Season previews for teams
Last season was a difficult one for Connecticut. The Huskies endured injury and personnel problems en route to a 7-27-3 season. Freshman goaltender Jeff Larson was forced into a starting role early in the season thanks to an injury to Brad McInnis, and he won just two games before quitting school in December. Coach Bruce … Read more
Last year, Holy Cross put up almost identical numbers as the year before (12-19-6 in 2009-10; 13-20-5 in 2008-09). Treading water isn’t what coach Paul Pearl has in mind. “We had a star-crossed kind of season,” Pearl said. “Guys were pretty banged up.” Twenty-two returning players, a strong recruiting class and some momentum from last … Read more
The Robert Morris Colonials are an unknown commodity heading into their first season in Atlantic Hockey. But an impressive, experienced lineup has made them a favorite to finish near the top of the standings. Robert Morris was picked to finish fourth in the coach’s preseason poll, and got two first-place votes. Are they the team … Read more
American International won only five games during the 2008-09 season, but played some of its best hockey late in that season. Coach Gary Wright hoped that the strong finish would bode well for his 2009-10 squad. But AIC again won only five games last season, albeit with another strong finish. Hope springs eternal. “We felt … Read more
Last year Brown was no worst-to-first fairytale under rookie coach Brendan Whittet last year, but the Bears made strides nonetheless. The former Dartmouth assistant and Brown letterwinner guided his alma mater to a six-point improvement over its 2008-09 finish, and stunned the field in a Cinderella sprint into the league tournament’s final four in Albany. … Read more
Last year Union had one of its best seasons ever last year, setting a team Division I record for wins (21) and advancing to the ECAC Hockey semifinals for the first time. The win total was the most in program history since 1984-85, when the Dutchmen finished third in the nation in the D-III playoffs. … Read more
Last year Harvard looked to be on solid ground after Game 1 — a 5-3 win at highly regarded Dartmouth. The footing got a tad more treacherous shortly thereafter, as the Crimson fell off the map with an 0-8-2 tumble. The Ivy took three W’s in a row and tagged on a tie in mid-January, … Read more
Last year Yale topped the 20-win mark for the second season in a row, a feat the program had accomplished only once before, between 1984 and 1986. A seven-game winning streak entering the regular-season finale appeared to portend big, big things for these Bulldogs … but a last-day loss at local rival Quinnipiac proved more … Read more
Last year Dartmouth didn’t respond to an exciting, offensively dynamic fifth-place run in 2008-09 quite the way most prognosticators had imagined. Instead of improving on a scintillating combination of chemistry and youthful energy, the Green fell apart almost literally from Day One. Dartmouth lost its first six games — all of the league variety — … Read more
Last year When Quinnipiac rocketed out to a 12-1-0 start, it looked as though the Bobcats could cruise their way right into the NCAA tournament. Apparently, that sentiment was felt too deep in the locker room as well, as the Q-Cats dozed their way into a 1-11-2 slump and finished the year only two games … Read more
Last year Another year, another strong run out of Cornell. The Big Red won five of its first six games and never looked back en route to its second straight 20-win season, and the first with a single-digit loss total since 2005-06. Senior netminder Ben Scrivens took home the Dryden Award as the league’s top … Read more
Last year At one point, Colgate was a respectable 7-5-4. Then, just like that, a four-game slide put the Raiders a deuce under .500. But they bounced back with nine points in six games, followed by an opportunistic three-game winning streak to close out the regular season that secured the ‘Gate a first-round bye. The … Read more
Last year St. Lawrence was looking pretty good as the calendars flipped over to February, sitting at 14-9-5 with four home games and three on the road to close out the regular season. Whoops. SLU fell face first with a first-round bye in sight, going 1-4-2 down the stretch and effectively — albeit coincidentally — … Read more
Last year Winning in clumps is a good thing, as long as the clumps aren’t too far apart. Rensselaer did that well last year, with two three-game winning streaks, three two-game runs and a balanced season: 9-9-1 in the first half, 9-8-3 in the second. It was not a glamorous year, but it was exciting, … Read more
Last year Clarkson started the season 3-2-0, despite a pair of tough road losses at Michigan State to open. Then the Potsdam crew hit a bit of a pothole, dropping 18 of 23 and falling to 5-20-3 by early February. Clarkson failed to hit the three-goal mark in 20 of 37 outings, going a predictable … Read more
Last year Just when coach Guy Gadowsky’s Princeton machine appeared poised to declare its dynasty, the gears began to grind. Defending Dryden Award-winner Zane Kalemba was never himself in net, the relentless offense finished a mere sixth in the league in scoring, the defense finished ninth in goals-against, and injuries were the culprit. From the … Read more
When St. Cloud State beat Northern Michigan in the first round of the West Regional in March, the Huskies accomplished a feat that had eluded them since their birth as a Division I program in 1989. SCSU won its first national tournament game in eight tries. But Huskies coach Bob Motzko makes a simple point: … Read more
Last season, things were starting to look up for Alaska-Anchorage. The Seawolves had seven seniors, the most in six years, and it appeared as if they might have the necessary tools to get over the hump to finally get out of the league basement and join up with the middle of the pack. They got … Read more
Colorado College was in an underdog role last season, and it stuck. The Tigers finished in the bottom half of the league for the first time in six years. It didn’t appear as if they would end up that way, however, getting off to a good start thanks to some surprising play from freshman goaltender … Read more
A new arena and the migration to one of the nation’s most prestigious college hockey conferences is enough to create a buzz surrounding Bemidji State. Not to mention that the Beavers are coming off back-to-back national tournament appearances, including a run to the Frozen Four in 2009, and that’s enough to get Tom Serratore excited … Read more