Season previews for teams
Fresh off of an NCAA Division III Championship and competing in Division I for the first time, Rochester Institute of Technology proved that it belonged. The Tigers posted a .500 record, including a 7-8-5 mark in league play. The success was achieved in large part by relying on a veteran core that had helped RIT … Read more
Whether Syracuse was better than expected in 2012-13 or just better than I expected, it’s safe to say that much of the success of the Orange can be attributed to the emergence of Kallie Billadeau in net. Her 16 wins, 1.56 goals against average and .940 save percentage were all vast improvements over what she … Read more
Things didn’t go as smoothly for Paul Colontino in his second year at Robert Morris as they did in season one. The Colonials went just 2-9-1 in conference play against Syracuse, RIT, and Lindenwood combined, leading to a sub-.500 mark in league action. Ironically, RMU had far less of a problem with league champion Mercyhurst, … Read more
Minnesota State kicked off its season by hosting Mercyhurst in a nonconference series, taking the first contest, 4-2, before falling by a 3-2 score in the second game. While that split should be encouraging, the Mavericks also split with the Lakers two years ago in the season’s second weekend, and then went on to finish … Read more
Minnesota-Duluth missed out on the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive year and only the third time in its history. Even worse, for the first time the Bulldogs failed to advance to the conference semifinals after being swept at home in the quarters by Ohio State. A big reason why is that the team’s goal … Read more
After enjoying one of its best seasons two years ago, Bemidji State struggled mightily in 2012-13. The Beavers allowed the most goals in conference play, and only St. Cloud State scored fewer. The top two scorers graduated, so BSU will need to rebuild around younger players like sophomore Kaitlyn Tougas and transfers Kristine Grenier … Read more
After scoring 212 goals during its last NCAA Championship season in 2010-11, Wisconsin’s offensive output dropped to 103 goals a year ago. Brianna Decker, who tallied a point on more than half of those, is now gone. That doesn’t bode well for a return to potency this season. “The thing that helps us, especially in … Read more
Ohio State continued its renaissance under Nate Handrahan, getting back to the conference semifinals for the first time in three years and being ranked as high as sixth. But for a slump after the new year, the Buckeyes could even have made their way into their first NCAA tournament. “You look at them last year … Read more
While many contending teams view the Olympic year as an additional challenge that results in the absence of key players, for St. Cloud State an Olympic year represents opportunity. The Huskies parlayed a talented senior class and depleted rosters of some conference foes to finish a program-best third in the WCHA in 2009-10, the previous … Read more
It would be ironic if North Dakota claimed its first conference championship in its first season without the Lamoureux sisters, but that is a definite possibility. Even without the offense that Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux provided, few teams return a trio as prolific as Michelle Karvinen, Josefine Jakobsen, and Meghan Dufault, each of whom added … Read more
A wide variance exists in how the coming season might unfold for Minnesota. Teams often struggle after saying goodbye to a franchise goaltender, and the Gophers graduated the winningest goalie in NCAA history in Noora Räty. “As of right now, Amanda Leveille is going to get the start for us,” coach Brad Frost said. “She’s … Read more
Haley Frade of Providence College . (Tom Maguire/TOM MAGUIRE) After Boston College, the conference race looks to be wide open, and it wouldn’t take much imagination to draw up a wide array of scenarios that could unfold. I’m going to look in a different direction than the league’s coaches and pick Providence to wind up … Read more
After two promising years for Maria Lewis, Maine regressed in the third season under her direction. While some of that was understandable due to the players lost to graduation after the previous season, the talent level threatens to decline further now that the eligibility of primary goaltender Brittany Ott and star forward Brittany Dougherty, who … Read more
Former Niagara coach Chris MacKenzie takes over a Connecticut team that has nowhere to go but up as it comes off of a three-point season. “We’re just getting to know each other right now as a team,” he said. More often than not, just such a fresh start under a new regime proves beneficial to … Read more
When New Hampshire was topping the standings on a regular basis, it featured a high-octane offense capable of dominating games. The 82 goals scored by the Wildcats last season in getting back to the upper half of the standings was the most the team had managed in three seasons, yet no player reached 30 points … Read more
In his first season at Vermont, Jim Plumer lifted the Catamounts to a sixth-place finish and had his team contending for more. Is the team positioned for additional improvement in his second year? “I think last year was a very good learning experience for all of us,” Plumer said. “For me personally, there was … Read more
Northeastern coach Dave Flint can relate to the challenge that Durocher faces, because the Huskies are also minus their top three scorers from a season ago. Sparkplug Kendall Coyne is bound for the Olympics, while Casey Pickett and Rachel Llanes have graduated. “We have some big shoes to fill, losing [Coyne] with the national team … Read more
Boston University is coming off its most successful Hockey East season in program history, going 18-2-1 and earning its second regular-season title. Adding a third this year will be a major challenge. Top scorer Marie-Philip Poulin is off to her second Olympics. Jenelle Kohanchuk and Isabel Menard, second and third in points a year ago, … Read more
The fact that the Eagles have yet to hoist a Hockey East regular-season banner is all the more perplexing given they have reached the Frozen Four in each of the last three seasons. Boston College appears destined to advance to the Frozen Four hosted by Quinnipiac with the 2014 Hockey East crown already secured in … Read more
A lot has been made by the preseason prognosticators about how Wisconsin, 10th last season in the WCHA, returns 15 of its top 16 scorers. As a result, the Badgers were picked as arguably the most-improved team and tabbed to finish fifth by the league’s coaches. The two biggest concerns coming into the 2012-13 season … Read more