St. Olaf stepped out of conference play last week and lost both games on its trip to the East Coast. The Oles were blanked in games against Williams (4-0) and Babson (3-0), but while defeat is never easy to digest, coach Sean Goldsworthy said his team will benefit from the experience in the long run. … Read more
Not much was expected of Bethel this season. The Royals were picked to finish eighth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference after winning only eight games a year ago. So far, it looks like the Royals are in far better shape, going 4-4 through their first eight games, including a 3-1 mark in conference. They … Read more
St. Mary’s was down and out a year ago. The Cardinals won just five games, including only two in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. No wonder they were picked to finish last in the preseason conference poll. The thing is, St. Mary’s has looked nothing like a last-place team lately. It has won three consecutive … Read more
It wasn’t as if the 2-1 win amounted to a major upset, though, as the Gusties were ranked No. 5 in the country. The thing coach Brett Petersen wants people to remember however, is that although his team got the win, it wasn’t the better team on the ice that night. “We got outplayed and … Read more
Expectations are always high at St. Thomas. It comes with the territory of being one of the top Division III programs in college hockey. The Tommies tallied their 30th consecutive winning season a year ago, winning the regular season crown in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and advancing to the NCAA tournament, where they lost … Read more
For six out of the seven teams in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association, the goal is clear: try to somehow weaken St. Norbert’s grip on the NCHA title. The Green Knights have won the last three regular season and playoff championships, along with at least a share of the regular season title 10 of the … Read more
It was a tale of two seasons in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference last year. St. Thomas was the most dominant team in the league during the regular season, winning the title, but it fell short in its bid to win the conference tournament. The Tommies lost, 4-3, to St. Olaf in the semifinal round, … Read more
St. Norbert and St. Scholastica have found a new home in the MCHA, a decision forced by the withdrawal of WIAC schools from the NCHA. Weston Hodkiewicz reports.
Doc DelCastillo has been named the new head coach at Hamline, replacing Scott Steffen, who resigned in April. “I am thrilled to be getting back to Saint Paul,” DelCastillo said in a news release. “This is a great opportunity. In the last three years (coaching at Alexandria in the North American Hockey League), I have … Read more
Hamline has announced Jason Verdugo as its new athletic director, effective May 1. Verdugo, Hamline’s baseball coach for the past 11 seasons, has also served as director of compliance for all of Hamline’s 19 sports teams for the past eight years and has spent the past 11 years involved in fundraising for the athletic program. … Read more
Gustavus Adolphus Gusties League: MIAC Conference record: 8-5-3 (second) Overall record: 16-6-5 NCAA history: Sixth appearance Scoring offense: 3.11 g/gm Scoring defense: 2.30 g/gm Scoring margin: plus-22 (0.81 g/gm) Power play: 19.8 percent Penalty kill: 80.2 percent Penalties: 12.81 pim/gm Team Leaders Goals: Adam Smyth (14) Assists: Ross Ring-Jarvi (19) Points: Ross Ring-Jarvi (29) Power-play … Read more
MIAC The MIAC Preseason Coach’s poll was spot on when it picked No. 8 St. Thomas and No. 11 Gustavus Adolphus to finish first and second in the conference, but thanks to St. Olaf’s upset win at St. Thomas last week, Gustavus will now host St. Olaf in the MIAC tournament title game Saturday. St. … Read more
Last week’s announcement by Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) commissioner Gary Karner that the five University of Wisconsin schools would leave the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) and form a WIAC conference starting the 2014-2015 season made waves in the West Region, as well as the rest of Division III hockey. The initial announcement caught … Read more
As the MCHA concludes its 14th regular season this weekend, the league can no longer be considered an upstart in Division III hockey. Two teams have been ranked for most of the season, and there are many players who will finish the season near the top of the Division III stat columns. Since joining the … Read more
The five schools will play under the umbrella of their all-sports conference starting in 2014. Weston Hodkiewicz reports.
It would be an understatement to say that St. Thomas has been on a bit of a roll lately. For example, the team jumped two more spots in the USCHO.com poll this week. Previously ranked No. 7, St. Thomas is now No. 5, the highest-ranked team in the West Region. St. Thomas is 11-0-1 in … Read more
After a down season last year, St. Scholastica has bounced back in a big way. Currently ranked No. 13 in the USCHO.com poll, St. Scholastica is in second place in the NCHA, just one point behind No. 6 St. Norbert. St. Scholastica went 9-17-1 in the 2010-2011 campaign, after five seasons of double digit wins … Read more
As the last weekend in January approaches, the highly-contested MCHA is taking shape, thanks in part to a schedule this season that featured the four top teams facing each other in the first three weekends of the month. The big series this weekend features No. 14 Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) traveling to No. 6 … Read more
Hockey has been celebrated as the state sport in Minnesota for many years. Recently, a tradition has been started by setting aside a day to illustrate the importance of hockey to the culture of the state. Hockey Day Minnesota is an annual statewide festival of the game. Saturday, January 21 will be this year’s day. … Read more
Last week, I examined the top four MCHA contenders and their January schedule as they go head-to-head against each other in the next few weeks. This week, I will take a look at both the MIAC and NCHA conferences games in January. The matchups in the conferences are not as clear cut as the MCHA … Read more