It’s a coach’s worst nightmare. You execute your game plan perfectly. You dominate your opponent at the game’s opening. And what do you have to show for it? Nada. Zilch. Zip. After a sluggish start Saturday for defending national champion Denver that resulted in the Pioneers needing overtime to get past underdog Bemidji State, the … Read more
Legend has it that longtime Maine head coach Shawn Walsh pointed to a 16-2 drubbing at the hands of Minnesota as the turning point in the Black Bears program. It was January 4, 1986, and Minnesota had already thumped Maine 8-3 the night before. It was Walsh’s second year at the helm of the Black … Read more
Streak Buster When Denver rookie defenseman Andrew Thomas scored the Pioneers’ first goal of the game at 5:35 of the first period it snapped Bemidji netminder Matt Climie’s shutout streak. The rookie goaltender had not allowed a tally in 177 minutes, 41 seconds, dating back to March 5 when Air Force’s Brian Gineo scored in … Read more
The first loss for a goaltender is one of those rites of passage anyone who gets between the pipes has to endure. For a position that demands as much mentally as it does physically, how a goalie responds to defeat is as a big a test as his puck-stopping acumen. For Boston College would-be freshman … Read more
A Bit of History Saturday’s meeting was the 95th matchup between Colorado College and Michigan, with the Wolverines owning a 57-35-3 edge against the Tigers. The two teams have now met seven times in the NCAA tournament. For the Tigers, Saturday’s victory was its first win in the NCAA tournament against Michigan since 1957. A … Read more
The distance between Rochester, Minn., and Colorado Springs, Colo., is 729 miles as the crow flies, but to get from the one city to the other, ice is a more convenient medium than air. Colorado College’s captain, junior Mark Stuart, and sophomores John Brunkhorst and Scott Thauwald are all Rochester natives, and are among seven … Read more
At the end of last season, Hobey Baker finalist Zach Parise decided that his goal-scorer’s touch better matched a New Jersey Devils uniform than North Dakota green. Immediately, Parise left his brother, goaltender Jordan, with a huge question — who would provide the offensive support that he needed? The Fighting Sioux had plenty of answers. … Read more
Looking For The Power Gophers head coach Don Lucia looked all game Saturday for the right combination to spark the power play, which went 0-for-9. After a couple of fruitless efforts, Lucia began changing up the power-play groups, then mix-and-matched players in an attempt to locate a combination that clicked. As a result, a number … Read more
They were the longest shot in the tournament. The 16th seed in a 16-team draw. As a candidate for an at-large berth, the Mercyhurst Lakers wouldn’t have made the Top 25. They got into the nationals in completely legitimate fashion, by winning the Atlantic Hockey tournament, but their season was supposed to end in the … Read more
Too Much Power Boston College finished the game 3-for-11 with the man advantage, while Mercyhurst went 2-for-8. The teams at one point in the second period had scored five straight goals on the power play. Each team exhibited at least one highlight-reel goal, perhaps none better than Brian Boyle’s goal at 12:18 of the first … Read more
In the wake of the Miracle on Ice’s 25th anniversary last month, fans of the Mercyhurst Lakers are hoping for something like a repeat. The Atlantic Hockey champion Lakers take on the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament, Boston College, in the first game of the East Regional — and the national tournament as … Read more
There’s a lot to like Colorado College’s chances in the Midwest Regional. The top-seeded Tigers feature the WCHA Player of the Year (Marty Sertich), the league’s Defensive Player of the Year (captain Mark Stuart), and a total of three first-team all-conference picks (Sertich, linemate Brett Sterling and goaltender Curtis McElhinney). And there’s plenty more where … Read more
Four teams, four conferences, with a pair of intriguing matchups to kick off the action. Defending national champion Denver sneaked up on everyone last season en route to the NCAA title, beating Maine in a 1-0 thriller in the title tilt. And the Pioneers are on a roll after their run to the WCHA tournament … Read more
Sweet Sixteen The teams in this year’s Midwest Regional are responsible for 16 of the 57 NCAA titles handed out since 1948. Michigan leads the way with nine of those titles. Wisconsin has five championships, while Colorado College has two. Colgate has played in one NCAA championship game, losing to the Badgers in 1990. Caught … Read more
I still can’t get that play out of my head. The sight of it. The sound of it. The result of it. The violent and illegal hit that Denver’s Geoff Paukovich leveled against North Dakota’s Robbie Bina in the WCHA Tournament in St. Paul, Minn., last week has resonated all across our game. I worry … Read more
Minnesota hosts the West Regional Saturday and Sunday on home ice as the No. 1 seed — a scenario that didn’t come without some controversy. The Golden Gophers, who lost 14 games this season including two on their way to a fourth-place finish at the WCHA Final Five, were seeded ahead of ECACHL regular-season and … Read more
Tom Serratore was on the bus from the airport in Hartford to his team’s hotel in Amherst, Mass. The flight was a charter from Bemidji, Minn., right into Connecticut’s capital city, and it carried the College Hockey America (CHA) champion Bemidji State Beavers towards a date with the NCAA’s defending champs, the Denver Pioneers. However, … Read more
He began the year on the bench for Mercyhurst. He ended as the league tournament’s Most Valuable Player having netted possibly the biggest goal in school history when his overtime game winner against Quinnipiac gave Mercyhurst the Atlantic Hockey Championship. Scott Champagne is simply a quiet, unassuming player. But taking anything for granted if you’re … Read more
You know things are going awry when even your pep band bites the dust. Not just the tuba player. Not just the trombonist. The whole stinking band. With players dropping like flies prior to Boston College’s Hockey East championship game against New Hampshire, the band was merely the latest subtraction from the Eagles lineup. The … Read more
There was a moment during the Hockey East semifinal between Boston College and Maine that ignored all but two of the nearly 18,000 people in the building. Halfway through the second period, wide-open BC sophomore Brian Boyle collected a pass in front of the Black Bear net. Maine netminder Jimmy Howard slid post-to-post and out … Read more