Dartmouth has announced the hiring of Byron Pool as a new assistant coach for the men’s hockey team. “I would like to welcome Byron and Kay Pool along with their two children, Harper and Curran, to Dartmouth. Their family will be a tremendous addition to the Upper Valley,” said Dartmouth head coach Reid Cashman in a statement. “Byron … Read more
Grant Potulny stepped down as Northern Michigan coach to take a job in professional hockey, the school announced Tuesday.
The 58th annual Great Lakes Invitational will take place on Dec. 29-30, 2024 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich., and there will be four Michigan-based schools for the 18th time in tournament history. Michigan Tech and Western Michigan will meet in the first semifinal on Dec. 29 at 3:30 p.m. followed by Michigan … Read more
The CCHA has announced its two all-conference teams and one all-rookie team for the 2023-24 season. ALL-CCHA FIRST TEAM Forward: Sam Morton, Sr., Minnesota State Forward: Lleyton Roed, So., Bemidji State Forward: Jared Westcott, Sr., Lake Superior State Defenseman: Kyle Looft, 5th, Bemidji State Defenseman: Eric Pohlkamp, Fr., Bemidji State Goaltender: Mattias Sholl, Jr., Bemidji … Read more
It was an unusually active offseason, at least by CCHA standards. A coaching change at Minnesota State kicked off the summer, with Mike Hastings leaving for Wisconsin and taking four players and most of his coaching staff with him. Then the summer ended with the situation in Bowling Green that saw head coach Ty Eigner … Read more
The CCHA has announced the results of the 2023-24 coaches and media polls and preseason awards chosen by the coaches and media. 2023-24 CCHA Preseason Coaches Poll Michigan Tech – 67 (4 first-place votes) Northern Michigan – 66 (3) Bowling Green – 55 Bemidji State – 49 St. Thomas – 45 (1) Minnesota State – … Read more
The Northern Michigan hockey team has announced the hiring of Jimmy Spratt as an assistant coach ahead of the 2023-24 season. Spratt spent the 2022-23 season with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers. Previously, he spent three seasons with Miami and five seasons at Bowling Green, serving as the director of hockey operations with both teams. … Read more
MANKATO, Minn. – It wouldn’t be a conference title game in Mankato without some drama. At the end of the regular season, Minnesota State and Michigan Tech played an eventful final five minutes for the MacNaughton Cup that featured a penalty shot and a controversial goal review. Minnesota State won that game 3-2 and took … Read more
Eleven teams have clinched spots in the NCAA tournament. The last five will be decided by results of Saturday’s conference championship games.
Since Grant Potulny’s first season in Marquette in 2017-18, Northern Michigan has twice played in a conference championship game. In 2018, the second-place Wildcats hosted Upper Peninsula archrivals Michigan Tech in the WCHA championship game. A sold-out crowd at the Berry Events Center saw the Huskies shut out the Wildcats 2-0. NMU returned to the … Read more
The CCHA has announced the 2022-23 all-CCHA first and second teams. Six players from four different programs have been recognized on the first team, while six players from six different programs have been recognized in the second team. Forwards Ryland Mosley (Michigan Tech), David Silye (Minnesota State) and Austen Swankler (Bowling Green) are joined by … Read more
The CCHA has announced the 2022-23 all-rookie team with six players from four different programs recognized. Forwards Kyle Kukkonen (Michigan Tech), Joey Larson (Northern Michigan) and Lleyton Roed (Bemidji State) were joined by defensemen Dalton Norris (Bowling Green) and Josh Zinger (Northern Michigan), as well as goaltender Beni Halasz (Northern Michigan). All year-end awards were … Read more
After a CCHA campaign unlike any other came down to, quite literally, the final minute and a half of the regular season, it’s almost hard to believe the playoffs are starting this weekend. Minnesota State ended up winning the MacNaughton Cup – their sixth in a row – with just a tiny bit of drama … Read more
It always feels like this. In the 10 years I’ve spent covering the old WCHA, then the new WCHA, and now finally the new CCHA, it can often feel like I’m writing the same story every year at the season’s end: Nothing is decided, and everyone is pretty close. Michigan Tech leads Minnesota State by … Read more
It’s that time of year again. I’m not talking about the holidays. I’m talking about the end of the first half of the college hockey season, when my editors generously let me write a thousand or so words where I get to pretend like I’m Nostradamus. And, if you’ve been following the CCHA at all … Read more
The way Northern Michigan has played this season had, until this past weekend at least, baffled Grant Potulny. The Wildcats’ underlying numbers have looked good, even great. They have a top-10 power play, a top-15 offense, one of the best faceoff percentages in the country, a player in AJ Vanderbeck who is among the nation’s … Read more
The first season of the CCHA’s return to competition was nearly perfect. We’ll stress the word “nearly” there. Minnesota State came within a period of winning its first-ever national title, leading Denver 1-0 going into the third period of the NCAA championship game before ultimately losing 5-1. That, of course, wasn’t the way the Mavericks … Read more
Minnesota State has been selected by the CCHA head coaches to win the MacNaughton Cup, which is awarded to the regular-season champion, in the 2022-23 preseason coaches poll. The defending champions and Frozen Four finalists also won the 2022 Mason Cup as the league’s tournament winners. The Mavericks collected six first-place votes and totaled 69 … Read more
Minnesota Duluth has announced the hiring of Forrest Karr as the new director of intercollegiate athletics. Karr brings to UMD more than 20 years of experience working in collegiate athletics (17 as an athletic director). Since 2012, he has served as the director of athletics at Northern Michigan University, overseeing 18 intercollegiate programs, a national … Read more
Former Northern Michigan athletic director and hockey coach Rick Comley will serve as interim AD starting today, Aug. 22, following the recent announcement of current AD Forrest Karr’s resignation. Schuiling made the announcement to the NMU coaches last Friday, Aug. 19. Comley, who brought NCAA Division I national men’s hockey championships to both NMU (1991) … Read more