Men’s D-I in general
And it’s pouring media this week, as Sports Channel New England (soon to be Fox New England) begins its Hockey East Game of the Week on Saturday with a Boston College-Maine clash. Look for an upcoming interview with play-by-play announcer Sean Grande and color analyst Cap Raeder. Adding to the exposure will be a new … Read more
And the most interesting place this weekend is once again the middle of the CCHA pack, where just six points, ambition and a little luck separate the ninth-place team from the fifth-place team. No. 6 Michigan is a team with little to prove. After losing the GLI to Michigan State, the Wolverines swept the weekend … Read more
The ECAC and Hockey East announced at a joint press conference today that New York’s Madison Square Garden will host a Dec. 22, 1998 doubleheader involving two premier teams from each conference. The first ECAC-Hockey East Holiday Doubleheader will feature Colgate, Maine, New Hampshire and Rensselaer. “After a 22-year absence, it is very exciting to … Read more
Michigan senior defenseman Chris Fox was arraigned on a felony assault charge Wednesday in connection with an incident last June in a recreational hockey league. According to reports from the Associated Press and the Ann Arbor (Mich.) News, Fox, 21, allegedly hit a member of an opposing team in the face with his hockey stick … Read more
Hockey East has announced an agreement with Dallas-based Audionet to begin broadcast of selected games live over the Internet, including the conference’s championship tournament. Broadcasts will be available through Hockey East Online, the conference’s official web site. According to a release issued by Hockey East, the league is the first conference in any sport in … Read more
Think about the great turnarounds in sports. The last-to-first 1967 Boston Red Sox. The rags-to-riches New York Islanders of the seventies. The bozos-to-boffo Dallas Cowboys earlier this decade. This year’s Northeastern Huskies are threatening to join the pantheon of those great all-time transformations from 97-pound weaklings to muscle-bound tough guys. "They’ve raised the level of … Read more
Since Michigan State received a gift from Santa in the form of more offense for the Great Lakes Invitational, the Spartans should resolve to keep that offense. They’ll need offense if they want to make a run for the national title. All the Miami RedHawks need to resolve to do is to continue playing the … Read more
Marc Robitaille earned Koho/Hockey East Player of the Week honors as well as Mariucci Classic MVP for his role in the tourney win, especially his 40 saves in the championship game. Robitaille was also named the Heaton/Hockey East Goalie of the Month. In December, he posted a 4-0-1 record, a 1.97 goals against average and … Read more
Yale and Rensselaer just came out of the same tournament, Yale finishing third and Rensselaer second in the Rensselaer Marine Midland Holiday Hockey Tournament. "It’ll definitely give us a chance to get a real close look at each other," joked Yale head coach Tim Taylor. "But we each have to get by our teams first, … Read more
Goal scoring in men’s Division I ice hockey has experienced a steady and significant decline over the last ten seasons and, based on scores of games played in 1997-98, this season could see fewer goals per game than any of the previous ten. During the ten full seasons starting in 1987-88, an average of 7.92 … Read more
Three members of Maine’s men’s hockey team face charges of criminal threatening, and will appear in Bangor District Court on Jan. 16, 1998. The charges come following a Dec. 14 incident in which one student allegedly made “reprehensible” comments, and at least one student may be charged with making racial slurs in violation of Maine’s … Read more
(Note: This is the second part of an interview with ECAC ice hockey commissioner Jeff Fanter. The first installment was entitled “Man On A Mission.”) Five months into Jeff Fanter’s tenure as ECAC ice hockey commissioner, he has started to put into motion some of the ideas he presented to the selection committee during his … Read more
At many schools, players are either taking finals this week or preparing to take them next week. The two teams that travel farthest this week by bus, Northern Michigan and Ohio State, warm up the bus only after players have finished finals. Finals. Christmas. Family. Mom’s cooking. Who wouldn’t be distracted? One coach confided, "I … Read more
In October, when the leaves were turning southern Michigan into a rolling patchwork of color, Tyler Harlton missed the open sky of the western Canadian prairie. The Pense, Sask., native could appreciate the beauty of autumn in East Lansing, but he couldn’t help feeling penned in. “When you’re surrounded by trees on all sides, it … Read more
If ever there was a need to prove that axiom, one look at the league standings says it all. Four of the top five teams — Northeastern, Boston University, New Hampshire and Providence — arguably have the top five goaltenders in the league. Marc Robitaille, Michel Larocque, Tom Noble, Sean Matile and freshman Boyd Ballard … Read more
The standings are frozen in time for the next 23 days as the ECAC takes its annual holiday/finals break, and at that break there are two surprising leaders atop the standings — Yale and Colgate. The Bulldogs are 6-1-0 in the league and the Red Raiders 6-2-0. During the preseason, few thought that these teams … Read more
When you start the list of nice guys in hockey, Tim Taylor’s name is invariably near the top. But after years of doubt, Taylor is on his way to proving nice guys don’t have to finish last. In fact, the way things look, they can even earn home ice for the playoffs. Led by one … Read more
You know the story well. You’ve seen it a hundred times before. Rocky Balboa defeats Apollo Creed.The 1969 Mets win the World Series.Rudy sacks the Georgia Tech quarterback.Team USA claims hockey gold at the 1980 Winter Olympics.Jeff Fanter becomes ECAC ice hockey commissioner. Jeff Fanter becomes ECAC ice hockey commissioner? “I was a darkhorse when … Read more
The American poet laureate Robert Penn Warren put it this way: "You’ll have to rethink the whole question." What question will you ask, fan of the CCHA, and do you know how to ask it? Does any CCHA question have an answer now? Well, perhaps. The Michigan State Spartans demonstrated why they are the top … Read more
While it’s true that every team in the league holds games in hand on the Huntington Hounds — led by BU’s five — you still have to admire the way that last year’s cellar-dwellers, who were predicted to finish there once again, have rebounded. Their own Billy Newson took Koho Player of the Week honors … Read more