Feature stories
We’ve seen all six conference tournaments completed and here are both Jayson’s and Jim’s fields, as well as how they place them into regionals. It’s amazing how controversial this year has been but how close Jayson and Jim are with their final fields. How they move teams around, though, is very much different. Jayson: Here … Read more
Rich McKenna had a five-year plan in mind when he arrived as the new head coach of Wisconsin-Superior’s men’s hockey team in 2016. Consider that plan executed to perfection. Even in a season where the COVID-19 pandemic presented added challenges to the fold, the Yellowjackets were able to navigate their way through them to win … Read more
Northern Michigan pulled Friday’s biggest upset routing top-seeded Minnesota State, 5-1, in the WCHA semifinals. Joseph Nardi (above) posted a goal and two assists to lead all scorers (Photo: Jim Rosvold)
In a crazy back-and-forth game, Cameron Buhl’s second goal of the game at 8:07 of overtime gave St. Lawrence a 5-4 win over Colgate and an ECAC title game date at Quinnipiac on Saturday (Photo: Courtesy St. Lawrence)
We’re inching ever so close to Selection Sunday so let’s take another look at Bracketology.
Right now, there are just nine college hockey games remaining after the NCHC (North Dakota) and Big Ten (Minnesota) crowned their champions. Hockey East has whittled their field to two teams, ECAC is down to three and WCHA and AHA still have their final four to be played.
There was plenty of excitement in the three Atlantic Hockey quarterfinal series that went ahead, with Army West Point, Canisius and Niagara advancing to Springfield over Sacred Heart, RIT and Robert Morris, respectively.
Now that the Frozen Faceoff has ended, it seems fitting to look back on the NCHC season.
It’s likely that three teams from the conference may make the NCAA tournament, possibly four, but with so much up in the air with selection, it’s also possible only two teams, North Dakota and St. Cloud State, will be chosen.
Another sign of how much things have changed, as if one was needed, was evident in Sunday’s conversation with Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren.
When Warren took over at the helm of the conference in January 2020, a college hockey reporter opening an interview with a line of questions about an infectious disease wouldn’t have been normal.
Such is life for the Big Ten, and sports in general, these days.
Shortly after dropping his son off for hockey practice, Lake Superior State coach Damon Whitten looks out from his office window at the Taffy Abel Arena.
A collection of banners stares back at him. This is his office view every day, a reminder of the proud tradition of Lakers hockey that includes an era that stretches from 1987-96. They made the NCAA tournament eight straight times during that run, winning three national titles and finishing runner-up once.
Since the 1995-96 season, the Lakers have topped the 20-win plateau just twice, most recently in 2018-19.
It is something that weighs on Whitten, especially given the position of the banners in respect to his office.
For the most part, the four ECAC Hockey teams playing this year made it through the season unscathed.
But news that Clarkson was cancelling its season last week after some team members violated the school’s COVID-19 policies brought back flashbacks to last March, when teams started to drop out of the league tournament before the entire hockey season was eventually canceled.
However, that wasn’t the case this season, as the three remaining teams are set to compete in the abbreviated ECAC Hockey playoffs starting Thursday.
When Providence and Massachusetts square off this evening for a spot in the Hockey East title game, there will be two players on opposite sides who have evolved significantly this season to become offensive leaders of the respective clubs.
UMass’ Bobby Trivigno and Providence’s Tyce Thomspon each lead their respective clubs in scoring, but both played have evolved throughout this season to each be playing their best hockey down the stretch.
North Dakota overcame deficits of 1-0 and 2-1, using a wild third period to capture the school’s first NCHC postseason title (File photo: Russ Hons)
Minnesota’s offense exploded for four goals in the second period to take a 5-1 lead only to have Wisconsin respond in the third, closing the gap to 5-4 before the Gophers sealed their first Big Ten tournament title since 2015 with an empty-net goal (Photo: Courtesy Big Ten)
Each week during the season, we look at the big events and big games around Division I men’s college hockey in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
A Denver team shorthanded due to COVID pulled off the upset of No. 11 Omaha, 5-4, advancing the Pioneers to the NCHC semis and placing the Mavericks squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble (Photo: Russ Hons/NCHC)
North Dakota’s offense scored early and often in a 6-2 NCHC quarterfinal victory over Miami on Friday. Collin Adams finished the night with two goals and three assists (Photo: NCHC/Russ Hons)
Are we there yet?
It’s a valid question, given how long this COVID-compressed season has felt, given how easily the season could have been derailed, given the intensity of competition that’s taken place in mostly empty arenas.
As each team in the Big Ten prepares for the three-day, single-elimination playoff championship tournament that begins March 14, a picture of a unified, almost defiant conference emerges along with snapshots of the unique, specific experiences that define each team in the league.
“Our guys embraced, initially, that underdog role, and I think that has morphed and transformed itself into the fact that we wanted AIC to be a hockey destination. There’s not a lot of people that knew where Gonzaga was, but there’s a lot of people that know that they’ve got a really good basketball team. That’s the goal here for AIC. They might know that there’s this little school in Springfield, Massachusetts, but that school has a pretty good hockey team. We’re pretty proud of that.” – AIC coach Eric Lang
Prep work to get arguably the best facility in college hockey ready for a rearranged conference tournament is nearly complete.
The Ralph Engelstad Arena (REA) in Grand Forks, N.D., is just about good to go for this year’s NCHC Frozen Faceoff.