Men’s D-I in general
On the first evening of games since Vermont’s Friday announcement that it would be canceling the rest of the season, reactions ranged from shock to bewilderment to sorrow. “It certainly is unfortunate,” said ECAC assistant commissioner Steve Hagwell. “It’s a no-win situation for everyone involved, from Vermont all the way through the ECAC. “It was … Read more
Many of the questions now being posed regarding Vermont’s cancellation of the remainder of its regular season will be answered on Monday morning. ECAC Commissioner Phil Buttafuoco has set that as the time for a conference call with the athletic directors of the ECAC to decide what will be in store for the 11 other … 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
Four Points, Baby! Tied for fifth place in the ECAC standings and only two points away from third is not a bad place to be if you’re Dartmouth. Shaking off losses to Yale and Harvard, in which the Big Green was outscored 9-2, Bob Gaudet’s squad turned in its most impressive weekend of the season … Read more
Quinnipiac Stays on Top It was the biggest weekend series of the year to date, and when all was said and done, the Quinnipiac Braves had gone to Erie, Penn., and come out with probably a little more than they had bargained for. The Braves, who owned a one-point lead in the standings over Mercyhurst … Read more
It’s the end of the world as we know it … or is it? Dean Blais isn’t mincing his words this week. Flat-out, undeniably, he knows exactly what this weekend means. "This," Blais said, "is the MacNaughton Cup." When presented with Blais’ remarks, Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer was a bit more diplomatic about the situation. … 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
Relativity, Or Why Size Doesn’t Matter Popular sentiment about size is fairly split. Bigger is better. Good things come in small packages. When the Buffalo Bills benched Doug Flutie in favor of Rob Johnson for their playoff game against the Tennessee Titans (titan: one that is gigantic in size or power), the pro-Flutie contingency claimed … Read more
The MAAC announced Wednesday that Bentley has suspended senior captain Ryan Soderquist an additional three games for an abuse-of-officials penalty received during the Falcons’ Jan. 8 contest at Fairfield. Soderquist, Bentley’s all-time leading scorer, had already received the automatic one-game suspension as a consequence of the game disqualification he was assessed. He will miss a … Read more
University of Alaska Anchorage athletic director Harry Larrabee and hockey head coach Dean Talafous announced Thursday that freshman goaltender Cory McEachran has been reinstated for competition. McEachran was suspended Dec. 3 after his involvement in an incident that included the discharge of a fire extinguisher in the UAA residence halls over the Thanksgiving holiday break. … Read more
I received a lot of response, as expected, from our last installment of Between the Lines, which featured a story on the NCAA’s proposed deregulation of amateurism. It’s still not a topic that’s being talked about at all in the national media, perhaps because hockey is the sport most impacted, and the national media mostly … Read more
After experimenting with a two-referee, two-linesman officiating system for the first half of the season, the CCHA has decided to suspend the four-man configuration for the remainder of the year. The league made the decision after a discussion with the CCHA’s head coaches. “We have gathered excellent feedback and have had valuable discussions regarding the … 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
Checking the Calendar So, midnight 2000 arrived and you found yourself Y2K-compliant, and your computer didn’t explode, and the world didn’t end in some fiery mess, and the aliens were benign after all, and your debit card still provided the means with which to purchase gas and cold beer, and the center held, and the … Read more
Let’s Get Back, Please? The heart of the ECAC schedule is almost upon us … and it couldn’t have come any sooner. After experiencing one slap in the face after another in nonconference play, the chants of E-Z-A-C have resurfaced in full force. And who could blame them? Heading into this weekend, only three teams … Read more
Clash of the Titans MAAC Games of the Week Quinnipiac Braves at Mercyhurst Lakers Friday and Saturday, January 7-8, 2000 Mercyhurst Ice Center Is it too early in the season to call a two-game weekend series "crucial" to the regular-season championship? I don’t think so. Okay, so maybe it’s not like last year’s UNH-Maine weekend … Read more
When is a tie and a loss … better than a win and a loss? When historians look back at the 1999-2000 Denver Cup, they will see the hosts came away with a tie and a loss and finished ahead of a team with a win and a loss. As improbable as it seems, Denver … Read more
Happy holidays, CCHA fans! In college hockey, the only way to celebrate the end of the calendar year is with tournament action. And to many Central Collegiate Hockey Association fans, there’s only one tournament worth mentioning. The Lake Effect, 35 Times Michigan Tech originally brought us the Great Lakes Invitational 35 years ago, a moot … Read more