Site: Magness Arena (Denver) Friday-Saturday, Dec. 28-29, 2007 Participants: Dartmouth, Northern Michigan, Sacred Heart, Denver Game 1: Dartmouth vs. Northern Michigan, 4:35 p.m. MT Dartmouth Big Green (4-4-2, 2-4-1 ECAC) Head coach: Bob Gaudet Leading scorers: Sr. J.T. Wyman (6-6 — 12), Sr. Nick Johnson (3-5 — 8) Leading netminder: Sr. Mike Devine (3-4-1, 2.62 … Read more
Site: Kohl Center, Madison, Wis. Friday-Saturday, Dec. 28-29, 2007 Participants: Bowling Green, Northeastern, Colgate, Wisconsin Game 1: Bowling Green vs. Northeastern, 4:05 p.m. CT Bowling Green Falcons (8-6-0, 5-5-0 CCHA) Head coach: Scott Paluch Leading scorers: Sr. Derek Whitmore (13-5 — 18), Jr. Kevin Schmidt (3-11 — 14) Leading netminders: Fr. Nick Eno (5-2-0, 2.29 … Read more
Minnesota sophomore Kyle Okposo has chosen to forgo the remainder of the 2007-08 season and his college hockey eligibility to sign a contract with the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League. Gopher sophomore Kyle Okposo departs at mid-season after speculation that he would turn pro after his rookie year (photo: Melissa Wade.) Okposo … Read more
Throughout the heated debate of the use of the Fighting Sioux nickname by the University of North Dakota, there has been talk about it’s pros and cons. T.J. Oshie and his father, Tim, see the positive side of it as Patrick C. Miller reports.
Last week we saw all 10 WCHA teams face off against each other — one of only three times that will happen all season. At the end of the weekend, things stayed pretty much the same. Colorado College and Denver remain on top with Alaska-Anchorage and Minnesota State on the bottom. Minnesota and North Dakota … Read more
Two months into the season and who’d’ve thunk that the Seawolves would be tied with the Badgers and the Gophers would be struggling to get league wins? North Dakota’s also middle-of-the-pack — much lower than they were predicted, but that’s just par for the course for the Fighting Sioux under Dave Hakstol in the first … Read more
I was going to say I’ll try to keep this short this week, but holidays are no excuse; the column must go on, and go on as usual. Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Chad Rau, Colorado College. Why: Had four points (3g, 1a) including … Read more
The quick breakdown: The Gophers finally won, the Sioux are playing like they usually do this time of year, the Badgers have an offense, the Sioux and Badgers renewed their rivalry and the Tigers found someone to fill Zaba’s skates with great success. Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week Red Baron WCHA Offensive … Read more
Coming off a Hobey Baker-winning campaign, Ryan Duncan eschewed the lure of the pros to help give North Dakota its best shot at the national title, Candace Horgan reports.
We’ve finally completed our first full weekend of WCHA action (well, save for Minnesota State’s weekend against Alabama-Huntsville, of course) and at the end of it, we’ve got some surprises. Granted, it’s still early (how many times have I said that so far?), but by this point in the season, who would have expected Michigan … Read more
Baby Steps If we’re going by factual errors, I only had one last week — I mistakenly had Kyle Turris as a potential first-round draft pick when, in fact, he already was drafted. Oops. If we want to get technical about things, I was half-right — he was a first-round pick as in a third-overall … Read more
With the Frozen Four coming to the Mile High City, the Denver Pioneers are intent on avoiding last season’s NCAA tournament near-miss. Assistant captain Tyler Ruegsegger is a big part of that push, Candace Horgan finds in an USCHO Extra feature temporarily available to everyone.
The NCAA and the state of North Dakota have agreed to an out-of-court settlement over the use of the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname and logo. The agreement gives UND three years to obtain permission to use the nickname from two Sioux tribal governments within the state on the Standing Rock and Spirit … Read more
Worst. Beginning. Ever. I first want to apologize for the mistakes in the last column, particularly those regarding Andrew Gordon of St. Cloud State and the mishap about Wisconsin in the sidebar. Paraphrasing the Guinness commercials: “Factual errors in a first column? BRILLIANT!” That being said, thank you for all the e-mails pointing out said … Read more
The Basics Hi, my name is Theresa and I’m a hockey dork. With that out of the way, I’d first like to thank the powers that be at USCHO.com for giving me the opportunity to cover the WCHA this season. If I can do half as well as those before me, I’ll count this season … Read more
Minnesota junior left wing Ryan Stoa will miss the remainder of the 2007-08 season with an injury suffered in Saturday’s win over Michigan. Stoa, who scored the team’s first goal of the season to spark Friday’s comeback from a three-goal deficit against Rensselaer, suffered a knee injury in the first period of Saturday’s victory that … Read more
As much as teams hate them, it seems like they’re going to have to get used to them. Early departures. “We lost another dozen players during the offseason to the National Hockey League,” said Doug Spencer, the WCHA’s associate commissioner for public relations. “Over the last two years, over 30 underclassmen have left early.” This … Read more
Besides losing at home in the playoffs last year to league upstart Michigan Tech, the Colorado College Tigers have another motivating factor this season to do well — the NCAA West Regional comes back to the World Arena. “We’re very excited and anxious for the season to get started,” said coach Scott Owens. “Losing last … Read more
Compared to most teams, the Bulldogs are old, with about an even number of upper- and underclassmen. However, the main question for Scott Sandelin’s crew will be offense. “We might not have that one big line or that one dynamic player,” he said, emphasizing that the team will have to hope for production from everyone … Read more
While the University of North Dakota lost a couple of key players in forward Jonathan Toews and defenseman Brian Lee, the story for the Fighting Sioux is more about who didn’t leave. “We probably had about four other guys who had the opportunity to go and each had their own individual reasons for staying, I’m … Read more