Finally! Just a few days before Thanksgiving and the last of the D-III leagues get underway this weekend after three grueling weeks of practice and looking at players wearing the same color shirts. Surviving without sustaining any injuries to players anxious to start the season is only one of the areas of concern for coaches … Read more
Williams College senior forward Will Bruce is the recipient of the 2008 Hockey Humanitarian Award. He is the 13th to receive the award, which was created by the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation to recognize “college hockey’s finest citizen.” Bruce received the award in a ceremony Friday at Pepsi Center, site of the NCAA men’s ice … Read more
The NCAA announced Friday the final rosters for the 2008 Frozen Four Skills Challenge, which will be held April 11 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. For the East team, Will Engasser, Yale, Brad Flaishans, New Hampshire and David Leaderer, Massachusetts were all added to the roster. Meanwhile, Eric Ehn, Air Force, Nino Musitelli, Miami … Read more
Following last weekend’s high-powered 7-2 romp in the quarterfinals against Manhattanville, the Norwich Cadets have returned to the Frozen Four for the first time since they hosted the championship weekend in 2004. For this group of Cadets, it’s the first time they have advanced to the title round and with no experience in this round; … Read more
Following last weekend’s high-powered 7-2 romp in the quarterfinals against Manhattanville, the Norwich Cadets have returned to the Frozen Four for the first time since they hosted the championship weekend in 2004. For this group of Cadets, it’s the first time they have advanced to the title round and with no experience in this round; … Read more
Elmira Soaring Eagles (19-3-5 overall, 10-2-3 in ECAC West) After starting the season undefeated in its first 19 games, some might say that the Elmira Soaring Eagles backed into the NCAA tournament. Elmira went a rather mediocre 2-3-3 over the last month as the ECAC West beat up each other down the stretch. However, the … Read more
Norwich Cadets (22-6-0 overall record, 15-4-0 in the ECAC East) With Sunday’s convincing 8-2 win over yet another six seed (Salem State) in the ECAC East looking to claim the title, the Cadets claimed the auto-bid to the NCAA tournament and now move on to prepare for an ECAC East meets ECAC West battle as … Read more
UMass-Dartmouth (18-8-1 overall, 13-3-0 in ECAC Northeast) This magical season continues to roll on for UMass-Dartmouth. Fresh off the heels of their exciting 5-3 win over Nichols Saturday night to capture their third straight Eastern College Athletic Conference Northeast tournament championship, it was announced that the Corsairs will host Trinity (CT) on Wednesday at the … Read more
St. Thomas (19-6-2 overall, 11-4-1 in MIAC) Tonight’s NCAA Opening Round game between St. Thomas and University of Wisconsin-Stout features programs with very different histories. And it’s St. Thomas who has prestige on their side. With 21 more victories than Middlebury, the Tommies are the winningest program in Division III hockey history. Three times in … Read more
Championship Weekend! It’s here and by most coaches’ accounts there should be a heavy presence of local and state law enforcement officials around hosting arenas and nearby towns looking out for those who have outstanding warrants for grand larceny. It’s been happening in college towns and ice arenas all over New England all winter. The … Read more
Careful what you ask for . . . yes it’s playoff time but that also means the season is winding down and now for most teams, it’s lose and you go home until next year. Everything is up for grabs and even the littlest on-ice detail now can mean the difference between moving on and … Read more
I was going to start out with something like: It’s the Final Countdown … but then the flashback to 80’s hair bands and Euro pop just kind of took the luster off of the whole moment. No, I am looking for something a little bigger than that cliché phrase and song title because, as usual, … Read more
OK welcome to the insanity that is the league standings at this time of the year in both the ECAC East and NESCAC. Don’t like your team’s position in the standings? Just hope they have a good weekend and almost anything can happen. With just four games left in the regular season, it’s really getting … Read more
3, 2, 1, … blast-off! The final weeks of the regular season are ticking down and there are still 12 valuable points up for grabs as teams make their final push for playoff eligibility and positioning in the league standings. If you want to be playing hockey in March, now is the time to start … Read more
With the weeks counting down to the all important conference playoffs at the end of February, some teams are starting to get on the roll that many predicted would carry them to the top of the league standings at the beginning of the year. Middlebury and Norwich are prime examples. Still others are finding their … Read more
This week brings us to the unofficial halfway point in the season. Based on what amounts to about an average of a 25 game schedule per team, this weekend puts most teams across the halfway mark and really turns the focus on making an impact in league play. As Colby coach Jim Tortorella puts it: … Read more
Happy New Year! Can’t you just see the confetti, the ball, er puck, dropping at the stroke of midnight over and over again in a scene reminiscent of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day? Over and over again in flashbacks, the league coaches have had various amounts of time during the holiday break to think about … Read more
As Yogi Berra once said, “90 percent of the game is mental.†For many of the teams starting out this season, they are learning that there is much more in play for their teams than just their physical capabilities and talent on the ice. In fact, both good and bad, the mental approach to how … Read more
The season is finally underway and after one weekend of conference play and some terrific tournaments over the Thanksgiving holiday, the ultra-competitive nature of the league is already showing through just the first handful of games. Quick: name the only team without a blemish (loss or a tie) on their record in the first couple … Read more
The other half of the interlocking leagues, NESCAC also starts this week with their ECAC East partners with the level of competition in this league no different top to bottom which is going to make for some very interesting results. Last season saw the top five teams separated by just three points and virtually all … Read more