more
In this week’s column, Jim Connelly and Scott Brown mull over the continuing role of this year’s rule changes, last weekend’s topsy-turvy results by the numbers, and of course Air Force.
Unfamiliar Territory Manhattanville finds itself in a situation that it hasn’t seen in a while. The Valiants were swept two weekends ago at Neumann, the first time that has happened since January 12 and 13, 2001 when they lost to Oswego and Cortland. As if that wasn’t enough, with a 1-2 record Manhattanville is off … Read more
It’s undeniable the MIAC is making strides. Top-to-bottom the conference is improving. This week Hamline will play Concordia. Several years ago, this would have been a matchup between basement dwellers with little significance no matter who emerged victorious. Now, it’s a series between the conference favorite and a young upstart that would love to define … Read more
Dave Starman returns with goaltender-centric musings about Michigan, Denver and Michigan State as well as quick hits on topics around the nation.
Everyone in the MCHA now has had a week of league play in and the results aren’t too surprising. Adrian, Finlandia and Marian are all 2-0, though something must give this week as the Lions travel to face the Bulldogs. MSOE and Crookston are both 1-1 following a split in Crookston, while Lawrence, Northland and … Read more
You may hate it (as some say they do), love it (as many more seem to), or have no opinion (it’s hard to find anyone camped there)… but one thing appears to be certain. The shootout is likely to be with us for a while. Brought in this year by both the WCHA and Hockey … Read more
Jaw Dropping The score updates coming in on Friday most likely caused a lot of jaws to drop. And then drop again. And again. A lot of chins were sore from hitting the ground. Where do we start? How about Brockport who, as the Potsdam radio announcer said, put a beat down on Geneseo, 7-2. … Read more
Old Neumann Hockey When you think of Neumann hockey, particularly since the team started to become competitive in the ECAC West four seasons ago, a few common traits come to mind. Attributes like hard-nosed skilled forwards and solid goaltending are usually bantered about. The Knights have had so much turnover in the last two seasons, … Read more