This is it: the whole season in a nutshell. Of the forty-odd teams which began the season vying for the NCAA Division I championship, only four still have a shot. Those four — Boston University, North Dakota, Colorado College and defending champ Michigan — meet this Thursday in the semifinals at the Bradley Center in … Read more
“It’s just too much fun to play hockey.” Christmas trees had just been dragged out to the corner for trash pickup; credit card statements had yet to show the fallout of holiday excess; New Year’s Eve memories were still fresh. Tommi Degerman was having fun. The Boston University Terriers had entered January with little to … Read more
Randy Robitaille, sophomore center for the Miami Redskins, signed a contract with the Boston Bruins on Monday. Robitaille will play for the Bruins on Thursday night; financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. “It’s better than first-round money,” says Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni. “This is a great situation for me, not only because … Read more
The American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) has announced its list of eight finalists for the 1996-97 Spencer Penrose Memorial Award, given to the Division I Coach of the Year. None of the eight finalists, who include representatives of all four major conferences, have ever received the award before. The finalists range from veterans to first-year … Read more
Scarcely had the NCAA tournament selection committee announced its seedings before the hue-and-cry began — especially in the West Regional, where the Minnesota Golden Gophers, fourth in the nation in the Pairwise Rankings, ended up the number-four seed. That puts the Gophers up against two Michigan teams: first Michigan State, and then the defending national … Read more
Over 100 letters have already passed through the desk of St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh. And in various ways, they all say the same thing: how lousy a job Marsh did as chairman of the NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey tournament committee. Many have come from Minnesota, and most haven’t been quite that diplomatic. … Read more
Despite losing the ECAC tournament final to Cornell, the regular-season champion Clarkson Golden Knights earned the top seed in the East, and the consequent bye. Cornell, though, was sent out West, leaving room for two WCHA teams to join the action in Massachusetts. Colorado College and Denver will take on New Hampshire and Vermont, respectively. … Read more
University of New Hampshire coach Dick Umile has been cleared to return to the bench on Friday when the Wildcats open the NCAA East Regional Tournament. Umile suffered a heart attack in the early morning hours of Mar. 8, after his team played its opening round game in the Hockey East tournament. against UMass-Amherst. Assistant … Read more
Regular-season champion Clarkson boasts two of the six ECAC First Team All-Stars, it was announced today. One of them, ECAC scoring champion Todd White, was selected Player of the Year by league head coaches. White was also the only unanimous First Team selection this year. He is the first Clarkson player to win the scoring … Read more
Junior defenseman Mike Crowley of Minnesota was named the 1996-97 WCHA Player of the Year in balloting conducted among league coaches, media, sports information directors and team captains. Crowley, who was also named to the All-WCHA First Team for the second year, is the first defenseman honored with the Player of the Year award since … Read more
CCHA Playoffs: Championships CCHA Playoffs: Championships by Paula C. Weston The states of Michigan and Ohio are equally represented in this year’s CCHA Championship Tournament. It’s no surprise that Michigan, Michigan State, and Miami advanced to the semifinals, but Bowling Green had to win two on the road to earn the right to travel north … Read more
WCHA Playoffs: Final Five by Steve Page When the Western Collegiate Hockey Association expanded from nine to 10 teams in 1992-93, league officials decided to invite everybody to their tournament. Nice gesture, but now five teams reach the conference’s Final Four (which is, consequently, the Final Five instead). To solve the dilemma of having an … Read more
Hockey East Preview: "Ice Wars" by Dave Hendrickson "Ice Wars," Hockey East’s title for this weekend’s semifinal and championship games, will see two surprise entrants. Everyone expected regular-season co-champions Boston University and New Hampshire to advance, but Boston College and UMass-Lowell became the first two schools to not only upset a higher seed, but to … Read more
ECAC Playoffs: Final Four by Jayson Moy In the voice of the one and only Jim McKay … "It’s time to go to the Adirondack Mountains, and the cozy town of Lake Placid. Here we will see an intense drama unfold when four teams do battle for the little cup known as the Scotty M. … Read more
Editor’s note: This analysis was compiled before the Colorado College-Denver game Thursday evening, and does not account for that result. This analysis is based on an examination of the Pairwise Ranking, the computer ranking system used by the NCAA tournament selection committee. The PWR compares each tourney-eligible team in Division I which has a .500 … Read more
College Hockey U.S.A. named its WCHA Players’ All-Star team for the 1996-97 season this week. Each WCHA school was sent 20 ballots for players to pick the best in the league. Players are not allowed to vote for their teammates. This is the 24th year of the poll, which was formerly run by WDAZ-TV in … Read more
Returning honorees Brendan Morrison of Michigan and Andy Roach of Ferris State and top vote-getter Randy Robitaille of Miami head up the All-CCHA First Team, announced by the league March 9. The team consists of the three highest vote-getting forwards, the two highest defensemen, and the top goalie. This is the third time Morrison has … Read more
The voting is in for the ECAC All-Rookie Team. The league’s head coaches nominated no fewer than 25 players for consideration for the team; voting, conducted to determine the top six qualifiers, identified six players above the pack — four forwards, one defenseman and one goaltender. The All-Rookie Team is as follows: Player School Pos … Read more
New Hampshire head men’s hockey coach Richard Umile was taken to Portsmouth Regional Hospital at approximately 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning after suffering a heart attack at his home in Portsmouth. According to Nursing Supervisor Nancy Bruce, Umile was listed in fair condition as of 10 a.m. on Saturday. “The athletic department was shocked to hear … Read more
ECAC Playoffs: Quarterfinals by Jayson Moy We’re down to eight teams left in the hunt for the Whitelaw Trophy, three of which have never won it — Princeton, Union and Yale. In fact, of the three, only sixth-seeded Princeton has made it as far as the championship game (a 5-1 loss in 1995 to RPI). … Read more