The set of games likely drawing the most attention from hockey fans around the ECACHL this weekend is the matchup in Ithaca between the Spartans of Michigan State and the Big Red of Cornell. This year’s matchup at Lynah Rink is a rematch of last season, when the Big Red traveled to East Lansing for … Read more
No. 5 UNH looks to continue to establish itself as a national contender against historical rival Brown in Sunday’s 2 p.m. ET broadcast.
Throughout the season, USCHO.com staffers Scott Brown and Jim Connelly will offer their views on the previous weeks’ action, alternating writing duties every Tuesday. Brown will focus on the West and Connelly on the East, in a regular column exclusive to USCHO Extra. Let’s Get Things Started A week later than my counterpart, Scott Brown, … Read more
With the drop of the puck and look to the sky, a new era began for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on October 8. The drop of the puck signified the first game that RPI would play as a Division I women’s hockey program. The look to the sky was for Bill Cahill — this was, after … Read more
After two weeks of games against non-conference opponents, many of which were on the road, the ECACHL has fared well against the more-closely located competition from Atlantic Hockey or Hockey East, but has struggled against teams from the geographically distant CCHA and WCHA. “Home ice is a huge advantage in college hockey, especially in some … Read more
Two weeks after issuing a statement saying that he hoped to come back this season after treatment for testicular cancer, Rensselaer senior forward Kirk MacDonald has decided to apply for a medical redshirt this season to continue his recovery. “My cancer treatments ended two months ago,” he said in a prepared statement two weeks ago. … Read more
Half of the teams in the ECAC Hockey League began their season a week ago while the other half — the six ECACHL schools that are also Ivy League institutions — won’t officially take the ice for their first regular-season games until a full three weeks later. While not every conference in the country has … Read more
The reigning Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner, Marty Sertich of Colorado College, heads up the honorees among the preseason All-USCHO teams, announced Friday. Sertich led the nation in scoring in 2004-05 with 64 points (27-37), edging teammate Brett Sterling by one point (34-29). Sterling, who was a Hobey Hat Trick finalist last season, joins Sertich … Read more
In a clash of the old guard against the new, defending NCAA champion Minnesota hosts preseason No. 1 St. Lawrence in Saturday night’s 8 p.m. ET broadcast.
Colgate finished in third place in both the ECACHL regular season and in the conference tournament; the Raiders made the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, and lost 6-5 to Colorado College in the semifinals of the NCAA Midwest Regional. Much of the team’s success was attributable to the stellar play … Read more
A year after winning the ECACHL regular-season and tournament championships and then losing in overtime at the NCAA West Regional to Minnesota, Cornell returns the two best players from last year’s squad — senior forward Matt Moulson and junior netminder David McKee — to take another shot at a national title. McKee was a Hat … Read more
The common theme sounded by coaches from around the ECAC at the league’s media day was the parity that exists among its teams. The coaches’ poll and the media poll both had four teams — Colgate, Dartmouth, Harvard, and St. Lawrence — predicted to finish from second to fifth and separated by only a handful … Read more
The Dutchmen have been making incremental improvements under coach Nate Leaman, but despite having home ice in the opening round of the ECAC tournament three years in a row, they’ve been unable to advance beyond the opening round. Last year was the closest that Union has ever come to moving on to the second round; … Read more
In coach Guy Gadowsky’s first season behind the Princeton bench after making the transition from Alaska-Fairbanks, he brought to the ECACHL some of the up-tempo offense perhaps more common in the West. The Princeton players — who had attempted to use the trap under former coach Len Quesnelle — and fans identified with the exciting, … Read more
Transitioning to a new league can be tough, but imagine trying to make that transition having just lost 10 seniors to graduation. That’s the challenge that awaits Rand Pecknold and the Quinnipiac Bobcats in their inaugural run in the ECAC. “We don’t know how we’re going to do in the league, and we’re going to … Read more
A disappointing fifth-place regular-season finish and a loss to Vermont in the quarterfinals of the ECAC tournament ensured that Dartmouth would again miss the NCAA tournament. Despite having some of the best forwards in the league over the last three seasons — in the forms of Hugh Jessiman, who departed after the 2003-2004 season, and … Read more
The 2004-2005 season was one of nail-biting frustration for the fans of Houston Field House, who saw their Engineers lose 10 games by one goal and struggle mightily all season long en route to a 11th-place finish. Coach Dan Fridgen is optimistic, though, that the tough losses last season will help in the growth and … Read more
The 2003-2004 season saw the Golden Knights finish in the middle of the pack during the regular season but make a surprising sprint through the ECAC tournament only to fall to Harvard in the last minute of the ECAC championship. Hopes were high, then, in Potsdam at the start of the 2004-2005 season, a season … Read more
In coach Ted Donato’s first season in Cambridge, he inherited a talented senior class that included an All-American defenseman in captain Noah Welch, a Hobey Baker finalist in goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris, defenseman Ryan Lannon — USCHO.com’s Unsung Hero for 2004-2005 — and Tom Cavanagh, the best defensive forward in the ECAC. “We’ll miss those guys,” … Read more
It has been almost 20 years since a graduating class of Brown hockey players went their entire collegiate careers without experiencing a losing season. Not since 1978, in fact, but the graduating class of 2006 could join the Bears’ exclusive company of consistent four-year winners. The prime factor weighing against the Bears is the loss … Read more