There is no question that the biggest news in college hockey this year — perhaps even this decade — has been Penn State’s commitment to go Division I. On the wings of a huge private donation, an immense and storied athletic department and a tradition of excellence at the club-hockey level, the Nittany Lions will … Read more
The top two teams in the weekly USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll remain the same with Boston College holding steady at No. 1 and North Dakota at No. 2, but after that, 16 of 18 teams from last week’s poll are still ranked, but in different positions. Yale, despite not having played a game yet, … Read more
Welcome to the USCHO of Tomorrow … today! Hope you’re getting a good feel for our new layout and material, and before rushing to judgment on the diminished length of the column, I’ll point out that we’re adding three weekly blog updates per league in order to better stay on top of timely events. Today, … Read more
A total of 20 NCAA men’s ice hockey student-athletes who excel both on and off the ice have been selected as candidates today for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in hockey. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must have achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym … Read more
The reigning ECAC Hockey player of the year hopes to take the Engineers farther than last season. Roman J. Uschak reports.
Colgate and Cornell have confirmed plans to play their Nov. 27 non-conference game at the Prudential Center, the Newark, N.J., home of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. Tickets, ranging from $38 to $49 for adults and $15 for Cornell and Colgate students, are on sale through each school’s athletic ticket office.
Last year Brown was no worst-to-first fairytale under rookie coach Brendan Whittet last year, but the Bears made strides nonetheless. The former Dartmouth assistant and Brown letterwinner guided his alma mater to a six-point improvement over its 2008-09 finish, and stunned the field in a Cinderella sprint into the league tournament’s final four in Albany. … Read more
Last year Union had one of its best seasons ever last year, setting a team Division I record for wins (21) and advancing to the ECAC Hockey semifinals for the first time. The win total was the most in program history since 1984-85, when the Dutchmen finished third in the nation in the D-III playoffs. … Read more
Last year Harvard looked to be on solid ground after Game 1 — a 5-3 win at highly regarded Dartmouth. The footing got a tad more treacherous shortly thereafter, as the Crimson fell off the map with an 0-8-2 tumble. The Ivy took three W’s in a row and tagged on a tie in mid-January, … Read more
Last year Yale topped the 20-win mark for the second season in a row, a feat the program had accomplished only once before, between 1984 and 1986. A seven-game winning streak entering the regular-season finale appeared to portend big, big things for these Bulldogs … but a last-day loss at local rival Quinnipiac proved more … Read more
Last year Dartmouth didn’t respond to an exciting, offensively dynamic fifth-place run in 2008-09 quite the way most prognosticators had imagined. Instead of improving on a scintillating combination of chemistry and youthful energy, the Green fell apart almost literally from Day One. Dartmouth lost its first six games — all of the league variety — … Read more
Last year When Quinnipiac rocketed out to a 12-1-0 start, it looked as though the Bobcats could cruise their way right into the NCAA tournament. Apparently, that sentiment was felt too deep in the locker room as well, as the Q-Cats dozed their way into a 1-11-2 slump and finished the year only two games … Read more
The whole point of a playoff series, as opposed to individual games, is to insure — to a certain extent — that the better team actually wins, right? It’s a solid attempt to diminish the number of “fluke” advancements by teams that simply got lucky. So how does one explain Team A, at 8-17-4, upending … Read more
Last year Another year, another strong run out of Cornell. The Big Red won five of its first six games and never looked back en route to its second straight 20-win season, and the first with a single-digit loss total since 2005-06. Senior netminder Ben Scrivens took home the Dryden Award as the league’s top … Read more
Last year At one point, Colgate was a respectable 7-5-4. Then, just like that, a four-game slide put the Raiders a deuce under .500. But they bounced back with nine points in six games, followed by an opportunistic three-game winning streak to close out the regular season that secured the ‘Gate a first-round bye. The … Read more
Last year St. Lawrence was looking pretty good as the calendars flipped over to February, sitting at 14-9-5 with four home games and three on the road to close out the regular season. Whoops. SLU fell face first with a first-round bye in sight, going 1-4-2 down the stretch and effectively — albeit coincidentally — … Read more
Last year Winning in clumps is a good thing, as long as the clumps aren’t too far apart. Rensselaer did that well last year, with two three-game winning streaks, three two-game runs and a balanced season: 9-9-1 in the first half, 9-8-3 in the second. It was not a glamorous year, but it was exciting, … Read more
Last year Clarkson started the season 3-2-0, despite a pair of tough road losses at Michigan State to open. Then the Potsdam crew hit a bit of a pothole, dropping 18 of 23 and falling to 5-20-3 by early February. Clarkson failed to hit the three-goal mark in 20 of 37 outings, going a predictable … Read more
Last year Just when coach Guy Gadowsky’s Princeton machine appeared poised to declare its dynasty, the gears began to grind. Defending Dryden Award-winner Zane Kalemba was never himself in net, the relentless offense finished a mere sixth in the league in scoring, the defense finished ninth in goals-against, and injuries were the culprit. From the … Read more
Former Minnesota-Duluth captain and assistant coach Jessica Koizumi has joined new Yale coach Joakim Flygh’s staff as an assistant. Koizumi, who played at Minnesota-Duluth from 2003 to 2007 and also was part of the world championship 2008 U.S. Women’s National Team, spent last season as an assistant coach at the North American Hockey Academy. She … Read more