Two are familar names; the third is making one for itself. The three teams at the top of the CCHA standings — Miami, Michigan and Michigan State — are each getting the job done in a singular way, meaning that Paula C. Weston tabs this weekend’s Miami-MSU series as the Games of the Week.
In a game anticipated to be a close battle, Kevin Cooper scored his 79th career goal — tying the Middlebury career goals record — to help the No. 3 Panthers rout the No. 4 Plattsburgh State Cardinals by the score of 8-1. Cooper’s second of the game, on the power play, put him in a … Read more
Minnesota captain Grant Potulny is expected to be out until early March after injuring his shoulder during the second period of Saturday’s game against North Dakota. This is the second straight season Potulny will miss significant playing time due to injury. The senior from Grand Forks, N.D., fractured his ankle in the 2002-03 season opener … Read more
Remember three months ago, when preseason Hockey East cellar pick Northeastern stunned favorite Providence with a 1-1 tie? Sunday, Northeastern finished the turnabout. The Huskies (9-5-6, 3-3-2 Hockey East) were outshot 15-2 in the first period. They trailed 1-0 for almost half the game. They led for less than three minutes. Yet they were ahead … Read more
With the week that Minnesota State just went through, it almost seemed fitting that the Mavericks would blow an early 3-0 lead over St. Cloud State and make the two-hour trek home with eight straight losses in mind. That wouldn’t be the case. The Mavericks, confronted with the Husky comeback, battled back by scoring three … Read more
Third-period comebacks and Merrimack College just don’t mix this season. A tired and banged-up bunch of Warriors let a closely checked game against Northeastern University slip away over the final 20 minutes, 3-2, Saturday night at Lawler Arena in a key battle for playoff position in Hockey East. Huskies sophomore Mike Morris scored his team’s … Read more
Behind a stellar performance by the Northern Michigan blueline corps and another record-setting Craig Kowalski shutout, the Wildcats downed Notre Dame, 1-0 Saturday, and earned a much-needed sweep to remain in contention for playoff home ice. Behind a 23-save performance, Kowalski nabbed his fourth shutout of the season and the 12th of his career, rewriting … Read more
Defense apparently refused to brave the bitter cold and visit Starr Rink on Saturday night, as Colgate got the better end of a 9-4 shootout with visiting Vermont. Raider Jon Smyth recorded his second hat trick of the season with goals in every period. His five-point weekend buoyed him to the top of the Colgate … Read more
Boston University goaltender Sean Fields is too young to remember the 1970s TV series “Eight is Enough”, but that phrase is one that he certainly could identify with during his team’s weekend series at home with No. 3 Maine. One night after surrendering eight goals to BU’s Hockey East rival in an 8-4 loss, Fields … Read more
It was almost déjà vu all over again for RIT. For the second night in a row against a SUNYAC opponent — this time Oswego — numerous penalties were called, the Tigers were up by two goals late in the third period, and the visiting team scored a power-play goal on its last opportunity to … Read more
With the Buffalo Sabres wallowing in yet another miserable season, hardcore Western New York hockey observers packed Dwyer Arena this frigid Saturday night in hopes of witnessing another installment of what has become a fierce rivalry between the area’s two Division I teams. They were not disappointed. Niagara and Canisius battled to a spirited 3-3 … Read more
Behind 24 saves by Jamie Holden — the first back to back shutouts by a goaltender in Quinnipiac history — the Bobcats beat Army in stellar fashion 3-0 to complete a weekend sweep. “The team has been playing really well in front of me. Defensively we only gave up 24 shots tonight; it kind of … Read more
A perfect start to 2004 has pushed Minnesota-Duluth to the top of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The Bulldogs reached the summit Saturday night with their eighth straight win — an 8-3 victory over last-place Michigan Tech before 5,232 at the DECC. At the same time, North Dakota lost 2-1 at Minnesota. So No. 1 … Read more
Senior center Rich Peverley had two goals and an assist during a four-goal second period scoring spree and St. Lawrence went on to post a 5-4 win over archrival Clarkson Saturday. St. Lawrence improves to 8-14-4 overall and 4-7-1 in the ECAC while Clarkson, which cut into a 5-1 Saint lead but couldn’t find the … Read more
The temperatures in the Upper Valley have been anything but tropical lately, but No. 2 Dartmouth made its game against Cornell on Saturday afternoon look like a rerun of Hawaii Five-O. Or at least, that was what the Thompson Arena scoreboard looked like. Sophomore goalkeeper Kate Lane stopped all 11 shots she faced, and the … Read more
Once again, Minnesota took a one-goal lead into the third period. This time the Gophers kept it. On goals from Danny Irmen and Matt Koalska, Minnesota carried a 2-1 edge into the second intermission Saturday. And unlike Friday — when North Dakota rallied to win with three third-period goals — the Gopher defense clamped down, … Read more
For the Brown Bears, a couple of story lines have remained consistent. One has been the play of goaltender Yann Danis. The second has been their recent dominance of the Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks. Saturday night, both of those continued to hold. Thanks to a stellar 27-save performance by Danis, including three point-blank saves in the … Read more
There was something fluky about Rensselaer’s game Saturday against Sacred Heart. Two of the goals the Engineers scored in their 3-0 victory over the Pioneers at Houston Field House weren’t conventional. One went off a helmet, the other off a Sacred Heart defender’s stick. Naturally, the Engineers weren’t complaining about the way they scored the … Read more
Less than five minutes away from a textbook double-shutout weekend, one that would get it back to .500 at home and back in the mix for first place in the ECAC, Cornell was stunned by two goals in a 2:26 span as Dartmouth defeated the Big Red, 2-1, on Saturday night. For as much of … Read more
A.J. Thelan had two goals to cap a four-point weekend, as Michigan State completed a sweep of Ohio State with a 3-0 shutout. It was the first road sweep for the Spartans since Feb. 22-23, 2002, in Oxford; more importantly, it was the first time MSU has put together back-to-back wins against a single opponent … Read more