Happy holidays, CCHA fans! In college hockey, the only way to celebrate the end of the calendar year is with tournament action. And to many Central Collegiate Hockey Association fans, there’s only one tournament worth mentioning. The Lake Effect, 35 Times Michigan Tech originally brought us the Great Lakes Invitational 35 years ago, a moot … Read more
On this hallowed ground Milwaukee’s Bradley Center is just a building. Seats nearly 18,000 for hockey, pretty nice-looking from the outside, has received a facelift on the inside. But, oh, the memories. Like that one weekend back in 1997 when North Dakota breezed past Colorado College and held off Boston University to win the national … Read more
The MAAC Midseason Report Here we are at the halfway point of the college hockey season, and already in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference we’ve seen some eye-opening events. The team that I innocently referred to as the X-factor before the beginning of the season, Mercyhurst, has silently crept its way to the top of … Read more
First off, we hope that everyone out there had a great holiday, and we look forward to wishing everyone a Happy 2000! Now on to our show. The Controversy In Cat Country We’re sure that everyone is well aware by now of what is happening up in Burlington with the University of Vermont. Matters are … Read more
A Game Every Day Hockey East fans who went into withdrawal during the recent holiday break will be delighted with the upcoming slate of games. Delighted, that is, if they have their own private Lear jet to crisscross the country since, unfortunately, many of the games are a long hike from New England. Fans whose … Read more
As you might expect, Tyler Harlton’s college career was filled with highlights and disappointments. But the environment he found at Michigan State, he knows, is something that may never be recaptured. And when Harlton looks around pro hockey, he sees many of his old friends enjoying great success. He uses that as inspiration to improve … Read more
Ralph Engelstad, a 1954 alumnus of the University of North Dakota, announced Thursday a gift of $100 million to his alma mater. The donation, which is one of the largest private gifts to any U.S. university in history, will partly be used to build a new, state-of-the-art hockey venue. Engelstad, who owns the Imperial Palace … Read more
Published and televised reports confirm that a lawsuit has been filed in district court against University of Vermont President Judith Ramaley, head hockey coach Mike Gilligan, team captain Kevin Karlander and assistant captains Matt Sanders and Andreas Moborg. The plaintiff is Corey LaTulippe, a local hockey player who tried out for the Vermont men’s hockey … Read more
The state of Minnesota is apparently down two collegiate players, as Shawn Roed of Minnesota and Matt Noga of St. Cloud State have decided to leave their respective teams, local reports indicate. SCSU senior center Noga has left the program for personal reasons, according to the St. Cloud Times. Noga, who missed last weekend’s series … Read more
Santa Claus is Coming to Town Well okay, maybe it’s not Santa Claus, because we not talking about someone who’s very giving. Actually we’re talking about something very stingy, and that’s the Sacred Heart defense. For UConn, a team struggling to score goals, the last thing the Huskies want to see right now is the … Read more
Breaking news Before we get to this week’s column, here’s an update on some news — some surprising, some not-so-surprising. St. Cloud State senior forward Matt Noga has decided to leave the team for personal reasons, according to the St. Cloud Times. Minnesota freshman forward Shawn Roed, who was on suspension because he was behind … Read more
Often, this column will be the place for a lot of random musings. But this month, there’s a lot of meat here, as we delve into hot-button topics like new NCAA regulations, the upcoming World Junior Championships, and coaching shifts. Hopefully it’s not too much to digest at once. A lot of people wrote over … Read more
Gifts of the Season You have to wonder about a weekend where so many CCHA fans got to see their teams win at home. Every single home team won this weekend, with the exception of the Wildcats and Lakers, who swapped a pair of road wins in a home-and-home series. The week before Thanksgiving, nearly … Read more
How ’bout Them Huskies? After Northeastern administered the first loss of the season to top-ranked Maine last Friday, coach Bruce Crowder stood outside the Husky locker room and talked to the media. "You have a number-one team coming into the building that hasn’t had a loss," he said. "You’d be a village idiot not to … Read more
The Curse Of USCHO Much has been made of this within the last few days, mainly about the fact that the school that leads off in this space each week winds up biting the dust at least once the following weekend. Now before you point fingers at us, let’s take a look at the cold, … Read more
Alaska-Anchorage freshman goaltender Cory McEachran has been suspended for an indefinite period of time, according to coach Dean Talafous, for what the Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting as punishment for setting off a fire extinguisher in a dormitory. McEachran, a 6-foot-2, 200-pounder from Thunder Bay, Ont., has a 5-4 record in his first season with … Read more
Tournament Time, Baby! Okay, so it’s not time for March Madness — actually not even close. But this past week concluded two more in-season tournaments for MAAC teams, with Mercyhurst College and UConn each participating in Thanksgiving tournaments. Fortunate and unfortunate, the team finished at opposite ends of the spectrum, with Mercyhurst winning the American … Read more
Sleepless in Grand Forks? Dean Blais can usually sense a problem before it happens. Not that he’s one of those Tarot readers on the 1-900 lines. Rather, he seems to be able to sense problems in the dressing room before his North Dakota team takes the ice. When they’re not mentally prepared, he knows it. … Read more
College Hockey? Never Heard Of It. Q: What’s the best-kept secret in Kalamazoo? A: The Western Michigan Broncos, of course. "We’ve got the league’s second-leading scorer, the leading freshman, and the leading goal-scorer on the power play, and no one here knows about us," laments Bronco head coach Jim Culhane. In a city where Culhane … Read more
The Gate Is Open The musical chair of ECAC teams in the USCHO Poll has a new leader this week, in the form of the seventh-ranked Red Raiders of Colgate. The Red Raiders captured the 17th annual Syracuse Invitational this past weekend with wins over Merrimack and Niagara. “They really wanted this, they really wanted … Read more