Columns, excluding “This Week” columns
What a great championship weekend across the East! More than half of the nine games played were one-goal affairs that included a couple of overtime thrillers and one double-overtime marathon played. More surprising was the continued “upset bug” that saw Cortland take the SUNYAC with an overtime win over defending champion Plattsburgh. Hobart (NEHC), Plymouth … Read more
‘We are the champions.’ Those four words are what St. Olaf, St. Norbert and UW-Stevens Point could say proudly after their respective conference tournament championship games Saturday night. Two teams won the title as underdogs, with the Oles winning the MIAC crown over nationally ranked Bethel as the fifth seed and the No. 2 seed … Read more
Forget about the two shutouts in the MIAC tournament, the nine wins or the 2.05 goals against average. All are impressive, but St. Olaf goalie Thomas Lalonde deflects credit for his success the way he knocks away a puck during an action-packed game. “I really believe my team deserves the credit,” Lalonde said. “We’ve worked … Read more
Hello conference championship weekend. This is what a lot of us have been waiting for, and it’s where NCAA tournament dreams are either going to come true or be dashed. The MIAC, WIAC and NCHA all have automatic bids on the line Saturday, and I expect all three championship games to be competitive as can … Read more
Following a 9-2-0 start to the season, Cortland came out of the semester break and struggled with some inconsistency to open the second half. Since the start of February that strong 200-foot game has returned along with the strong play of their leading players to reflect a four-game win streak that has them playing for … Read more
Conference championship weekend is upon us, we’ll get to see what the west has in store for us, will we see upsets? There’re a few intriguing matchups on deck that could shake up things quite a bit. We’ll look at this past weekend and what we have ahead to watch out for this weekend. MIAC … Read more
It’s conference championship weekend, we’ve got some new faces in the mix, one conference giving us a first timer in the NCAA tournament since both have not been to the dance and they play for the conference title this weekend, you love to see it. We’ll recap briefly this past week and then look … Read more
The penultimate week of play leading into the conference championships certainly delivered tremendous hockey highlighted by No. 1 seeds in the CCC and SUNYAC losing in semifinal action and overtime games deciding several other critical matchups. Two more No. 2 seeds also saw their championship hopes come to an end in Bowdoin and St. Michael’s … Read more
Nothing came easy for Bethel Saturday night. Not that it was expected to. Up against a tough and talented St. Scholastica squad, the second-seeded Royals knew if they were going to punch a ticket to the MIAC tourney final, they’d have to earn it. And they did. It just took a couple of overtime periods … Read more
MADISON — After a disappointing outcome to their team’s senior night on Friday, the Wisconsin Badgers scored four-unanswered goals on Saturday to complete a comeback and defeat No. 1 Ohio State 4-2 to close out the regular season. Senior Casey O’Brien and Sophomore Laila Edwards each scored twice, including one apiece 68 seconds apart midway … Read more
MADISON — It was a tale of two halves on Friday night as the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes rallied to down Wisconsin 3-1. The Badgers came out flying, dominating possession and outshooting OSU 19-2 it was the Buckeyes’ lowest shot total in a period this season and the most shots on goal in a frame … Read more
Sorry for the delay on this, but we’ll be taking a look at how we got here and what’s to come. It’s playoff time for Women’s D-III hockey and the east playoffs are underway! CCC Endicott really took control of things this season, finding themselves back atop the CCC after Suffolk won it for the … Read more
The season to date has seen several ups and downs for St. Michael’s in the NE-10, but with this weekend’s sweep of games with Post, the Purple Knights earned a quarterfinal round bye which means hosting a semifinal round game and a chance to play for the league championship for the second time in two … Read more
Mathew Rehding never had a chance to make an official visit to Adrian because of the pandemic. But the senior forward knew what he was getting into as the Bulldogs boast one of NCAA Division III hockey’s elite programs. “A former teammate of mine, Chase Spencer, told me about the program, and he said this … Read more
Where has the season gone? For most coaches, the season probably seemed to take forever at times depending on their respective team’s performance, but for fans, the season seems to have flown by once again. We’ve entered the conference playoffs and are set for another great late February/March string of games! MIAC The defending national … Read more
Augsburg is playing its best hockey at the right time of the year, adding up to a regular-season MIAC championship and ninth consecutive appearance in the conference tournament. The Auggies clinched their latest title with a 3-2 win over St. Scholastica, Kyler Yeo scored the game winner with 4:24 left in the final period. Samuel … Read more
St. Thomas at (1) Ohio State This was a close game at the end of the first period, Jennifer Gardiner scored early for Ohio State and St. Thomas’ Maria Cooper evened things up to make it 1-1. Then the Buckeyes broke out with seven goals in the second frame. Makenna Webster, Jordan Baxter, Hannah Bilka, … Read more
There was a lot to play for this past week as final regular season games were pivotal in determining playoff qualifiers, home-ice seeding, first round byes, and for the NEHC, which teams advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament. As has been the case for the entire season, there were several surprises with an … Read more
MADISON — Wisconsin sophomore Laila Edwards earned some redemption Friday night. The Badger forward got caught up in the battle portion of her team’s border battle with Minnesota late in regulation, taking a penalty for tackling Abbey Murphy with just 1:07 left in regulation. The Gophers capitalized just six seconds into the player advantage as Josefin … Read more
A quick look at the UCHC standings finds an unbeaten Utica squad entering the final week of the regular season and prepping for another conference title run beginning next week. While the results are not necessarily unusual, the way coach Gary Heenan’s team has achieved them has been different than recent past rosters. A look … Read more