Feature stories
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
Do I Know You? St. Lawrence and Harvard met twice during the regular season. The first, coming back in November, resulted in a 5-1 win for Harvard at home in Cambridge. The second, on the Saints’ home ice, was a 4-4 tie. The two teams also met in last year’s NCAA semifinal, a 2-1 Harvard … 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
Tough Matchups So how will Dartmouth stop Minnesota’s top line and power play unit? Dartmouth coach Mark Hudak said he would try to keep his freshmen off the ice against them, although he feels pretty good about how his team’s veteran pair of lines matches up. Said Hudak: “Our kids know their kids, their kids … Read more
In the 2005 Women’s Frozen Four, broadcast live through USCHO, Minnesota looks to repeat, but three ECACHL teams also making the return trip seek a different ending.
He began the year on the bench for Mercyhurst. He ended as the league tournament’s Most Valuable Player having netted possibly the biggest goal in school history when his overtime game winner against Quinnipiac gave Mercyhurst the Atlantic Hockey Championship. Scott Champagne is simply a quiet, unassuming player. But taking anything for granted if you’re … Read more
You know things are going awry when even your pep band bites the dust. Not just the tuba player. Not just the trombonist. The whole stinking band. With players dropping like flies prior to Boston College’s Hockey East championship game against New Hampshire, the band was merely the latest subtraction from the Eagles lineup. The … Read more
Saying Goodbye Is Hard To Do As the National Anthem was about to be played, the Plattsburgh players all moved together on the blueline and wrapped their arms around each other, knowing that for many it was their last game together. The Plattsburgh players unite during the National Anthem. (Photos: Angelo Lisuzzo) The spur of … Read more
With Sunday’s selection show out of the way, coaches can breathe a sigh of relief and start planning for the weekend.
There was a moment during the Hockey East semifinal between Boston College and Maine that ignored all but two of the nearly 18,000 people in the building. Halfway through the second period, wide-open BC sophomore Brian Boyle collected a pass in front of the Black Bear net. Maine netminder Jimmy Howard slid post-to-post and out … Read more
Going into Saturday’s Hockey East final, New Hampshire was in an unlikely situation. Even though the Wildcats were the third seed playing the top seed and the No. 5 team in the nation, many signs pointed to a UNH victory. With Boston College losing players to injury and illness, UNH didn’t have to contend with … Read more