If there’s one thing that defines the 2009 NCAA Tournament field, it’s new faces. With tournament regulars Boston College, Michigan State, Colorado College, Minnesota and Wisconsin all staying home this year, it opens the door for several teams whose players had never been to the NCAAs; Ohio State is back for the first time since … Read more
It’s easy to look at the box score and flush out that Minnesota-Duluth’s power play made the difference in its 5-4 overtime victory Friday over Princeton in the West Regional. The Bulldogs scored one of their two final-minute goals with the man advantage (actually a two-man advantage because goaltender Alex Stalock was on the bench) … Read more
Boston University senior defenseman Matt Gilroy has been named the winner of the 57th annual Walter Brown Award, presented to the best American-born Division I player in New England, Gridiron Club of Greater Boston president Steve Grogan announced Friday. Gilroy, a native of North Bellmore, N.Y., is the Terriers’ co-captain and one of a talented … Read more
The 2009 NCAA Tournament field was announced on Sunday morning and the overall number one seed was awarded to Boston University. The Terriers won the Hockey East Championship and finished the season with a 31-6-4 record. The Terriers will be the number one seed in the Northeast Regional in Manchester, N.H. Boston University will be … Read more
The field of 16 teams for the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship was announced on Sunday with Hockey East regular and post-season champion Boston University taking home the number one overall seed. The Terriers were joined by Michigan, Notre Dame and Denver as the tournament’s top seeds. Overall, the seedings were as expected, though that … Read more
Princeton junior goaltender Zane Kalemba headlined the ECAC Hockey awards, winning laurels as Player of the Year as well as the Ken Dryden Award as the league’s top goaltender and being named a first-team all-league selection. Senior Matt Generous of St. Lawrence was named Best Defensive Defenseman and Cornell senior Tyler Mugford was named Best … Read more
There are a lot of ways that people analyze the playoffs. Who’s played the best this year. Who’s played best lately. Who beat whom, how often, and how convincingly in the regular season, or who has the greatest incentive. For that matter, which is a greater incentive … playing for a title, or playing for … Read more
Hope y’all don’t have much real work to get done today, because I wrote another novel. So you’d better appreciate it, because these guys don’t pay me per word. Award Debate Nothing like a little competitive controversy to kick off a column. Here are the leading candidates for the league’s premier annual honors as I … Read more
Lots to cover this week, boys and girls, so eyes up and notebooks open. And you, spit out that gum. Kick in the Teeth Despite an exceedingly handicapped roster, Quinnipiac still managed to hang tough with Harvard on Friday night in Boston. The Bobcats, sans top scorers Brandon Wong (injury) and David Marshall, Eric Lampe … Read more
Those of you who put Yale above Princeton and Cornell in your preseason picks, please raise your hands. The rest of you: look around for anyone with his or her hand up; don’t bother asking them to watch your house while you’re on vacation. What We Know With only four points left on the table, … Read more
Here’s how I’d analyze my preseason predictions at this juncture: 1. Princeton: not a bad pick, though the Tigers haven’t been as consistently dominant as I’d expected. 2. Cornell: if anything, I may have sold the Big Red short in my mind. They just seemed like Princeton’s default runner-up, when they’ve been anything but. 3. … Read more
Less than a month until the playoffs? Already? That’s not fair; I only just realized that “ECAC” is an abbreviation and not an acronym. Referring to “E-Kack Hockey” was getting me a lot of weird looks, and now I know why. What We Know With three weekends to play in the regular season, we take … Read more
Out West there’s brawling, the CHA’s falling, the North Country’s calling, pink’s oh-so-dahling, and the temperature’s falling … … my rhymes are appalling. Enough with the stalling! Reactions to Western Incidents Unless you’ve been living in … well, ok, anywhere without college hockey … for the last couple weeks, you’ve doubtlessly caught wind of the … Read more
Semifinalists for the Walter Brown Award, presented each year to the best American-born college hockey player from New England, were announced by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston, the presenter of the award. Sixteen players were nominated as semifinalists, including three from Northeastern and two from Boston University. Nominees included 12 forwards, three defensemen, and … Read more
Red Hot Hey, Ben Scrivens: Ken Dryden called. He wants his stats back. Just kidding. Dryden’s goals-against was never as low as Scrivens’ is now. It’s easy to single out the sophomore netminder as the superstar on this edition of the Big Red Machine, but rest assured there’s a little more to this team than … Read more
Do the rest of you ever dream about hockey, or am I the only one here who’s that intense? It’s late January, there’s not a thing to do outside if you don’t have a ski mountain in your back yard, the breweries are smack in the middle of their Winter Brew cycle, and ECAC Hockey … Read more
Princeton and Cornell atop the standings? Who would’ve ever predicted … oh, wait. That’s not news. The Blue Streak But Yale is certainly newsworthy. The Bulldogs have won four straight, knocking off three ranked teams in the process: Minnesota State, Air Force and Dartmouth. (The Mavericks, while now mere vote recipients, were 17th when Yale … Read more
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 2009. If you look to the port side of the aircraft, you will see the collapse of Western capitalism as we know it … over the right wing, you’ll note the rising tide that serves as an unmistakable bellwether of global warming and the gradual-yet-unabated decay of our planet. Fortunately, … Read more
Long built around defense and goaltending, Cornell is following a familiar script this season thanks in large part to Ben Scrivens. Mike Scandura reports.
Today, Harvard teammates and brothers Alex and Michael Biega work together for the Crimson, but growing up on their backyard rink — well, let’s just say they got plenty of chances to hone their competitive edge. Mike Scandura reports.