Monday 10: Potential for new No. 1-ranked team, Long Island homecoming, Ivy League ready to get back on ice

Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature. 1) Another new No. 1? Friday night marked a seismic event for the national radar when No. 1 Michigan lost 5-2 to a 17th-ranked Western Michigan squad at home at Yost Ice Arena. Five different players scored … Read more

USCHO BETTOR’S EDGE: Week 3 features plenty of games between top-20 opponents and more difficult choices for USCHO’s staff

Notre Dame (+190) became the first significant underdog from this column to earn a victory last Friday, knocking off Michigan Tech on the road, 2-1 in overtime. Michigan (+120), which was a slight underdog on Friday against host Minnesota Duluth last Friday in the IceBreaker semifinal, handling the Bulldogs with ease, 5-1, before taking home … Read more

This Week in CCHA Hockey: Blasi ‘extremely happy with the progress we’ve made’ at St. Thomas in first weeks on ice as D-I program

After some time away, there’s one thing Rico Blasi noticed about the familiar rinks of the CCHA. “The smell is still the same,” the first-year St. Thomas coach joked in a phone interview Tuesday, reflecting on his team’s recent road trips to Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State. Blasi, who played at Miami in the … Read more

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Quinnipiac hosting North Dakota, spectators Friday, Saturday as ‘the place is going to be rocking both nights’

A matchup between two top-10 teams is noteworthy enough on its own, but there’s a little extra buzz in this weekend’s matchup between No. 6 North Dakota and No. 7 Quinnipiac. For the first time in nearly 20 months, there will be fans at Frank Perrotti Jr. Arena when the Bobcats host the Fighting Hawks … Read more

This Week in Hockey East: Internal goalie competition can only help Merrimack, according to Borek

Don’t call it a goalie controversy. Because Merrimack coach Scott Borek doesn’t see it that way. With sophomore Zachary Borgiel and freshman Hugo Ollas sharing time between the pipes so far this season for the Warriors (2-2-0, 0-1-0 Hockey East), Borek said competition at the position can only be a positive for his club. “I … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Transfers already making a difference for conference teams in early going of ’21-22 season

The new NCAA rule allowing transferring players a one-time exemption from having to sit out a year has had a sweeping impact on college hockey this season. When combined with an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19, we saw an unprecedented number of players changing teams this past offseason. At one time, there were … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: After false positive during 2021 NCAA tournament, St. Cloud State doing ‘everything we possibly could to make sure we can play’ this season

Plenty of talk surrounded Michigan and St. Lawrence earlier this year, when COVID-19 cases saw those teams withdraw from the 2021 NCAA tournament before it began. Those moves soon became public information. What wasn’t public at the time of the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh, though, was that St. Cloud State briefly worried over a false … Read more

This Week in Big Ten Hockey: Upcoming Minnesota series with NCHC’s Minnesota Duluth should be ‘just good hockey teams going against each other’

Minnesota hasn’t played an in-state rival for conference points since March of 2013, but in the middle of back-to-back series against St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth, it feels like we’ve been transported back a couple years. The Gophers and Bulldogs will face off in a home-and-home bout this weekend with Friday’s game being played … Read more

With vaccinations varying across the college hockey community, most schools, leagues helping make this a normal season while still in a COVID world

Even before the puck dropped on the opening weekend of the 2021-22 season, college hockey felt the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The season-opening series between Alaska and Minnesota scheduled for Oct. 2-3 in Minneapolis was postponed to mid-January because of COVID protocols that involved Tier 1 individuals associated with the Alaska program. Tier … Read more

Monday 10: Michigan the potential new No. 1 in this week’s poll, Bentley gains upset, Denver goes on scoring run

Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature. 1. Michigan stakes claim to this week’s No. 1 ranking with IceBreaker championship Michigan won the first of what it hopes will be more championships this season by downing No. 1 Minnesota State, 3-2, on Saturday after … Read more

USCHO BETTOR’S EDGE: Despite many top-20 matchups, plenty of heavy favorites according to USCHO staff; all favorites win in Week 1

Well, if there was a desire to present to you some betting advice in this new USCHO Bettor’s Edge column, week one gave mixed results, depending on how you approach the mission. If you wanted to find out what teams were heavy favorite, congratulations. USCHO Bettor’s Edge properly nailed all of the favorites last Friday … Read more

This Week in CCHA Hockey: Minnesota State finding way through tough early-season schedule with nationally-ranked teams

During this season’s CCHA preseason conference call, Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings was asked about the fact that his team is set to play six consecutive games against top-ranked teams to start the new season. Hastings joked that he wanted to throw former assistant coach Darren Blue under the bus but couldn’t because he also … Read more

This Week in ECAC Hockey: New transfer rule benefiting more schools than normal in 12-team conference

Transfer players have always played a role in college hockey. But while transfers once served to plug a hole or two on a team’s roster, some schools took advantage of a new rule to help makeover their lineup for this season. Last spring, the NCAA Division I council voted to allow undergraduate players in football, … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: Away from the rink, North Dakota’s Driscoll finding pickleball a rewarding, humbling experience

We can’t all be the Tom Brady of our sport, but North Dakota goaltender Zach Driscoll feels he has a couple of irons in the fire. A graduate student who played the last three hockey seasons at Bemidji State, Driscoll in the summer of 2020 was introduced to the sport of pickleball by fellow Twin … Read more