Familiar foes

A pivotal battle for first place in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference features familiar foes who have a habit of crashing each other’s party. This weekend, No. 6 Gustavus Adolphus faces first-place St. Thomas, a team that upset Gustavus in last season’s MIAC championship game, only to see the Gusties beat the Tommies in the … Read more

Thanksgiving Showdowns

East meets West in Adrian College’s Hackett Builders Thanksgiving Showcase Friday and Saturday. The second-annual hockey revue at Arrington Ice Arena features three Top-10 ranked teams with No. 5 Hamline, No. 7 Adrian and No. 9 SUNY Geneseo, as well as Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Geneseo takes on Hamline at 3 p.m. Friday, followed by UW-Eau Claire … Read more

MSOE in unusual position: first

Milwaukee School of Engineering players remain grounded, despite getting a sniff of rarefied air with the team’s Top-15 ranking and first place standing. The Raiders pierced the NCAA Division III’s upper tier after a weekend sweep of then No. 15-ranked Marian. The victories in the home-and-home series lifted MSOE (6-0) into first place in the … Read more

Conference favorites look to rebound from upsets

All three respective D-III Western Region conference favorites — Adrian, St. Norbert and Hamline — were upset last weekend, which always makes pundits wonder how they will respond the following week, if not the remaining season. Like a claims adjustor, the first task was to assess the damage: were they substantial losses so seismic in … Read more

Adrian, Concordia to play at Michigan Stadium

One week before Michigan and Michigan State play at Michigan Stadium on December 11, the first outdoor game in modern Division III history will take place when Adrian and Concordia (Wis.) drop the puck at the stadium on December 4. The game, which will be played at 9:30 a.m., was originally scheduled for an Adrian … Read more

Adrian should once again rule the MCHA

Adrian’s three-year stranglehold is the Midwestern Collegiate Hockey Association’s storyline entering the 2010-2011 campaign. The Bulldogs are poised to make it a four-year talking point. The perennial league leaders return a cavalcade of proven collegiate players who have claimed numerous honors, like last season’s  MCHA Player of the Year Mike Dahlinger (10 goals and 36 … Read more

Larson Named New MCHA Commissioner

Dr. G. Steven Larson has been named the new commissioner of the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association, the league office announced Friday. Larson succeeds Terry Brand as the fourth commissioner in league history. “I am very honored and excited to be part of the MCHA,” Larson said in an MCHA press release. “All of my dealings … Read more

Icing Rule Gets Icy Reception

The rule proposal was released, the coaches were repulsed and that’s it, right? Wrong. Nothing is finished in the case of the controversial proposed change to the icing rule. Brian Sullivan reports on how we got to this point and what comes next.

Fritz Retires After 32 Years Leading Lake Forest

Tony Fritz, the Lake Forest coach since 1978, is retiring and will be replaced on an interim basis by assistant Seamus Gregory. Fritz, who also served as the school’s soccer program until 1993, had a 351-428-44 record in 32 seasons leading the Foresters hockey team. “I am very excited to move on to the next … Read more

Contact to Head Crackdown Among Rules Changes

The NCAA is getting tough on contact-to-the-head penalties and getting creative in an effort to promote scoring when it comes to other rules changes. Contact to the head will result in a major penalty and either a game misconduct or game disqualification under proposals by the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee unveiled Friday. The proposals … Read more

McCabe Takes Over at Finlandia

John McCabe, an assistant coach at Alabama-Huntsville for the last six seasons, has been named the head coach at Finlandia. McCabe was the top recruiter for Chargers coach Danton Cole. “John brings with him all of the hockey knowledge that he’s acquired under coach Cole — and his former coaches — to help create at … Read more

Rule Book Headed for Change, But by How Much?

The NCAA men’s and women’s ice hockey rules committee gets this chance only once every two years, so there’s a little more emphasis to get it right. In the next month, leading up to and through the committee’s meeting June 8-11 in Indianapolis, the dialogue about potential rules changes will lead to debate and then … Read more

NCAA D-III First Round: St. Norbert vs. Adrian

St. Norbert (21-3-3 Overall, 14-2-2 in the NCHA) After a year hiatus, St. Norbert returns to the NCAA tournament for the 11th time in the past 14 seasons, and first since winning the 2008 national championship. The Green Knights rolled to the NCHA Peters Cup title with a pair of 7-1 playoff wins over UW-Stevens … Read more

This Week in the NCHA-MCHA: Feb. 18, 2010

With the NCHA playoffs ramping up this weekend and the MCHA pairings all set despite one week of regular season conference action to go, what is there to talk about this week? How about the fact the first public edition of the NCAA Regional Rankings was released this Monday? Here they are for the West … Read more

This Week in the NCHA-MCHA: Feb. 11, 2010

The dog days of winter are here and that means the end of the 2009-10 campaign is already looming on the horizon. Plenty of action remains to unfold, however, as MCHA and NCHA teams get one final chance to jockey for playoff position as both leagues wrap up their conference schedules this weekend. Aside from … Read more

This Week in the NCHA and MCHA: Jan. 28, 2010

The University of Wisconsin-Stout’s 3-2 victory over St. Olaf at the Xcel Center on Saturday (which we’ll have more on later) wrapped up the regular season action between the NCHA and the MIAC. With a 24-6-3 record over the MIAC this season the NCHA once again obliterated its western foes and has gone 66-21-5 against … Read more

This Week in the NCHA/MCHA: Jan. 21, 2009

This week’s USCHO.com Division III men’s poll dials up five NCHA and MCHA teams in the same manner it did a week ago, but some interesting results have shuffled the five around a bit. St. Norbert is still the top ranked team in the region, but the Green Knights dropped a spot into a No. … Read more

This Week in the NCHA/MCHA: Jan 14, 2010

This week’s USCHO.com Division III men’s poll offered only minimal movement for NCHA and MCHA teams. The leagues still combine to feature five teams that are getting recognition. St. Norbert remains the highest ranked of the bunch as the Green Knights moved up a tick to third following a pair of road wins over MIAC … Read more

This Week in the NCHA/MCHA: Jan 7, 2010

Welcome back from what I hope was a happy holiday slumber, everyone. This season finally ramps back up this weekend as the NCHA squares off with the MIAC in a full set of crossover games, while a handful of MCHA teams are in action, most notably Adrian as the Bulldogs travel to Oswego to take … Read more