Season previews for leagues
New coaches at two of the league’s Boston-based schools, high expectations for the other, and the return of Frozen Fenway highlight the storylines heading into Hockey East’s 39th season. For the first time since almost fifty years, the Battle of Comm. Ave between Boston College and Boston University will feature neither longtime Eagles coach Jerry … Read more
Is this B1G Hockey’s big season? Finally? While Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin have 23 national championships among them, not one of those titles was captured as a member of the Big Ten. Since its inaugural season in 2013-14, B1G Hockey has sent teams to the Frozen Four seven times, and two B1G teams … Read more
The first season of the CCHA’s return to competition was nearly perfect. We’ll stress the word “nearly” there. Minnesota State came within a period of winning its first-ever national title, leading Denver 1-0 going into the third period of the NCAA championship game before ultimately losing 5-1. That, of course, wasn’t the way the Mavericks … Read more
You’ve clicked on a link to this conference season preview, so chances are you already know how strong the NCHC is. So does Heather Weems, who spent the last decade as St. Cloud State’s athletic director before being named in May as the NCHC’s new commissioner. She succeeds Josh Fenton, who previously accepted another NCAA … Read more
The past two years offered some of the most shape-shifting and chaotic times in college hockey. Conferences realigned, teams expanded and contracted, and new leagues formed. Future changes were thrust into a white-hot spotlight, and the bedrock emotional culture of the sport ranged from anxiety and fear to excitement and anticipation. Through it all, ECAC … Read more
Plymouth State has been the elite team in MASCAC the past few years and is poised to contend again among a host of challengers. Having won the title in 2019-20, the Panthers seek to repeat the feat post-COVID. The conference boasts two long-time coaches combining for over 1150 wins at the D-III level. Bill O’Neill … Read more
The UCHC brings something old (Utica – read more below) and something new (Arcadia joins the league) but expect the competition to be consistently tough among a growing list of challengers for the title. “We are old and big,” said Utica coach Gary Heenan. “This leadership group including our super seniors has won four regular … Read more
When the NCAA tournament was canceled in 2020 due to COVID, 25% of the 12 team field came from the NEHC. When the UCHC was the only conference contested during the 2020-21 season, it was Elmira that won the championship and now starts a new title chase as part of the NEHC this season. The … Read more
The SUNYAC has seen Geneseo win the last three championships contested prior to COVID and four of the last five so the pressure is certainly on the Knights who have high expectations and the most to lose. “I am really surprised that we were picked first in the coaches’ poll,” said head coach Chris Schultz. … Read more
This conference is truly wide open and the battle for just the four playoff spots will be intense. Coach Sean Walsh at SNHU thinks the spots could come down to the final weekend. “It is going to be interesting to see all of the rosters and how the teams on the ice shake out,” said … Read more
The CCC has again flexed in their conference make-up this season as Becker will no longer play in the league and Suffolk returns to the CCC as the eighth team. This year sees the teams playing 21 conference games which doesn’t leave a lot of room for non-conference opponents or tournaments. It therefore puts a … Read more
A new season means another competitive year ahead in the NCHA. St. Norbert was the only team that didn’t play last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Green Knights are back and ready to compete for a championship. Adrian is poised to be a contender as well and won the title two years … Read more
Things are going to look a little different in the MIAC this season. For starters, St. Thomas is no longer in the league, moving up to Division I, and that in itself is a huge deal as the Tommies were a regular contender in the MIAC. In fact, St. Thomas was the last team to … Read more
It should be another competitive year in the WIAC. Wisconsin-Eau Claire is the favorite going into the season and is seeking its fourth conference title in program history. The Blugolds have also won three league tournament titles. Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Wisconsin-River Falls will also be in the hunt. The Pointers enter the year as the … Read more
October is basically hockey’s spring. Hope abounds for each new season, and this time around, that extends to what’s going on amid a pandemic that has affected all of us for a year and a half. NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton knows all about that. Lucky guy. When the conference began play eight years ago, he … Read more
For the casual fan watching on a Friday or Saturday, chances are high that the inaugural season of the new CCHA won’t look much different than the final season of the WCHA. Seven of the eight teams were together in the WCHA, so the matchups, coaches and arenas are largely the same. And the league’s … Read more
While change is inevitable in college hockey, there’s never been an offseason quite as tumultuous or long for many of the teams in ECAC Hockey. Eight of the 12 conference teams didn’t play last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving Quinnipiac, Clarkson, Colgate, and St. Lawrence to string together a makeshift season that ended … Read more
The only thing that will keep Hockey East fans on the edge of their seats this season will be the action on the ice. At least that’s the hope of commissioner Steve Metcalf and the league’s 11 coaches. That fans will even be in the building after a year playing in empty arenas has generated … Read more
As the sudden cancelation of the 2019-20 season and the general, let’s say, quirkiness of last year gets put in the rearview, everyone is hoping for a more normal Big Ten season this year. Saying more normal instead of 100 percent normal is already necessary as during the process of writing this piece a nonconference … Read more
At the Atlantic Hockey media day last week, the word “normal” kept coming up in conversations with the league’s coaches. We’re not there yet, but hopefully moving in the right direction as the 2021-22 season gets underway. Teams are back to most of their pre-pandemic routines, but this offseason, while not as bizarre as the … Read more