Men’s D-III Playoff Preview: Curry

Curry Last Meeting: January 1, 2010 (Norwich, 4-0) League: ECAC Northeast Record: 16-8-3 (10-2-2 ECAC NE) NCAA History: Fourth Appearance Scoring Offense: 3.92 goals per game Scoring Defense: 3.09 goals per game Power Play: 21.6 percent Penalty Kill: 80.6 percent Team Leaders Goals: Payden Benning,16 Assists: Ryan Warsofsky,18 Points: Warsofky,27 Power-play Goals: Benning,7 Short-handed Goals: … Read more

Men’s D-III Playoff Preview: Plattsburgh

Plattsburgh League: SUNYAC Record: 20-7-1 NCAA History: 21st appearance, two national championships (1992, 2001) Scoring Offense: 4.07 g/gm Scoring Defense: 2.57 g/gm Scoring Margin: +42 (1.50 g/gm) Power Play: 23.7 percent Penalty Kill: 83.0 percent Penalties: 9.0 pim/gm Team Leaders Goals: Dylan Clarke (18) Assists: Eric Satim (22) Points: Eric Satim (35) Power-play Goals: Dylan … Read more

Men’s D-III Playoff Preview: Oswego

Oswego League: SUNYAC Record: 22-4-0 NCAA History: 12th appearance, one national championship (2007) Scoring Offense: 4.02 g/gm Scoring Defense: 1.85 g/gm Scoring Margin: +59 (2.27 g/gm) Power Play: 25.7 percent Penalty Kill: 85.9 percent Penalties: 14.2 pim/gm Team Leaders Goals: Ian Boots (14) Assists: Ian Boots (23) Points: Ian Boots (37) Power-play Goals: Justin Fox … Read more

Men’s D-III Playoff Preview: Norwich

Norwich Tournament Qualification: ECAC East automatic qualifier NCAA Tournament Profile: 12th NCAA tournament appearance, last appearance — 2010 (championship game win over St. Norbert, 2-1 (2OT), Best NCAA Finish: Champions — 2000, 2003, 2010 Road to NCAA Championship: win 3-2 (OT), vs. Babson, (ECAC East championship game), win 4-0, vs. Southern Maine, (ECAC East semifinals), … Read more

Men’s D-III Playoff Preview: Bowdoin

Bowdoin Polar Bears Tournament Qualification: NESCAC Automatic Qualifier NCAA Tournament Profile: fourth NCAA tournament appearance, last appearance — 2010 (quarterfinal round loss to Oswego, 9-2) Best NCAA Finish: quarterfinalists — 2000, 2010 Road to NCAA Championship: win, 5-2, vs. Williams, (NESCAC championship game), win, 3-1, vs. Colby, (NESCAC semifinals), win 4-3 (OT), vs. Amherst, (NESCAC … Read more

Men’s D-III Playoff Preview: Wisconsin-Superior

Wisconsin-Superior Record: 16-12-1 Ranking: No. 13 USCHO poll Leading scorer: Talon Berlando — 11 goals, 14 assists, 25 points Starting goalie: Drew Strandberg — 10-9-1, 2.24 goals-against, .916 save pct. Coach: Dan Stauber (11th season) In terms of drama, Wisconsin-Superior had it all this season. First, there was an ice-making malfunction at the team’s Wessman … Read more

Men’s D-III Playoff Preview: St. Norbert

St. Norbert Green Knights Record: 22-4-1 Ranking: No. 1 USCHO poll, Leading scorer: Johan Ryd — 9 goals, 16 assists, 25 points Starting Goaltender: B.J. O’Brien — 19-2-1, 1.62 goals-against, .930 save-pct. Coach: Tim Coghlin (18th season) Such is the single-minded purpose of the Green Knights that winning a second-straight Northern Collegiate Hockey Association championship … Read more

Men’s D-III Playoff Preview: Hamline

Hamline Pipers Record: 16-6-5 Ranking: No. 9 USCHO poll, Leading scorer: Brian Arrigoni — 19 goals, 17 assists, 36 points Starting Goaltender: Beau Christian — 14-3-3, 2.39 goals-against, .912 save-pct. Coach: Scott Bell (sixth season) Hamline folks have reason to feel confident heading into the NCAA tournament this week. For one, the Pipers have beaten … Read more

Men’s D-III Playoff Preview: Adrian

Adrian Bulldogs Record: 23-3-1 Ranking: No. 5 USCHO poll Leading scorer: Shawn Skelly, 18 goals, 26 assists, 44 points Starting goaltender: Brad Fogal, 23-3-1, 2.10 goals against, .926 save pct. Coach: Ron Fogarty (fourth season) After going one-and-out in last season’s NCAA tournament, coach Ron Fogarty orchestrated a change in the Bulldogs approach, evolving from … Read more

Men’s D-III Playoff Preview: Elmira

Elmira Soaring Eagles Last NCAA Appearance: 2010 (First Round win 4-1 against Curry, Quarterfinal OT loss 2-1 to Norwich), 17th NCAA appearance in 36 years (4th straight) Best NCAA Finish: Second — 1980, 1988; Third — 1993, 2006, 2008; Fourth — 1978, 1991 Elmira Team Stats ECAC West Regular Season: 8-3-1 (First) Overall Record: 17-6-4 … Read more

Men’s D-III Playoff Preview: Neumann

Neumann Knights Last NCAA Appearance: 2009 (National Champions), second NCAA appearance in 10 years Best NCAA Finish: First — 2009 Neumann Team Stats ECAC West Regular Season: 7-4-1 (Second) Overall Record: 14-8-5 Power Play: 19.4 percent Penalty Kill: 81.6 percent Offense: 3.15 goals per game Defense: 2.69 goals per game Neumann Individual Stats Scoring Leaders … Read more

Five get byes as Division III men’s NCAA bracket revealed

St. Norbert, Plattsburgh State, Oswego State, Elmira and Adrian earned first-round byes as the 2011 NCAA Division III men’s tournament bracket was revealed Monday. Hamline, Wisconsin-Superior, Curry, Norwich, Neumann and Bowdoin also earned spots in the field of 11. Those schools will play first-round games Wednesday, with the winners advancing to Saturday’s quarterfinals. Get the … Read more

Championship central

ECAC Northeast No underdog stories this time around. A year after sixth-seeded Johnson and Wales roared their way into the championship game, the top two seeds are all that remains in the final contest before the NCAA Tournament. Top-seeded Curry knocked off Becker, 5-1, while second place Wentworth ousted No. 3  JWU 4-3 in overtime … Read more

Six-shooting weekend

While both the ECAC East and NESCAC conferences play out the semis and finals of their conference tournaments this weekend, there really are more differences than similarities in the pairings for the final four groupings. However, one thing in common is the presence of teams from the lower half of the brackets, including three in … Read more

All the marbles

Here is a quick look at this weekend’s respective playoff championships in the Midwest, Minnesota and Northern collegiate hockey conferences. The winners in all three will get a ticket to the NCAA Division III Tournament, which starts March 9 with the first round. The Final Four takes place March 25-26 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, … Read more

Top seeds square off

No. 2 Neumann at No. 1 Elmira Elmira coach Aaron Saul returned home earlier this week after visiting his brother Adrian in Germany.  Adrian suffered a serious neck injury last week in a hockey game, but fortunately is doing well. “Adrian’s doing great,” said Aaron Saul. “He walked around the whole lobby of the hospital. … Read more

2007 Redux?

All Rookie Team and Defensive Awards This is the sixth year we’ve been helping out with these awards. I’ll repeat what I always do — I only coordinate this effort. I do not select these awards, nor does USCHO. The coaches do, in the same way they select the other SUNYAC year-end awards. I just … Read more

ECAC West playoff preview

No. 4 Hobart at No. 1 Elmira Until last weekend, Elmira was the hottest team in Division III men’s hockey. The Soaring Eagles were undefeated in their last 12 contests, and hadn’t lost a game since Thanksgiving. Elmira lost to Neumann and tied Utica last weekend, but the late season stumble doesn’t worry the Soaring … Read more

SUNYAC First Round

Ben Waldman – 3, Shane Avery – 2 Who needs your leading scorer when you got Ben Waldman? Fredonia rode Waldman’s second period hat trick to defeat Buffalo State, 3-2, with all the scoring in the middle stanza. Shane Avery got both of Buffalo State’s goals. After a scoreless first period which saw neither team … Read more

Looking ahead to ECAC Northeast and MASCAC playoffs

First they ran the gauntlet. Then, they ran the table. Curry entered conference play in January coming off a brutal stretch of nonconference games that included four ranked teams. They understandably struggled, winning only one game during that six-game period. However, the Colonels ran off a 10-game unbeaten streak since then and have clinched the … Read more