TMQ: Looking back on a weekend of college hockey that blurred the national tournament picture
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.
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Monday 10: College hockey playoffs in full swing as conference quarterfinal matchups take center stage
Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
SATURDAY ROUNDUP: Denver upsets No. 11 Omaha, pushing Mavericks to NCAA bubble; Army beats SHU in 9th-longest game; Bowling Green forces game three in WCHA
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)
FRIDAY ROUNDUP: No. 2 North Dakota rolls to NCHC semis while St. Cloud survives, 2-1, against pesky CC; Northern Michigan upsets No. 13 BGSU; RMU survives against Niagara in OT
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)
This Week in Big Ten Hockey: With conference tournament looming, teams thankful for season as ‘this pandemic has affected everybody’
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.
This Week in Atlantic Hockey: No longer an underdog, AIC wrapping arms around fact school is now a ‘hockey destination’
“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
This Week in NCHC Hockey: Ralph Engelstad Arena getting safety measures in place for this weekend’s Frozen Faceoff postseason
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.
This Week in Hockey East: Northeastern seeing Murphy ‘carry the load the whole year’ from between the pipes
Connor Murphy has played roughly 1,100 more minutes than he did a year ago.
He went into the season expecting to fight for the top Northeastern goaltending job with Devon Levi, who spent the first part of the season with Team Canada for World Juniors.
But Levi broke a rib, and hasn’t seen game action with Northeastern yet.
Hockey East postseason opens, as Brown scores twice and UMass Lowell survives against Vermont, 5-3; UNH routs rival Maine on the road, 7-2
Four second-period goals broke open the game as seventh-seeded UMass Lowell survived a tough test from 11th-seed Vermont to advance to the Hockey East quarterfinals, 5-3 (Photo: Rich Gagnon)
Bracketology: What teams are in the NCAA tournament, what teams are not with men’s college hockey playoffs starting
We promised it last week, that in this week’s Bracketology, Jayson and I would try to find some sort of agreement on a field, just like being on the NCAA committee.
If we’re able to do that (spoiler: we’re not), we’ll attempt to put together what we think the regionals should look like.
This Week in WCHA Hockey: Bowling Green getting back into form, now ‘in the conversation’ for NCAA tournament
Bowling Green’s change in fortunes came at the most opportune time.
Bentley breaks open game in second, scores final four goals in 7-3 victory over Air Force, will face AIC in Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals
Bentley scored the game’s final four goals to pull away from Air Force, 7-3, and advance to the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals where they will face top-seed AIC (File photo: Omar Phillips)
TMQ: Hoping, praying that the NCAA men’s college hockey season finishes out 2020-21 with Frozen Four
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.
Niagara opens men’s college hockey postseason with a come-from-behind, 3-2 win over Mercyhurst to advance to AHA quarterfinals
Walker Sommer’s goal with 4:07 remaining in regulation completed a comeback from 2-0 down as Niagara advanced to the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals with a 3-2 victory over Mercyhurst. NIAGARA WINS!!! Walker Sommer scores the game-winner to send the Purple Eagles to the @Atlantic_Hockey quarterfinals!#uncommon pic.twitter.com/HvDNkfhknT — Niagara University Men's Hockey (@NiagaraMHKY) March 9, 2021 In … Read more
Monday 10: Wisconsin worst to first, NCHC overtime, Kondelik’s hat trick for UConn, Bemidji State handles Alabama Huntsville
Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
SATURDAY ROUNDUP: Wisconsin becomes first men’s Division I team in more than 25 years to go worst-to-first, capturing Big Ten title with 2-1 win at Michigan State
Wisconsin took home the Big Ten regular-season title with a 2-1 win over Michigan State on Saturday. The Badgers went from last place a year ago to the top of the league. (File photo: Jim Rosvold)
Bracketology: With more games played, what teams are in, out of the upcoming NCAA men’s hockey tournament?
Last week, in the inaugural edition of Bracketology for the 2020-21 season, Jim and Jayson attempted to layout their potential field for this year’s NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey tournament.
Let’s see how these two approach this week:
This Week in NCHC Hockey: Minnesota Duluth reboots, looks to capture second place in NCHC with finale in St. Cloud
Entering last Saturday’s game against then-No. 6 St. Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth was in a slump.
Admittedly, the slump was only three games, but for the team that has won the last two national championships and played in three straight national championship games, it was cause for concern that the Bulldogs had lost three straight.
While a win wasn’t necessarily going to be a surprise, it’s likely that few expected the Bulldogs to roll to a 5-1 triumph over St. Cloud.
This Week in Hockey East: Not crowning regular-season champions misses the mark in difficult, COVID-dominated year
As we approach the end of this strange pandemic season, Hockey East columnist Jim Connelly needs to put aside something he’s said publicly a number of times and speak up on a topic that bothers him.
This Week in ECAC Hockey: After sweeping Colgate, Clarkson back on track with youngsters ‘starting to pop’ for Golden Knights
Going nearly three weeks without a game in the stretch run of the season usually isn’t ideal for most teams, but it appears to be working out well for Clarkson.