Season previews for leagues
A year ago, Boston boasted itself as the City of Champions. With titles in all four major professional sports in a mere 10-year span — an unprecedented achievement — the proverbial shoe fit. Hockey East partisans may similarly be ready to call themselves part of the League of Champions. Over the past five years, Hockey … Read more
So, Union is the new powerhouse in the conference. But wasn’t Yale hoisting the Whitelaw chalice just a couple of days ago? Or Clarkson, or St. Lawrence? Or was it Cornell? Or Harvard? The short answer: Yes. Welcome to ECAC Hockey. The tightest top-to-bottom conference in the country kicks off another season on Nov. 2, … Read more
What do you say about a league that has sent five different teams in the past six years to the NCAA championship game? What do you say about a league whose last representative in that group is a school that plays in Division II in all of its other sports? And what do you say … Read more
The 2012-13 season will be an unprecedented one for Atlantic Hockey, because for the first time in the league’s 10-year history, the same teams will use the same scheduling scheme and postseason plan two years in a row. Things will be different again in two years with the planned departure of Connecticut for Hockey East, … Read more
The ECAC season title has been Cornell’s to lose over the last couple of years. Now, the pack at the top figures to be more closely bunched. Cornell, while still formidable, graduated Olympian Rebecca Johnston among others, and may be a smidgen below its apogee. The teams that finished second through sixth all show … Read more
In college hockey, we are accustomed to some amount of roster turnover each season. Over the past couple of seasons, the CHA has taken that flux to a new level as teams, not just players, are coming and going. The Niagara Purple Eagles followed the path of the Wayne State Warriors a season before and … Read more
Picking the winner of the WCHA this season is a bit like shuffling a deck of cards and then trying to anticipate the order the various suits will appear. Obviously, there are eight teams in the league, not four, but to date, all of the circuit’s championship banners have been hung in Duluth, Minn., Madison, … Read more
Arlan picks Boston College to come out on top in Hockey East this season.
Expect Williams to take first in the ever-competitive NESCAC this season.
Thought the competition will be fiercer as a result of an increase in league games, the Norwich Cadets should rule the ECAC East once more.
St. Norbert will probably once again claim the NCHA title.
Columnist Neal Jensen goes against the grain and picks Concordia to win the MIAC.
Adrian is picked once again to finish first in the MCHA.
This year, there’s a bigger incentive to play for in the MASCAC. An automatic bid to the NCAA tournament is up for grabs for the first time in the league’s three years as an organized Division III hockey conference, and the winner of the MASCAC postseason tournament has a chance to make history as the … Read more
At Curry College, the expectations are no different than they have been in years past. Last season, the Colonels won the ECAC Northeast tournament championship and earned a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament, and Curry coach Rob Davies believes that success will provide the foundation in creating a stronger team environment. However, Davies … Read more
Once again, a SUNYAC team made it to the Division III national championship weekend. Once again, it was Oswego, but once again, they fell in the semifinal round. The season also saw Geneseo and Buffalo State recover very nicely from NCAA sanctions, Plattsburgh stumble only to come back and win the SUNYAC championship, Fredonia make … Read more
Although there was plenty of exciting hockey around the ECAC West last season, there was almost a feeling of the walking dead as well, as fans waited for the final shoe to drop signaling the dissolution of the league. Hope springs eternal however, and the feeling around the league is much more upbeat this October … Read more
It’s easy to pick out strengths and flaws, looking at the leftovers of all the WCHA rosters from last season going into 2011-12. Colorado College and Denver both have the personnel up front to light up the scoreboard on a nightly basis. North Dakota, meanwhile, lost a ton of offensive production in the offseason. So … Read more
In the wake of the most tumultuous summer in college hockey history, even insular ECAC Hockey has a few changes to adjust to. Gone is George Roll, fired by Clarkson and now coaching at new Division III program Nazareth in Rochester, N.Y. Gone is Guy Gadowsky, who hopes to replicate his Princeton successes with Penn … Read more
According to people who have time to claim an expertise in such things, the ancient Mayan civilization predicted that 2012 will bring a giant shift for humanity. Some claim that Armageddon is approaching, that when our sun aligns with the center of the Milky Way on the solstice in December 2012, civilization will cease to … Read more