Feature stories
By Eric Vegoe/Special to USCHO.com It’s never been a more challenging time to piece together a college hockey roster. There are lucrative contracts when you get it right like the one Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko signed after taking the Gophers to consecutive Frozen Fours or the one Wisconsin head coach Mike Hastings signed after … Read more
The NCAA Men’s Division I hockey field was announced on Sunday with Boston College, Boston University, Denver and Michigan State earning the top seeds in the tournament.
What was it like to be a part of the second longest NCAA Division III men’s hockey game that Hobart eventually won 4-3 late in the fourth overtime over Curry? Historic. Whenever you attend a sports event, you never know what will transpire. Unlike a movie, where the storyline has already been laid out and … Read more
Northeastern captured the 71st Beanpot on a Gunnerwolfe Fontaine goal in overtime, something that seems immaterial to many but could have some impact in the PairWise as the college hockey season draws to a close (Photo: Rachel Bergstein)
Boston University’s Luke Tuch celebrates his goal that put the Terriers ahead, 3-1, in the 71st Beanpot. BU went on to defeat No. 1 Boston College, 4-3, and will face Northeastern in the finals next Monday (Photo: BU Athletics)
After last week, when just about every game was a pick ’em, the books are finding some games where you’re seeing lines that have some better-than-average value. We’ll get to that shortly, but first I want to look at two games that lines are yet to have been set and that’s Monday’s Beanpot semifinals in … Read more
On Friday night, Connecticut will host New Hampshire at the still-feels-like-new Toscano Family Ice Forum in Storrs, Conn. The money line on the game is pretty straight forward: Host UConn is a -160 favorite and the road dogs UNH are -124 on the money line. But the over/under is where we find something rather strange. … Read more
Desperation is a pretty typical term you’ll hear thrown around by coaches, especially those of teams battling a current losing streak. “We need to come out playing desperate tonight,” seems to be a mantra of coaches who need that “get right” type of game. But what about a team that’s in the middle of a … Read more
This is only the second full week back from the college hockey exam break, but already we’re seeing a disturbing trend in major sports books. The number of available games on DraftKings for the second straight weekend were extremely low – three nationally. As someone who lives in Massachusetts and thus can’t bet on teams … Read more
A couple of weeks ago in this column, we talked about the fact that lines on college hockey games seemed to be getting more and more accurate. You can tell that bookmakers are using artificial intelligence – or AI – as a means to limit liability. Rarely in the course of a week do we … Read more
If you keep reading this column every week, we’ll probably seem like a broken record. As the season progresses, the sports books are doing a better job each and every weekend setting lines. If you believe that you can simply pick up an app on your cell phone and begin laying wagers without doing your … Read more
If you’ve had your fill of turkey and woken up from a long slumber, it’s now time to turn your attention to college hockey. Friday presents 25 college hockey games, 19 of which are non-conference matchups. Because of that, you’ll see some lopsided lines (Penn State, a -475 favorite over Lindenwood +325, is the largest … Read more
Denver plays a two-game series at home against Omaha beginning Friday (File photo: Meg Kelly).
First-year Stonehill coach Lee-J Mirasolo knew she was playing with fire when she decided to roster only two goalies this season. The program’s second coach in as many seasons, she said she was really conscious of wanting to bring in not just the right players, but the right people. She was secure in both Hanna … Read more
We’re more than a month into the college hockey season, thus there is plenty of data available from most of the Division I men’s teams. With that, if you’re a sports bettor who favors college hockey, there’s good news and bad. Let’s start with the bad: As these books get more information on teams and … Read more
We’re going to vary from the normal USCHO Edge column this week and echo the USCHO Edge podcast in discussing Team Futures in this week’s column. For those who aren’t familiar with the terminology, a “future bet” is one that you place that is graded on how a team finishes. In major sports like MLB … Read more
We opened last week’s column talking about skewed lines. Sports books simply don’t have the time and resources to pay attention to every single game in every single sport. And while I don’t know it for certain, one has to assume that artificial intelligence is being used to set some betting lines. Sometimes fan bases … Read more
We’re back for the 2023-24 season of USCHO Edge. And the beginning of a new season is always a good opportunity for bettors. As much as we all as college hockey fans want to believe that everyone loves the game that we all love so much, the reality is that it is still a niche … Read more
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. Jim: To Dan – and all of our readers – welcome back to college hockey season! It’s great to have the first weekend of play in back of us for many … Read more
By Mike Prisuta/Special to USCHO.com As the days dwindled down this week toward the triumphant return of Robert Morris men’s hockey, coach Derek Schooley found himself wrestling with perhaps the only emotion that had escaped him since the men’s and women’s programs had been abruptly terminated in May 2021. “I wonder if I remember how … Read more