University of Alaska Fairbanks defenseman Erik Drygas is recovering in the Intensive Care Unit at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital after suffering a serious neck injury resulting from a head-first collision with the boards during practice on Monday, October 7, 1996. On Oct. 10, Drygas underwent surgery to repair a severe fracture to his fifth cervical vertebra. … Read more
Hockey East announced its preseason picks during its Media Day held today at the Fleet Center. Boston University took the top spot in the Coaches’ Poll, in which a first place vote is worth one point, second place two points, and so on. They were also the only team to place three players on the … Read more
WCHA coaches, in their annual poll, have tabbed Colorado College to win its fourth straight regular season league championship. The Tigers got seven first-place votes. Minnesota, Denver and St. Cloud State, which finished behind CC in that order, each picked up one first-place vote. North Dakota was fifth followed by Minnesota-Duluth, Michigan Tech, Wisconsin, Alaska-Anchorage … Read more
WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod was charged Friday with felony theft and theft by swindle, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Allegedly McLeod, the former athletic director at Minnesota-Duluth, used money from the university to pay off personal expenses. According to the Star Tribune, the criminal complaint accuses McLeod of depositing over $2,800 of university money … Read more
Senior forward Tim Lovell will decide by December whether he will join the UMass-Amherst Minutemen in mid-season. Lovell, a Norwood, Mass. native, left Maine, where he compiled 21 goals and 40 points statistics last year en route to a selection to the All-Hockey East team. Lovell will choose between two options. He may sit out … Read more
The defending 1996 NCAA Champion Michigan Wolverines are the runaway favorite to win the Central Collegiate Hockey Association again in 1996-97. Michigan garnered all of the possible 9 first place votes in the coaches’ poll, while gaining 33 of 34 possible first place votes in the CCHA media poll. Michigan State was the consensus second-place … Read more
Vermont is the preseason number one team in the 1996-97 ECAC men’s ice hockey coaches poll, according to USA Today. Vermont returns virtually the same lineup that led it to a 27-7-4 record last season and a berth in the NCAA semifinals against Colorado College. The Catamounts received 11 of a possible 12 first place … Read more
In a direct about-face from previous comments that they were staying for their senior years at Maine, Blair Allison and Jeff Tory have now decided to try out for the Canadian National Team. Both players have been All-Hockey East selections the past two years. Tory was also a First Team East All-American in 1995-96. Both … Read more
Maine lost three players this week in the wake of NCAA sanctions against the program, but reportedly will keep two important All-Americans on the roster, according to the Bangor Daily News. Brad Mahoney and Tim Lovell, both seniors, transferred to rival Hockey East schools this week. Mahoney transferred to Northeastern to play for Bruce Crowder. … Read more
Bruce McLeod resigned his position as University of Minnesota-Duluth athletic director Wednesday, citing personal reasons, according to USA Today. Minnesota-Duluth officials named Dr. Patricia Merrier, Duluth’s faculty athletics representative, as interim athletic director for the remainder of the summer. An acting athletic director will be named this fall. “My decision to resign was all mine,” … Read more
Boston University’s Chris O’Sullivan has signed a pro contract with the Calgary Flames, forgoing his senior year. O’Sullivan was drafted as a defenseman on the second round in 1992, prior to his attending BU. In 1992-93 he redshirted after a neck injury felled him after only five games. The following year he was one of … Read more
The CCHA unanimously accepted Northern Michigan University’s application to return to the conference Monday. The Wildcats entered the CCHA in 1976-77, before leaving for the WCHA. “We are very pleased to be accepted back in the CCHA for the fall of 1997,” said NMU athletic director and head hockey coach Rick Comley. “We [our administration … Read more
The NCAA Executive Committee announced today that the University of Maine will retain their 1993 Ice Hockey National Championship. Amid numerous NCAA violations, the one pertaining to Dunham was his acceptance of a stipend when he was the U.S. Olympic tean. The goalie was a member of the 1993 national champions. The Executive Committee met … Read more
Michigan Tech named former Boston Bruins assistant coach Tim Watters to the vacant head coaching position Thursday. Watters, a 13-year National Hockey League veteran, replaces Bob Mancini, who accepted a job at USA Hockey on July 14 after four years behind the Huskies’ bench. “We’re very excited that Tim has chosen to move from the … Read more
It’s not over, yet. During a press conference on the campus of the University of Maine on Wednesday afternoon, school president Frederick Hutchinson and athletic director Suzanne Tyler made it clear that, while, in many cases, the NCAA’s penalties are fair and necessary, the added year of postseason sanction is “excessive.” “That punishment seems excessive, … Read more
The NCAA handed down one of the most “severe penalties in the last few years” to the University of Maine on Wednesday. The NCAA put Maine on four years probation, and banned the ice hockey team from competing in the 1997 NCAA Tournament. The NCAA also banned Maine from being on television for the 1996-97 … Read more
With 45 student-athletes named to its 1995-96 All-Academic Honor Roll, Hockey East established a new record for the most players named in a season. The Honor Roll was first instituted in 1989. Leading the way was Top Scholar-Athlete Tomas Persson of Northeastern, who compiled a 3.918 GPA for the year in International Business and Finance, … Read more
As first indicated here last Friday, Tim Whitehead has officially been hired as head coach at UMass-Lowell. Whitehead was strongly endorsed by outgoing coach Bruce Crowder, and also received support of many fans and media personalities. Whitehead, 35, was an assistant for five years at UMass-Lowell, and will fill the position vacated when Crowder jumped … Read more
Former Harvard player Michel Breistroff was reportedly aboard TWA Flight 800 when it crashed last week and is presumed dead. Breistroff, a native of Roubaix, France, scored four goals and 20 points in his 95-game career at Harvard, but was known more for his defense play. The anthropology major was returning to France when the … Read more
Western Michigan goaltender Marc Magliarditi and Maine forward Jamie Thompson have both recently decided to leave their college teams. Magliarditi, CCHA 1996 Rookie of the Year, has decided to go to Spokane, Wash., to play for the Chiefs of the Western Hockey League. “It leaves a big hole to fill,” said Western Michigan coach Bill … Read more