Men’s D-I in general
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
Almost six months later, Boston College is still No. 1. The Eagles, who won the 2010 NCAA championship in April, are the top team in the first USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll of the 2010-11 season. They received 45 first-place votes from the panel of 50 coaches and media members to lead the way. Related … 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
When St. Cloud State beat Northern Michigan in the first round of the West Regional in March, the Huskies accomplished a feat that had eluded them since their birth as a Division I program in 1989. SCSU won its first national tournament game in eight tries. But Huskies coach Bob Motzko makes a simple point: … Read more
In years past, this space has been used to recap the previous year a bit. In other words, mention how Denver won the MacNaughton Cup, how North Dakota captured the Broadmoor Trophy, how the league got back to the Frozen Four thanks to Wisconsin, etc. Justin Fontaine and Minnesota-Duluth have a lot of expectations to … Read more
Last season, things were starting to look up for Alaska-Anchorage. The Seawolves had seven seniors, the most in six years, and it appeared as if they might have the necessary tools to get over the hump to finally get out of the league basement and join up with the middle of the pack. They got … Read more
Colorado College was in an underdog role last season, and it stuck. The Tigers finished in the bottom half of the league for the first time in six years. It didn’t appear as if they would end up that way, however, getting off to a good start thanks to some surprising play from freshman goaltender … Read more
A new arena and the migration to one of the nation’s most prestigious college hockey conferences is enough to create a buzz surrounding Bemidji State. Not to mention that the Beavers are coming off back-to-back national tournament appearances, including a run to the Frozen Four in 2009, and that’s enough to get Tom Serratore excited … Read more
The pieces are in place for Minnesota-Duluth to meet expectations and finish near the top of the WCHA standings in 2010-11. The Bulldogs return three 40-plus-point scorers — Jack Connolly, Mike Connolly and Justin Fontaine — that anchored a UMD power play that ranked third in Division I at the end of last season. The … Read more
The seniors on the Minnesota State roster have fallen one score short of their goal twice in the past three years. It’s the Mavericks’ goal to reach the WCHA Final Five each year, and the past two seasons, MSU was a goal away from a trip to St. Paul. The Mavericks couldn’t get a goal … Read more
The resume Dean Blais has put together would make one think it would be an easy transition when he takes his Nebraska-Omaha team from the CCHA to the WCHA. The former North Dakota coach won five MacNaughton Cups and a pair of Broadmoor Trophies in his 10 years at North Dakota, but Blais — now … Read more
After being shut out of the NCAA tournament in 2008-09, last year Wisconsin team was determined to get back on to the national scene. The Badgers accomplished that in fine form by not only making the tournament, but by going all the way to Detroit and the Frozen Four as the league’s sole representative. This … Read more
Denver was the unanimous preseason pick to win the league last season. The Pioneers succeeded in this feat by being consistently good throughout the early part of the year before going on an 11-1 tear (9-1 in conference) to finish out the season. However, it may have been too much, as the team ran out … Read more
Just by looking at their results from last season, one might think that North Dakota did its same old song and dance — start slow-ish, surge late and end up in the mix at the end of the season. Results, though, don’t tell the whole story. The Fighting Sioux started off well, but then lost … Read more
The story of Michigan Tech’s 2009-10 season was the much of the same as it has been the past few years: Enter the season with low external expectations. Live up to them, finishing dead last (and with fewer points than the year before). Get a few wins here and there, keep a few games close … Read more