Men’s D-I: CCHA (Defunct)

Red Carpet Time Now that the writers’ strike is over and the Academy Awards are safe, I think it only fitting to return to what all writers should be doing all the time: handing out hardware. Player of the Year Last year when I gave out this award, I didn’t think anything could top the … Read more

Happy Valentine’s Day! Enthusiasm? About Valentine’s Day? From this girl reporter? Over the years, I’ve made it clear that Valentine’s Day is every bitter, divorced, middle-aged hockey writer’s least favorite holiday … and yet already I’ve broken with personal conviction and mentioned the Hallmark holiday by name three times in this column. I sense your … Read more

A Tale of One and Two No. 2 Michigan travels to No. 1 Miami this week, the match that many CCHA fans have anticipated eagerly for much of the season. The teams are just one point apart in the league standings, are Nos. 1 and 2 nationally in both scoring offense and defense, and their … Read more

“Although Thy Breath Be Rude” For much of the geographic area of the CCHA, Tuesday and Wednesday were extraordinarily windy days. Many folks throughout Michigan and Ohio were left without power, nearly 60,000 in Detroit alone. A rare January tornado ripped through Indiana. There are several theories to explain what happened midweek throughout the Midwest. … Read more

How to Announce Your Presence with Authority in One Easy Step So, you’re playing in a league that some people call fluffy because the conference name doesn’t begin with a “W” and you rarely play regular-season games in New England. Even though your fourth-place team from a year ago took the national championship. Even though … Read more

First Congratulations to Lake Superior State. With an uncharacteristic offensive output, the Lakers beat the visiting Bowling Green Falcons, 4-1, Saturday night, to claim their first CCHA victory of the season. Saturday night’s hero was Simon Gysbers, a sophomore defenseman who had the offensive game of his life. Gysbers had a goal and three assists … Read more

Zero Lake Superior has three points to show for 12 CCHA games, but the last-place Lakers have yet to beat a conference opponent. On the road last weekend, the Lakers lost spectacularly to No. 10 Michigan State, 8-2, before earning — and I mean earning — a 3-3 tie the following night. After the loss, … Read more

Another Year Over, and What Have You Done? As 2007 winds down and we’re almost to the point at which we can take stock of the first half of the CCHA season, I am haunted by the ghosts of seasons past. In fact, I can’t shake the memory of what I wrote a year ago … Read more

Hail the Conquering Heroes With a 2-0-2 record against the WCHA, Notre Dame’s capture of the Rensselaer Tournament crown and Miami’s home-ice domination of Canisius, perhaps “conquering” is a bit of a stretch. But don’t it feel good? With Miami and Michigan at the top of the national rankings and Michigan State and Notre Dame … Read more

The Semi-Awful Truth In theory, someone will pick up some points in the CCHA this week. It has to happen. Sure, I know that Earth is round, that illness isn’t caused by an imbalance of humors and that gazing into an emerald won’t make your eyesight perfect (although I’d be willing to put that idea … Read more