Columns, excluding “This Week” columns
No matter how long sports are played, watched or coached, the next week is never quite like any other. Many of women’s college hockey’s seniors, even as they’re ritually honored in their final home games of the regular season, nonetheless have plenty of new competitive experiences forthcoming. Even if the seniors were to play forever, … Read more
Championship Week It comes down to this. Twenty-two Division III teams left; there will be just nine standing on Sunday. Seven conference championships to be decided. Does it get any better than this? Let’s take a look at each of the weekend’s tournaments. ECAC East Where: Northfield, VT When: Semifinals are Saturday, March 6, 1 … Read more
One upside to having a small number of teams in the NCAA women’s hockey tournament is that it adds to the importance and excitement of the regular season. This being the most competitive year to date among the top eight teams in women’s college hockey — and perhaps the last year before NCAA expansion — … Read more
While there are some huge games this weekend, including the SUNYAC semifinals, the ECAC East, ECAC Northeast and NESCAC quarterfinals and the MCHA tournament, this is also somewhat of a slow week. Twenty teams have completed their seasons, and playoff-bound squads from the NCHA and ECAC West have a bye week before their final showdowns. … Read more
Here We Go As I’ve said at this time of the year for as long as I’ve been covering D-III hockey for USCHO, the NCAA tournament really starts this weekend. The NCHA and SUNYAC begin playing down to a single team that will claim that conference’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament, which starts in … Read more
Since the NCAA Frozen Four and the IIHF World Championships are two of the premier women’s hockey tournaments each non-Olympic year, one would think that the two events could be scheduled so that their training and competition schedules do not conflict. Turns out this year, it was too much to ask for. The competitions themselves … Read more
Some bracket projection, insight into the big games, and the ECAC’s future (and future stars).
Because we just can’t get enough of talking about this film.
A Letter from Bill Bowes This past weekend, I got a call from Bill Bowes, the former Wentworth head coach who was dismissed on January 30. He requested that USCHO.com publish a statement from him to the college hockey community concerning his situation. Here it is, unedited and in its entirety: Dear Chris, As you … Read more
Has any sport ever developed as many great rivalries in such a short span of time as women’s college hockey? This may be women’s hockey seventh season with a national championship and only its fourth with an NCAA-sponsored title, yet there are already several women’s matchups whose mere mention brings back memories of stunning upsets, … Read more
It’s been over two years since the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the USCHO.com poll met during the regular season, but that’ll change this weekend when No. 1 Dartmouth takes on No. 2 Minnesota at Ridder Arena in a rare late-season East-West showdown. Because the top two teams have typically resided in different … Read more
The Tie’s the Limit Watching the scores come in over the past few weeks in Division III, I’ve been noticing what I thought was an inordinate number of ties. Asking around, other fans and coaches agreed. Time to get out the ol’ slide rule. 1998-99: 53 ties 1999-00: 60 2000-01: 56 2001-02: 64 2002-03: 71 … Read more
Winds Of Change If Harvard’s schedule looks a little different from previous years, there’s a reason. Two items had changed from Beanpots in the Crimson’s past. First, Harvard was playing in the late game in the Beanpot. In the last several years, Harvard has played in the early semifinal on the first Monday in February, … Read more
The last time Sean Fields played against Northeastern, he allowed three goals on ten shots and didn’t last through the second period. But with his 35-save performance in Boston University’s 5-2 win over the Huskies Monday night, he earned himself a place between the pipes for the Beanpot championship game for the third straight year. … Read more
Seems appropriate that the only two schools antiquated enough to have their finals in January would meet to lead off their post-exam schedules. This year the ECAC was finally accommodating to No. 2 Harvard and No. 9 Princeton, who will face off Friday night in the only game between top 10 teams this weekend. It … Read more
Learning How to Win Nearing the home stretch of the season, some Cinderellas have heard the stroke of midnight and have fallen by the wayside. A few are still partying. At Geneseo, the Knights are unbeaten in their last nine games, good enough for a No. 14 ranking in the latest USCHO.com Division III poll. … Read more
The off-ice news in women’s hockey showed no signs of slowing down this week, in what has already been one of the most inconstant months ever in the sport. The lack of upcoming games between Top 10 teams might make this a relatively light weekend in terms of direct Frozen Four implications, but it’s still … Read more
Change Is Good In my last two columns, I outlined proposed changes that would negatively affect Division III hockey. But not all change is bad, of course. Case in point — the NCAA has modified its tournament selection process for this and future seasons, and the changes should eliminate some of the issues that have … Read more
Scoreboard It was mostly good news from the NCAA convention — the Division III membership saw through many of the Division III reform proposals and shot them down. In summary: The grandfathered Division III schools playing at the Division I level that offer scholarships will continue to do so. This is a major victory for … Read more
What A Week The schedule-makers gave Division III women’s hockey fans a late Christmas present. In the span of five days the top four, six of the top seven, and seven of the top ten teams squared off against one another in seven thrilling contests, including a rematch of the past two national championships, the … Read more