The Playoff Race It’s only January, but the playoff outlook is already more and more fascinating. Hockey East put four teams in this week’s U.S. College Hockey Online Top 10: #1 UNH, #5 Maine, #6 BU and #9 BC. When you add in Northeastern, which also garnered support, and look at its third-place position in … Read more
The University of Vermont has canceled the remainder of its men’s hockey season Friday after learning that players lied during an investigation into a hazing scandal. “We have received indications that a number of players were not completely truthful during our investigation of hazing allegations,” university president Judith Ramaley said at a hastily-called news conference … Read more
Friday night’s stunning announcement, that Vermont is canceling the rest of its season, sent shock waves through college hockey. But what does it all mean? There are as many questions as answers: How does this affect the remainder of the schedule? Does Vermont forfeit the rest of its games, giving all scheduled opponents an automatic … Read more
Keefe’s Departure It was not a good week for the Providence College hockey team. First, UMass-Amherst swept the Friars, who had been making a strong bid for Top 10 consideration, 2-1 and 3-1. Then, on Tuesday, they announced that senior Jerry Keefe was leaving the team for personal reasons. Last year, Keefe led the high-flying … Read more
Years ago, when someone said the word “rivalry” in Boston, you might immediately have thought of the Bruins and the Canadiens, the Celtics and the Lakers, and most definitely the Red Sox and the Yankees. But as the days of the great sports rivalries in Boston begin to slowly fade thanks to pro sports expansion, … Read more
Parity Without Mediocrity "Our league is a war." —PC coach Paul Pooley Check out this week’s poll. Not only did three Hockey East teams make the Top 10 — #1 New Hampshire, #3 Maine and #10 Boston College — but three more received votes: Boston University, Providence College and Northeastern. When two-thirds of the league … Read more
A Game Every Day Hockey East fans who went into withdrawal during the recent holiday break will be delighted with the upcoming slate of games. Delighted, that is, if they have their own private Lear jet to crisscross the country since, unfortunately, many of the games are a long hike from New England. Fans whose … Read more
Published and televised reports confirm that a lawsuit has been filed in district court against University of Vermont President Judith Ramaley, head hockey coach Mike Gilligan, team captain Kevin Karlander and assistant captains Matt Sanders and Andreas Moborg. The plaintiff is Corey LaTulippe, a local hockey player who tried out for the Vermont men’s hockey … Read more
How ’bout Them Huskies? After Northeastern administered the first loss of the season to top-ranked Maine last Friday, coach Bruce Crowder stood outside the Husky locker room and talked to the media. "You have a number-one team coming into the building that hasn’t had a loss," he said. "You’d be a village idiot not to … Read more
Hockey East Goes 13-1-1 After a slow start in nonconference play earlier this year, Hockey East took no prisoners during Thanksgiving week, posting a 13-1-1 record. Ironically, Maine and Boston College, expected to be two of the league’s bellwether teams, made no contributions to the dominance since both clubs were off. Hockey East delivered its … Read more
For most of his four years at Merrimack, Rejean Stringer was haunted by the Boston University Terriers. Hockey East’s traditional powerhouse compiled a 9-4-2 record against Stringer’s Warriors, perhaps no worse than BU treated the rest of the league, but still… Stringer thought he might get away from that when he became a pro. But … Read more
Before the year started, Hockey East coaches, not to mention this writer, picked Merrimack to finish last. It seemed eminently reasonable. The Warriors had come within one point of finishing in the cellar last season and that was before losing All-Hockey East center Rejean Stringer (56 points) and Kris Porter (45). “Being picked last in … Read more
Wild Weekend Until Sunday’s Maine-BC tilt, every single Hockey East game last week was either decided by one goal or ended in a tie. Yet despite the nip-and-tuck battles, UNH swept all four weekend points while Maine, Northeastern, Boston University and Merrimack took three of four. At the other end of the spectrum, Boston College … Read more
In the second piece of bad news to strike Vermont hockey this week, the Burlington (Vt.) Free Press reported yesterday that Vermont sophomore Don Richardson has left the team and withdrawn from the university. Richardson said that he did not feel the school and the team were the “right fit” for him. Richardson had not … Read more
The University of Vermont is investigating a possible hazing incident involving one of its athletic teams. WCAX-TV in Burlington, Vt., is reporting that it has confirmed that the incident, which involves the men’s ice hockey team, relates to the consumption of alcohol, and that students were forced to perform “degrading” acts. No students were reported … Read more
What’s Wrong With UNH? or Step Back From That Ledge, My Friend What a difference a couple weeks can make. Just 14 days ago, the Wildcats held a 3-0-0 record, a number-five ranking nationally and were scoring at a rate of over five goals per game. Now, following a 6-0 whitewashing administered by RPI, 2-1 … Read more
… is going on with Hockey East goaltending? Hasek, a consensus choice as the world’s top netminder, opened the National Hockey League season with a 1-4-1 record and enough poor performances to earn a seat on the end of the bench. He then returned to action and promptly tore a groin muscle, an injury that … Read more
A New Number One Hockey East lost one number-one ranking over the weekend, but picked up another. Boston College’s split with Minnesota — more on that later — not only knocked the Eagles from the ranks of the undefeated, it also toppled them from the top spot in the rankings for the first time this … Read more
In an ideal world, the ceremony would have been to commemorate Travis Roy’s All-America plaque joining the pantheon of BU greats at the entrance to Walter Brown Arena. In an ideal world, the extended ovation and chants of “Travis! Travis! Travis!” would have brought only smiles and not a pungent mixture of smiles and salty … Read more
Travis Roy Jersey Retirement The latest chapter in the Travis Roy story will be played out at Walter Brown Arena this Saturday when Boston University retires his number. The unprecedented tribute will take place during pregame ceremonies that will also include the hoisting of another Beanpot championship banner. "We’ve never retired a number here," says … Read more