Back Where They Belong Back in November, if you looked at the results each weekend or scanned the standings, you’d have wondered what was going on in Durham, New Hampshire. UNH managed only a single win for the month and that came over a Providence squad that went oh-fer the first semester within the league. … Read more
New Hampshire’s sophomores are a key piece of the team’s success this season, and as Melissa Parrelli finds, it’s no coincidence that connections off the ice translate to success on it.
Titles? Medals? Kacey Bellamy has a bunch already. But the UNH senior blueliner is looking for more in her final collegiate season — and beyond. Roman J. Uschak reports.
New Blood is Net Gain for Friars Often you’ll hear college hockey coaches, when their team is struggling, say, “This isn’t the pros. The players in the dressing room are our team.” That’s a fact. There’s no minor league in college hockey. A few teams may have a rare junior varsity, but for the most … Read more
Coming into this season Brad Thiessen had already accomplished plenty in net for Northeastern, and this year the Huskies have raised their game around him. Mike Scandura profiles NU’s last line of defense.
Around The Rinks With the holiday tournaments under our belts (not to mention a few more pounds), let’s take a whirlwind tour of all the league’s teams. But do check out the PairWise Rankings, where five Hockey East teams are on track to make the NCAA tournament and another sits on the bubble. Of course, … Read more
Sophomore goaltender John Muse led the Boston College Eagles to a national title his freshman year while playing every game. This year, he has sights set on a repeat, Candace Horgan reports.
Letters To Santa For the final column before the holidays, we’ve once again intercepted mail from Hockey East arenas to the North Pole and are sharing them with you. On Northeastern stationery: Greg Cronin here, Santa. Don’t set me up again, Big Guy. Yeah, we’re 10-3-2. Yeah, we’re in first place. But seems to me … Read more
New Hampshire’s James van Riemsdyk highlights a list of 13 American college players who will be playing for Team USA at this year’s World Junior Championship, taking place in Ottawa from December 26 through January 5. This is the third time that van Riemsdyk will represent the U.S. in this tournament becoming only the 18th … Read more
Whistles Galore If anyone has attended a college hockey game this season, you may notice a few things are different. That’s particularly true when it comes to officiating. A quick look on the ice identifies the biggest difference. Instead of the regular single referee with two assistant referees, Hockey East, as well as all of … Read more
On The Rebound Could Massachusetts-Lowell stay afloat? That was the question two weekends ago after the River Hawks lost top goalie Carter Hutton two periods into their game against Boston University. BU outscored them, 4-1, in the third period, inflicting a very tough loss. One night later the Hawks lost to Vermont. With Hutton projected … Read more
Best Ever? Hockey East has long prided itself on its top-to-bottom strength. Unlike top-heavy conferences that might boast comparable teams come NCAA tournament time, Hockey East could claim that most years even its teams that fell short of making the league playoffs provided significant challenges. This season, however, we may be seeing that strength at … Read more
Kevin Shattenkirk has gone from breaking his parents’ windows with pucks to breaking away as a dangerous blueliner for Boston University. Mike Scandura reports.
Marching Minutemen We’ve already established that many of the perennially “lower-tier” teams from Hockey East seem poised this early season to make a run towards the top. Northeastern and Vermont both have received the positive ink they deserve from this column. Mass.-Lowell opened some eyes out at Michigan State. But last weekend another team threw … Read more
The View From Below This column usually emphasizes teams’ highlights — if you want nonstop negativity to raise your blood pressure, turn on talk radio — but sometimes the lowlights can’t be overlooked. As a result, this week we lead off with two teams that have gotten out of the Hockey East chute slowly. Maine … Read more
In college hockey at least, the ties that bind former players to their schools seem to be very strong. A total of 43 percent of all the Division I men’s hockey programs are helmed by former players of the school. The reasons that alumni players return to coach at their schools are varied, but they do believe it to be an exceptionally rewarding experience that also gives them a leg up in their recruiting, Candace Horgan reports..
A Wonderful Time Of The Year When last season every team but Merrimack lost its Friday night opener, the first column here boiled down to this: “Mayday! Mayday!” Not so this year. Last weekend, Hockey East went 7-2-1 to run its overall nonconference record to 15-4-2. Every team but Massachusetts-Lowell stands at least at .500 … Read more
Among the words that could describe Molly Schaus’ tenure in net for Boston College, “boring” isn’t exactly one. Mike Scandura profiles the Eagle ‘keeper.
The Beast of the East? Late afternoon this past Saturday, yours truly penned a short sidebar that appeared alongside the Massachusetts-North Dakota game story on USCHO.com. I asked the question, mostly tongue-in-cheek, whether we could judge a semi-domination for Hockey East over the WCHA. At that point, Boston College had beaten Wisconsin, and both Boston … Read more
With Michigan defenseman Steve Kampfer seriously injured in an assault, Dave Starman considers the experience of Boston University’s Kevin Schaeffer, like Kampfer the victim of a senseless attack.