Season previews for teams
At the beginning of last season, the Sacred Heart Pioneers were coming off a disappointing 11-23-4 season and didn’t have a head coach. But C.J. Marottolo put the pieces together quickly and led his team to a 21-win season and a spot in the Atlantic Hockey championship game. “The group of seniors we had last … Read more
The Mercyhurst Lakers are again picked to finish near the top of the Atlantic Hockey standings, which doesn’t come as a shock to coach Rick Gotkin. “We always seem to be in the hunt and I think that’s the result of the success and commitment of our program,” he said. So it was unusual to … Read more
The good news for Army coach Brian Riley is that he has 24 players back from last year’s squad. The bad news is that none of them is named Owen Meyer or Eric Sefchik. Those two, along with now-senior Cody Omilusik, saw tons of ice time and racked up almost 50 percent of the Black … Read more
At the beginning of last season, Air Force coach Frank Serratore was asked whether he was going to start other goalies instead of relying solely on then-senior Andrew Volkening, who had played almost every minute of every game over the past two seasons. After all, life without his workhorse goaltender would begin the next year. … Read more
Niagara’s admission to Atlantic Hockey was seen as one of necessity rather than desire. The school was criticized in the media for “taking a step back” because the move meant fewer scholarships. But according to coach Dave Burkholder, it also meant less of something else. “Travel,” he said. “Besides the other advantages, we’ll be traveling … Read more
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