Men’s D-I in general
Racing to the Finish Anyone take a look at the MAAC standings yet? They’re not a jam-packed as some leagues like Hockey East, where a serious NCAA tournament contender may not get home ice. But at the same time, there’s plenty of congestion. Like a nice spring day at Churchill Downs, the MAAC has three … Read more
In the wake of Vermont’s decision to drop the remainder of its hockey season, the ECAC went to a winning-percentage ranking system for this year, keeping the seven completed Vermont games in the league standings and producing an unbalanced schedule. [ii]You’ve heard my opinion on the ECAC’s decision. What you haven’t heard is what coaches … Read more
Strength of Schedule It was late October and UMass-Lowell had just defeated Northeastern after returning from three road losses to Michigan and Rensselaer, both teams that have spent virtually the entire season in the Top 10. “Who’s the idiot who made up this schedule?” asked one writer, tongue-in-cheek. “That would be me,” answered River Hawk … Read more
Double Dipping Looking at the action across the country this week, four games involve Top 10 teams playing each other. All four are in Hockey East. #1 UNH faces #6 Boston University in a home-and-home series, while #5 Maine hosts #9 Boston College for two at Alfond Arena. VCRs should be whirring since the three … Read more
It’s Lonely at the Top…and the Bottom Perhaps it’s the same every year, in every league. A couple or several teams stand out, look to make a run for the regular-season title, and leave everyone else in the dust. Then there are programs that can’t get their feet out of the mud, perennially anchoring their … Read more
Among the teams making the recent transition to the Division I level, none stubbed its collective toe harder than Fairfield University last year. The Stags suffered through a debut season in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference that would have stretched the patience of any good Jesuit priest. Their only victory came in the final third … Read more
Standing Tall Things are starting to even out. It’s that time of year in the ECAC when all 12 (of course, this year it’s 11) teams start to get back those games in hand. Except for the Vermont situation, the next two to three weeks will essentially even everyone out. Harvard traditionally has the most … Read more
The big comeback? Is this in fact the great resurgence of the University of Minnesota? Maybe that’s a little too dramatic. But then again, it’s been a while since the Gophers have been golden at Engelstad Arena. Time and time again they would go into Grand Forks, come close to beating North Dakota but still … Read more
It Keeps Growing, and Growing… For the second time in as many seasons, the MAAC hockey conference is growing, as the league announced the addition of Army as its 11th member Monday. Commissioner Rich Ensor, joined by representatives from the MAAC as well as Army, announced the expansion at a telephone press conference. What does … Read more
First-year varsity program Wayne State will apparently forfeit six wins and a tie due to its use of an ineligible player, freshman winger David Peca, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday. Peca, the younger brother of Buffalo Sabres captain Michael Peca, enrolled at WSU and joined the nascent hockey team without notifying school officials that … Read more
Rich Ensor, commissioner of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, announced Monday that Army will become the 11th member of the MAAC Hockey League, effective with the 2000-2001 season. “I’m delighted to be here today to share the exciting news,” said Rick Greenspan, athletic director at Army. “Our joining of the league is a result of … Read more
A true in-state rivalry is inching closer to reality for Yale and Quinnipiac. After much speculation, the two schools are actively discussing the possibility of facing off for the first time on February 20 at Yale’s Ingalls Rink in New Haven, Conn. “[Discussions] sort of kicked in starting on Wednesday and Thursday,” said Quinnipiac athletic … Read more
Act I With a two-game sweep over Miami, Michigan moved into sole possession of first place last weekend, leaving Michigan State and Northern Michigan deadlocked for second, and once again the CCHA looks like a three-tier league, with three teams on top, a bunch of teams in the middle, and several teams struggling to grab … Read more
This hasn’t happened in a while This is a weird situation. Not many times in the last few years have we been forced to give credit to North Dakota for a great effort … in a losing cause. Most of the time, when the Sioux give that kind of performance, they win. But as hard … Read more
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
North Country, Part II It’s rivalry week once again in the North Country. Clarkson travels to St. Lawrence on Friday for the second game of the season between the two. It also serves as the kickoff for the ECAC television package. The two teams battled to a 1-1 tie the first weekend of December and … Read more
Tournament Time…NCAA Tournament, That Is U.S. College Hockey Online debuted the 1999-2000 Pairwise Rankings Thursday. For those unfamiliar with the PWR, it is a mathematical ranking system which mimics the selection process used by the NCAA tournament committee in picking the at-large bids to the year-ending championship tourney. The PWR compares every tournament-eligible team in … Read more
The NCAA Ice Hockey Championship Committee met Tuesday morning via conference call (seems like a lot of conference calls these days) to talk about additional issues affected by Vermont’s cancellation of the remainder of the 1999-2000 season. The most significant decision reached was that Vermont will continue to count towards the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) … Read more
The 12 ECAC athletic directors got together Monday morning to decide what would happen as a result of the University of Vermont’s decision to cancel the remainder of its 1999-2000 season. With Vermont having played seven league games already, there were questions to be answered. This morning, the athletic directors came to a decision. But … Read more
ECAC Commissioner Phil Buttafuoco and Assistant Commissioner Steve Hagwell held a conference call with all 12 ECAC athletic directors Monday morning to discuss the implications of Vermont’s announcement to cancel the rest of its 1999-2000 season. Some decisions were reached as to how the University’s announcement affects the ECAC, as follows: The 15 canceled games … Read more