Men’s D-I in general
Handing Out the Grades Grades are on the mind of student-athletes this time of year, with finals and midterms looming as the first portion of the season winds down. There are only six league games left in Atlantic Hockey before Christmas (four involving AIC), so this will be my final column of 2007. I’m planning … Read more
Last week we saw all 10 WCHA teams face off against each other — one of only three times that will happen all season. At the end of the weekend, things stayed pretty much the same. Colorado College and Denver remain on top with Alaska-Anchorage and Minnesota State on the bottom. Minnesota and North Dakota … Read more
Boston University’s woes this season don’t show any sign of turning around soon. Already saddled with a disappointing 4-9-2 record, the Terriers will be without four players indefinitely due to a suspension. Three seniors and one junior comprise the group: Captain Brian McGuirk, leading scorer Bryan Ewing, former Hockey East Rookie of the Year Brandon … Read more
Gettin’ Blased Billy Blase has played some pretty frustrating hockey for Yale so far. Frustrating, if you’re in Alec Richards’ position. Now I’m not insinuating that there’s anything but the finest camaraderie between the two netminders. But with the way Blase has been playing, it’s suddenly up to the former incumbent Richards to earn starting … Read more
The flu bug has gotten our esteemed Executive Editor Scott Brown down for the week, but there is a more than adequate substitute in Theresa Spisak, USCHO’s WCHA Correspondent. What’s surprised thus far? How do some of the holiday tourneys look? And April will be in Colorado, hear what Theresa has to say about that and much more in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Two months into the season and who’d’ve thunk that the Seawolves would be tied with the Badgers and the Gophers would be struggling to get league wins? North Dakota’s also middle-of-the-pack — much lower than they were predicted, but that’s just par for the course for the Fighting Sioux under Dave Hakstol in the first … Read more
Tom Balog says he’s “just†the Wayne State public address announcer, but he’s one of a small handful of people that has been involved with the Warriors’ hockey program since its inception back in 1999. He’s seen the ups and downs, the championships and the rash of recent downfalls that concluded with the program shutting … Read more
Close Call We’ve heard it all year from the coaches of Atlantic Hockey — for several years actually. The parity in the league. How close the games are. How close in talent the teams are. On how any given night, anybody can beat anybody. All coaches tend to say these things. But in the AHA, … Read more
Hail the Conquering Heroes With a 2-0-2 record against the WCHA, Notre Dame’s capture of the Rensselaer Tournament crown and Miami’s home-ice domination of Canisius, perhaps “conquering” is a bit of a stretch. But don’t it feel good? With Miami and Michigan at the top of the national rankings and Michigan State and Notre Dame … Read more
On Slippery Slopes Before moving on to look at a few specific teams, two coaches’ comments illuminate the parity within Hockey East. “The margin this year between winning and losing, from my perspective, is very thin,” Boston College coach Jerry York says. “We’ve played 12 games, and seven have already gone into overtime.” Northeastern coach … Read more
So long, unbeaten streak. The St. Cloud State Huskies finally vanquished the Clarkson Golden Knights on their home ice, after 19 games and a year and two weeks without a defeat. The longest current home unbeaten streak in the ECAC now belongs to…you’ll never believe this…Union, who have played four straight at the Achilles Center … Read more
Getting Better All the Time Things are looking up in Springfield. AIC pulled off its first conference sweep in almost two years last weekend, defeating Canisius 3-1 and 4-2. It took 13 games last season for the Yellow Jackets to get their first point; they already have five this season and are just two points … Read more
Dave Hendrickson is not available to write the Hockey East column this week. For most of us, Thanksgiving is a nice day to be spent enjoying a big meal with family. For Dave, Thanksgiving is a two-week event in which he consumes meals each day that are as big as a family. Puppy Uppers Don’t … Read more
Princeton senior Landis Stankievech has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. Stankievech, a senior on the men’s hockey team from Trochu, Alb., is a mechanical and aerospace engineering major at Princeton, wants to study philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford, after which he hopes to work on environmental issues. “As an engineer I know how to … Read more
The Semi-Awful Truth In theory, someone will pick up some points in the CCHA this week. It has to happen. Sure, I know that Earth is round, that illness isn’t caused by an imbalance of humors and that gazing into an emerald won’t make your eyesight perfect (although I’d be willing to put that idea … Read more
First off, Happy Thanksgiving! Everyone starts to reflect this time of year and begins to realize what they are most thankful for. Maybe it’s health, a new job or even additions to the family. Heck, even the CHA has lots to give thanks for this time of year, even if the league may go kaput … Read more
I was going to say I’ll try to keep this short this week, but holidays are no excuse; the column must go on, and go on as usual. Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Chad Rau, Colorado College. Why: Had four points (3g, 1a) including … Read more
To catch up on the big stories around the league: Clarkson is now up to 376 days without a home loss, Harvard is pretty good, Colgate finally won, Quinnipiac is scoring, St. Lawrence isn’t, the league might actually be earning some respect, and it’s time for Non-Conference Weekend! Whew. On to the minutiae. It’s What … Read more
If the life of a student-athlete is a busy one, the life of an Air Force hockey player is doubly so. But by recruiting a special kind of person, AFA head coach Frank Serratore and his staff have build a contender, Candace Horgan finds.
The end of Wayne State hockey is near, and some, including WSU athletics director Rob Fournier, believe more could have been done to prevent the catastrophe. Matt Mackinder reports.