Columns, excluding “This Week” columns
With the unveiling of the 2006-07 USCHO.com Division I Women’s Pairwise Rankings (PWR), it’s time to discuss the new twists in the NCAA tournament selection criteria. So how are the eight teams selected for NCAAs? Automatic bids go to the conference tournament champions of the ECACHL, WCHA, and Hockey East. There are five at-large selections … Read more
As many of you know, this past summer the entire Division III college hockey community suffered a tragic loss. Arguably the greatest player to ever play Division III hockey, Laura Hurd, was the victim of a fatal car accident on an early June morning just outside of Watkins Glen, New York. I unfortunately was never … Read more
Jayson Moy brings Bracketology back, as the 2006-07 version of USCHO.com’s NCAA tournament predictions makes its debut.
Michigan State’s Rick Comley joined college hockey’s “700 Club” with a win over Miami, becoming just the fifth head coach to reach that plateau. Sean Caruthers salutes Comley’s accomplishments.
Quotas in college sports have not been kind to the state of Wisconsin as of late. Last month, the Badgers’ football team failed to qualify for the Bowl Championship Series, despite an 11-1 record and No. 7 national ranking. The BCS cannot take more than two teams from any one conference, and Wisconsin was stuck … Read more
The sophomore slump is a phrase that means nothing to the University of New Hampshire hockey team. Since 2002-03, second-year players have led the team in points and placed among the highest in the nation every season. This season, sophomore Sam Faber is holding up her end. Entering the weekend games, Faber has 28 points … Read more
Is there a better way to ring in 2007? In the NESCAC, No. 2 Middlebury ventures to Maine to take on Colby and No. 10 ranked Bowdoin in pivotal conference matchups for the Panthers. In nonconference action, No. 8 Utica, who recently won the St. Michael’s Tournament with consecutive 5-1 wins over Colby and Neumann, … Read more
At least two Olympic hockey players have and continue to spread the beauty and excitement of the sport to the four corners of the world. Two summers ago, Harvard junior Caitlin Cahow spent a few weeks in Kazakhstan with Athletes in Action, a Christian organization of past and present collegiate athletes, who tried to improve … Read more
High-end composite sticks are all the rage, but are they damaging budgets and skills at the college level? Dave Starman asks around.
In many ways, athletic teams are like families. They play together, they pray together, they sleep together, they eat together. They support each other. So when some members of the family splinter off — for whatever reason — it could be uncomfortable when they return to the fold. It wasn’t uncomfortable when three Olympians, senior … Read more
Over the span of the first semester, there have been several surprising teams as well as a few disappointments. Several freshmen have already made a name for themselves and a few veterans are having superb years. With this being the last column before the break, let me hand out my mid-season awards. ECAC-East Biggest Surprise … Read more
While most people were celebrating Thanksgiving, and resting up after a big turkey dinner, a few teams laced up their skates and took the ice over the holiday’s. Last week’s Game of the Week saw Neumann traveling to Brunswick, Maine to face the No. 8-ranked Bowdoin Polar Bears for the first time in their program’s … Read more
For many student-athletes, the real season begins in March with the postseason. NCAA Tournaments are the way a program and its participants often measure themselves. A team’s success in March can help recruiting. Just ask any coach of a national championship team what happened the next signing period. In some sports, sponsors and networks line … Read more
It was a weekend for the birds, literally. When four of the top teams from the ECAC West and the NESCAC met in the Cardinal Classic this weekend, the teams residing west of Lake Champlain found themselves playing in the late game on Sunday. In the end, the host team found themselves on top, of … Read more
Like so many other young girls, Molly Schaus grew up playing pond hockey in her backyard. “I always wanted to play hockey with my older brother so one day he said ‘O.K. You can play if you’re the goalie,’” she said. The Natick, Mass. native has parlayed that slight into the beginnings of a distinguished … Read more
When the clock struck 0:00 on the 2005-2006 hockey season, the Middlebury Panthers swarmed the ice in celebration at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena. They had won their third straight NCAA Championship, this time at the expense of Plattsburgh State. This weekend, the No. 1-ranked Panthers return to that very same rink, where they … Read more
Nearly a decade ago, when head coach Jeff Kampersal convinced Annemarie Holmes that Princeton University was the place for her, the beginnings of a turnaround from an average hockey team to a championship level squad were in place. “That started the transformation,” Kampersal says. “We used to have kids who played hockey. Now we had … Read more
Notre Dame and its former head coach make headlines; Boston College goes up and down; Army opens eyes in Atlantic Hockey; and the WCHA adjusts after a newsworthy offseason. Dave Starman offers up his thoughts.
Laura Monk is finding out this season what it means to be lonely at the top. Ironically, her collegiate hockey season was lonely at the bottom as well. Monk is Wayne State’s sole senior, a role the 22-year-old native of Ontario, Canada, is finding mother-henish to say the least. “I think they look up to … Read more
Excitement! That is what is in Oswego State coach Diane Dillon’s voice this week. Why is she excited? It may have something to do with her squad’s impressive 3-1-1 start. That record includes her team’s first ECAC West victory over the weekend on the road in overtime against Buffalo State. “I couldn’t be happier to … Read more