Men’s D-I in general
Things may be looking up for Brown, but they almost have to be after a terrible year. Head coach Roger Grillo hopes to reverse the outcomes of several one-goal losses, and will ask captain Josh Barker to shore up the Bear offense.
An up-and-down year for Princeton ended in a near-upset in the playoffs, meaning that the Tigers have something to build on. Forward Brad Parsons and netminder Dave Stathos key this season’s chances.
Hit hard by graduation the last two years, Colgate missed the playoffs last season. Don Vaughan leads a young team with a strong recruiting class into 2001-02, hoping to show that last year was just a speed bump.
Perennial contender and regular-season champion Clarkson got a nasty shock in the first round of the ECAC playoffs last year, and missed the NCAA tournament as a result. This year, the Golden Knights will relay on defensive strength and the netminding of all-ECAC pick Mike Walsh.
The perhaps-surprising pick of the coaches to top the ECAC, Harvard has captain Peter Capouch to stiffen a young defense. Mark Mazzoleni’s skaters are on the rise, but has their time truly come already?
Coaches ordinarily say that polls don’t matter, but this season Mike Schafer is motivating Cornell with one. An apparent snub by the ECAC media gives the Big Red — who return their top ten scorers — something to shoot for.
The Providence Friars wound up in first place in the preseason coaches’ poll. The funny thing is that the Friars didn’t receive one single first place vote.
Scott Sandelin endured a tough year in his debut as Minnesota-Duluth head coach. The Bulldogs let opponents too near the net far too often, something UMD looks to change with a young, puck-moving defense.
WCHA coaches selected Colorado College as the team to beat in this year’s race for the MacNaughton Cup. Minnesota, North Dakota, St. Cloud State and Denver rounded out the top five.
St. Cloud may have won its first WCHA tournament title, but the Huskies still feel the sting of an NCAA quarterfinal loss — and the loss of four all-WCHA players. Still, a balanced roster is St. Cloud’s strength as it looks to repeat last year’s success.
Monday, the ECAC Policy Committee passed two proposals to take effect in the 2002-03 season, increasing the number of allowable games in the regular season, and expanding the conference tournament to include all 12 teams.
In Scott Owens’ third year at Colorado College, the Tigers may be ready to put the puzzle together. A strong finish, including a double-overtime win in the NCAA tournament, gives Mark Cullen and CC a boost coming into the new year.
This time, Mike Sertich will be there from the start. The Michigan Tech head coach, who leads the Huskies for his first full season after replacing Tim Watters last year, will count on senior Paul Cabana to buoy the MTU attack.
Minnesota might have the top returning talent in the WCHA, including the Defensive Player of the Year in Jordan Leopold, but the Gophers could be haunted by their finishes in big games. Can Don Lucia’s squad continue its return to prominence?
Troy Jutting knows well that the college hockey season doesn’t open with the drop of the puck in October, and it doesn’t start with practice in September. It starts the day after the previous season ends because you can’t take summers off in the collegiate game anymore. Your opponents are going to come back stronger … Read more
The WCHA put a record five teams into the 2001 national tournament, including two of the four bye teams, but only runner-up North Dakota made it through to the Frozen Four. The league which sports more NCAA champions than all others combined looks to better its already-impressive effort this season.
Former Alabama-Huntsville player, Jean-Marc Plante, who had been working in the school’s athletic department, collapsed and died Sunday of an apparent heart attack. He was 31. Plante was playing a street hockey game in Madison, Ala., when he collapsed. Plante, the athletic marketing director for Alabama-Huntsville, had worked in the front office of the NHL’s … Read more
The question for Wisconsin this season is simple: who’s in goal? Scott Kabotoff and newcomer Bernd Bruckler vie to replace workhorse Graham Melanson, while seven seniors anchor the Badger offense — similarly missing a compatriot in Dany Heatley.
Dave Hendrickson, U.S. College Hockey Online’s beat writer and columnist for Hockey East, has been named the recipient of the league’s 2001 Joe Concannon Media Award.
Once again, North Dakota will have to rebound from the loss of key contributors to challenge for the WCHA championship. And that’s the point — Dean Blais and the Sioux have done this before, and may again thanks to the likes of Ryan Bayda, Andy Kollar and Chad Mazurak.