National championship — check. Next up on Denver’s wish list: a shot at the Gold Pan as its rivalry with fast-starting Colorado College resumes. Also, Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves weighs in on Danny Irmen’s game winning penalty shot last weekend, and Dave Hakstol looks for growth from UND. Todd D. Milewski reports.
Matt Laatsch has overcome a lot to win a national championship, become captain, and form a special bond in Denver.
Now out: “Crimson & Gold, The Denver Pioneers’ Magical Run to the 2004 NCAA National Championship”
Tim Hambly has always had a lot expected of him — and the senior defenseman is fulfilling that promise for Minnesota-Duluth.
As the officiating crackdown continues, Wisconsin is making better use of its power play while Minnesota relies on a team’s proverbial best penalty-killer — goalie Kellen Briggs. That contrasts with Michigan Tech, where the goalie-go-round continues. Meanwhile, Alaska-Anchorage tries to put the Lee Green/Brett Arcand-Kootenay incident in the rear-view mirror, as Todd D. Milewski notes.
So many of college hockey’s great rivalries are, as one might expect, conference battles: BC-BU, Michigan-Michigan State, Harvard-Cornell, etc. But, as we’ll see this week on CSTV’s Friday Night Hockey, it doesn’t have to always be that way. Just take a look at the two teams we’ll see this week, North Dakota and Boston College. … Read more
St. Cloud State suffers from some in-the-crease deja vu; a bit of a slow start leaves Chris Conner’s impact on Michigan Tech undiminished; Wisconsin owns up to a little slip by head coach Mike Eaves; and Minnesota’s Ryan Potulny keeps up his blazing start. Todd D. Milewski runs down happenings in the WCHA.
They paraded out one by one, the gray hairs becoming less prominent and the memories less dusty with each successive tribute.
Note: This week, CSTV’s game of the week airs on Saturday evening, but Friday will still consist of its regular “Thank God Its Hockey” programming, with original pre- and wrapup coverage, wrapped around a repeat of last week’s Michigan-UNH game. So far this season, CSTV has shown you two very dramatic hockey games, with both … Read more
20 Minutes of Fury Some thoughts this week, while debating whether there’s a good situation to start the third period against Minnesota-Duluth: • So you think there’ll be only two meetings between Minnesota and North Dakota this season? We don’t believe it. • Wisconsin 8, Mercyhurst 0: Apparently, there is an “O” in Wisconsin, after … Read more
Isn’t That Delay of Game? Some thoughts this week, while — oh, wait; there’s a penalty. Some thoughts — another call. Some — ah, forget it. • Let’s get the eye-popping averages from the first 24 college hockey games of the season out of the way first: 22.29 penalties for 47.79 minutes, 18 power plays, … Read more
There are those who believe that the best way to learn to swim is to be thrown into a lake. By the same token, two top-five teams will take the plunge on Friday night, as No. 5 North Dakota visits No. 2 Maine. There is truly no better way to kick off CSTV’s Friday Night … Read more
One of the worst feelings a WCHA coach can have has to be knowing that a season goes bad because of things out of his control. That’s a feeling Scott Owens probably knows well by now. More often than not, when his Colorado College Tigers have fallen short in his first five years in Colorado … Read more
It’s not hard to see why so many people are picking Minnesota-Duluth to win the WCHA this season, even after losing a Hobey Baker Award winner. Junior Lessard fits into the equation because he and three other players are the only ones from the lineup at the end of last season not returning to the … Read more
Where did things go wrong last season for Minnesota State? You could trace it back to before the season even started, before the Mavericks opened 1-4-1 or played the first half at 4-11-3. Before the games even started, the Mavericks lost defensemen Matt Paluczak and Jon Dubel for the season because of shoulder injuries. That … Read more
Craig Dahl addressed his team in preseason meetings with this question: If you’re in a race from St. Cloud, Minn., to somewhere in South Carolina, what’s the first thing you’re going to do? The St. Cloud State coach got a variety of answers, including get a map, make a plan, get gas, find someone to … Read more
Don Lucia and the Minnesota coaching staff knew this season was going to be different from an offensive standpoint. You don’t lose Thomas Vanek, Troy Riddle, Matt Koalska and Grant Potulny and just pick up where you left off. Still, the Golden Gophers coaches got together for a preseason meeting to discuss personnel and how … Read more
Minnesota-Duluth is the coaches’ preseason pick to win the WCHA, while Wisconsin goaltender Bernd Brückler topped voting for preseason player of the year honors. The coaches poll, conducted by the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, put the Bulldogs atop the rankings for the first time. UMD, which returns 73.5 percent of its scoring from last year’s … Read more
Chris Conner, Colin Murphy and Taggart Desmet broke onto the WCHA scene last season with a burst of offense not usually expected from Michigan Tech. It was the kind of statement new coach Jamie Russell wanted to see his team make. Russell, a former Tech defenseman, wanted to shake the Huskies out of their doldrums … Read more
Time does not speed up once you’ve won the national championship. It only seems that way. George Gwozdecky can attest. The Denver coach saw his summer reduced to a blur after the Pioneers won their first national championship in 35 years in Boston last April. “It was busier than I have ever experienced here,” said … Read more