Feature stories
The 2005 winner of the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given to the year’s most outstanding women’s college ice hockey player by the USA Hockey Foundation, is junior forward Krissy Wendell from the University of Minnesota. Wendell, who beat out linemate Natalie Darwitz and rival forward Caroline Ouellette from Minnesota-Duluth in the award’s final tally, finished … Read more
Legend has it that longtime Maine head coach Shawn Walsh pointed to a 16-2 drubbing at the hands of Minnesota as the turning point in the Black Bears program. It was January 4, 1986, and Minnesota had already thumped Maine 8-3 the night before. It was Walsh’s second year at the helm of the Black … Read more
Minnesota topped Harvard 6-2 in the 2004 NCAA final, but in this year’s title rematch, Harvard hopes its top line can match up against the Gophers’.
Streak Buster When Denver rookie defenseman Andrew Thomas scored the Pioneers’ first goal of the game at 5:35 of the first period it snapped Bemidji netminder Matt Climie’s shutout streak. The rookie goaltender had not allowed a tally in 177 minutes, 41 seconds, dating back to March 5 when Air Force’s Brian Gineo scored in … Read more
The first loss for a goaltender is one of those rites of passage anyone who gets between the pipes has to endure. For a position that demands as much mentally as it does physically, how a goalie responds to defeat is as a big a test as his puck-stopping acumen. For Boston College would-be freshman … Read more
A Bit of History Saturday’s meeting was the 95th matchup between Colorado College and Michigan, with the Wolverines owning a 57-35-3 edge against the Tigers. The two teams have now met seven times in the NCAA tournament. For the Tigers, Saturday’s victory was its first win in the NCAA tournament against Michigan since 1957. A … Read more
For some fans, the Bemidji State broadcast would be viewed later on tape. For others, the thought would never arise to record a hockey game, even one as important as the school’s first Division I NCAA tournament appearance. There were funerals to attend. There was grief to express, comfort to provide, horrors to exorcise. Five … Read more
The distance between Rochester, Minn., and Colorado Springs, Colo., is 729 miles as the crow flies, but to get from the one city to the other, ice is a more convenient medium than air. Colorado College’s captain, junior Mark Stuart, and sophomores John Brunkhorst and Scott Thauwald are all Rochester natives, and are among seven … Read more
At the end of last season, Hobey Baker finalist Zach Parise decided that his goal-scorer’s touch better matched a New Jersey Devils uniform than North Dakota green. Immediately, Parise left his brother, goaltender Jordan, with a huge question — who would provide the offensive support that he needed? The Fighting Sioux had plenty of answers. … Read more
It’s tough to write about sometimes, because you feel for the kids. After all, it is just a game, but sometimes, it can be a little more. It’s life, especially for seniors. Especially for the Harvard seniors. Because for four straight years Harvard has gone to the NCAA tournament, and four times the last period … Read more
Looking For The Power Gophers head coach Don Lucia looked all game Saturday for the right combination to spark the power play, which went 0-for-9. After a couple of fruitless efforts, Lucia began changing up the power-play groups, then mix-and-matched players in an attempt to locate a combination that clicked. As a result, a number … Read more
They were the longest shot in the tournament. The 16th seed in a 16-team draw. As a candidate for an at-large berth, the Mercyhurst Lakers wouldn’t have made the Top 25. They got into the nationals in completely legitimate fashion, by winning the Atlantic Hockey tournament, but their season was supposed to end in the … Read more
Too Much Power Boston College finished the game 3-for-11 with the man advantage, while Mercyhurst went 2-for-8. The teams at one point in the second period had scored five straight goals on the power play. Each team exhibited at least one highlight-reel goal, perhaps none better than Brian Boyle’s goal at 12:18 of the first … Read more
Tom Serratore was on the bus from the airport in Hartford to his team’s hotel in Amherst, Mass. The flight was a charter from Bemidji, Minn., right into Connecticut’s capital city, and it carried the College Hockey America (CHA) champion Bemidji State Beavers towards a date with the NCAA’s defending champs, the Denver Pioneers. However, … Read more
The North Dakota Fighting Sioux have endured a season that began with defections to the NHL and was followed by a plague of injuries, bad breaks and bad bounces. As difficult as the season has been, nobody was prepared for what happened last Friday during the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul. UND’s players and … Read more
In the wake of the Miracle on Ice’s 25th anniversary last month, fans of the Mercyhurst Lakers are hoping for something like a repeat. The Atlantic Hockey champion Lakers take on the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament, Boston College, in the first game of the East Regional — and the national tournament as … Read more
There’s a lot to like Colorado College’s chances in the Midwest Regional. The top-seeded Tigers feature the WCHA Player of the Year (Marty Sertich), the league’s Defensive Player of the Year (captain Mark Stuart), and a total of three first-team all-conference picks (Sertich, linemate Brett Sterling and goaltender Curtis McElhinney). And there’s plenty more where … Read more
Four teams, four conferences, with a pair of intriguing matchups to kick off the action. Defending national champion Denver sneaked up on everyone last season en route to the NCAA title, beating Maine in a 1-0 thriller in the title tilt. And the Pioneers are on a roll after their run to the WCHA tournament … Read more
Sweet Sixteen The teams in this year’s Midwest Regional are responsible for 16 of the 57 NCAA titles handed out since 1948. Michigan leads the way with nine of those titles. Wisconsin has five championships, while Colorado College has two. Colgate has played in one NCAA championship game, losing to the Badgers in 1990. Caught … Read more
Minnesota hosts the West Regional Saturday and Sunday on home ice as the No. 1 seed — a scenario that didn’t come without some controversy. The Golden Gophers, who lost 14 games this season including two on their way to a fourth-place finish at the WCHA Final Five, were seeded ahead of ECACHL regular-season and … Read more