Last year, the Irish advanced to The Joe for the first time since head coach Dave Poulin was a senior (1981-82). After struggling early on, Notre Dame finished up strong-ish, going 7-5-5 after the mid-season break and beating Ferris State in three games in South Bend to advance to the CCHA Semifinals. Poulin thinks that … Read more
OSU head coach John Markell recently quipped, “Michigan State lost their best goaltender last season–Mike Weaver.” Gone from the Spartan ranks is Weaver (0-8–8, +17), the last of a long line of great stay-at-home defenders that included Jeff Kozakowski and Tyler Harlton. Even head coach Ron Mason can read some of this writing on the … Read more
“I’m looking forward to this season after such a disappointing season last year,” says John Markell. “It’s definitely a rebuilding year for us, one in which you might see 10 freshmen on the ice.” Rebuilding? Ohio State’s season could be further subtitled, “Oh, How the Mighty with the New Rink Have Fallen.” It was just … Read more
“There’s not much new in Michigan,” says head coach Red Berenson. Wouldn’t every team in the league love to have Berenson’s brand of same old, same old? The Wolverines, ranked No. 2 in the preseason USCHO.com poll behind defending national champion North Dakota, return a tremendous senior class and a stellar goaltender, with minor losses … Read more
Wisconsin’s hockey team can say something its football and men’s and women’s basketball teams can’t — it came away from an athletics department scandal largely unscathed. Unlike the three other high-profile teams at the school, the hockey team was not hit with any suspensions stemming from athletes accepting unadvertised discounts at a Madison-area shoe store. … Read more
Everything else could wait. There was one bit of news the Wisconsin hockey program wanted to hear over all others. Dany Heatley is coming back. So they waited, the Badgers did, months after finishing one of the most successful campaigns on record, yet without a national championship to show for it. They waited to hear … Read more
There was a point last season where Minnesota found out, all too clearly, that it may have been leaning on goaltender Adam Hauser. That’s when it all came crashing down. The Golden Gophers, on their way to home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, got smacked square in the face when they … Read more
Michigan forward Mike Comrie, a Hobey Baker Award finalist and the team’s leading scorer last season, will not return for his final two seasons as a Wolverine, according to the University of Michigan Athletic Department.
The decision is in and WCHA teams will have to endure another season of Dany Heatley.
Now the nail-biting begins. Wisconsin’s Dany Heatley has been drafted – at No. 2 by the Atlanta Thrashers in Saturday’s NHL entry draft – and now faces his decision. Should he stay or should he go? The decision rests a bit with him and a bit with the Thrashers, who could tell the 19-year-old they … Read more
Mike Van Ryn, the former Michigan defenseman and 1998 first-round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils, won an arbitration case on Thursday granting him unrestricted free-agency, a decision that could have a great impact on college hockey and the NHL Draft.
“Hey, buddy, you’re outta here!” ECAC partisans were dying to say that after Saturday’s Michigan-Colgate clash. Passions run high in any postseason, but even more so in this CCHA-ECAC tilt. Michigan coach Red Berenson and his colleague at Michigan State, Ron Mason, created a stir this past week, complaining about their seeding in the NCAA … Read more
After Shawn Horcoff picked up conference honors in an unprecedented five categories, Billy Jaffe quipped, “Thank you for coming to the 2000 Shawn Horcoff Awards–I mean, CCHA Awards Banquet.” Horcoff could be a household name around the CCHA, but the rest of the nation may be asking: Shawn who? Horcoff, the Spartan senior captain from … Read more
Dave Poulin is fond of talking about little steps. When his Fighting Irish took Michigan to three games in Yost during the first round of the CCHA playoffs to cap the 1997-98 season, that was a significant little step. When the Irish captured home ice at the end of the 1998-99 season and lost in … Read more
Michigan State senior Shawn Horcoff won an unprecedented five laurels to highlight the 2000 CCHA Awards, presented Thursday, March 16, at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. Horcoff Fellow Spartans Joe Blackburn, Ryan Miller, and Mike Weaver, who picked up two plaques, accompanied Horcoff as Michigan State led all CCHA teams in postseason accolades. Michigan’s Jeff … Read more
As you might expect, Tyler Harlton’s college career was filled with highlights and disappointments. But the environment he found at Michigan State, he knows, is something that may never be recaptured. And when Harlton looks around pro hockey, he sees many of his old friends enjoying great success. He uses that as inspiration to improve … Read more
The state of Minnesota is apparently down two collegiate players, as Shawn Roed of Minnesota and Matt Noga of St. Cloud State have decided to leave their respective teams, local reports indicate. SCSU senior center Noga has left the program for personal reasons, according to the St. Cloud Times. Noga, who missed last weekend’s series … Read more
Things are just not going well in Minnesota athletics, as far as academics are concerned. Less than a week after the report documenting improprieties in the Gopher men’s basketball program was released, hockey coach Don Lucia has suspended freshman forward Shawn Roed for missing classes and falling behind in course work, the Star Tribune of … Read more
Wisconsin blueliner Dave Tanabe has turned down the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes’ contract offer, the Raleigh-Durham News & Observer reported Tuesday. Tanabe, the team’s first-round (16th overall) draft pick this year, rejected a three-year deal including a $500,000 signing bonus, which was reportedly roughly half the value of the contract signed by 17th pick Barret Jackman … Read more
Archrivals Michigan and Michigan State split the favorite’s role in the CCHA’s preseason polls, announced Tuesday. League coaches favored the Wolverines, while the media anointed the Spartans as the league’s best coming into the year. In the coaches’ poll, Michigan received 10 of 12 first-place votes and 140 points to edge Michigan State, which garnered … Read more