Season previews for teams
The injury bug hit the Lakers pretty hard last season. Mercyhurst was without goaltender Matt Lundin for the first part of the season and lost star forward Ryan Toomey in December. Leading scorer Ben Cottreau was lost for a crucial seven-game stretch as well. But Rick Gotkin’s team played though the adversity and came within … Read more
The steadily-improving Golden Griffins are probably a year away from challenging for an Atlantic Hockey title, but things are certainly moving in the right direction. “This is the most talented team I’ve had,” said coach Dave Smith. “We’ve had two really good recruiting classes and I think we have a third. Every class has come … Read more
The Tigers didn’t show signs of a sophomore slump last season, their second in Atlantic Hockey. After winning the regular season title in 2007, RIT finished second in 2008 before falling to eventual champion Air Force in the semifinals. But gone are Hobey Baker finalist Simon Lambert (51 points last season) and Matt Smith, who … Read more
When Eric Ehn broke his leg on January 19 of last season, many saw the Air Force Falcons’ chances of repeating as Atlantic Hockey champions carried off on a stretcher with him. Ehn had been a Hobey Hat Trick finalist the year before, and was the reigning Player of the Year in the AHA. The … Read more
“It’s a goalie’s league.” I agree completely with Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin’s assessment. It’s shared by all the coaches in the league as well. AHA returns all ten of its starting goaltenders in 2008-2009, and only three are seniors. “Every team has a goalie that can beat you,” said Army coach Brian Riley. “Goals are … Read more
Take a team that last year defeated Providence, Army, Sacred Heart (twice), and tied Merrimack, Vermont, Western Michigan and Air Force, sported one of the top power plays in the nation (25.2%) and had 10 seniors on the roster. What would your guess be at their overall record? Probably better than 10-19-7. But that was … Read more
The Bentley Falcons’ goal is simple — recapture the magic that saw them reach the Atlantic Hockey finals three years ago. Since then, Bentley has finished in eighth place the past two seasons. Coach Ryan Soderquist says the lack of improvement last year was especially disheartening. “I was extremely disappointed in the way we finished,” … Read more
The AIC Yellow Jackets have shown steady improvement in recent seasons, but haven’t been able to escape the Atlantic Hockey basement. The problem for AIC is that everybody’s getting better. “The league has really been surging in terms of the emphasis schools are putting on their programs,” said coach Gary Wright, in his 25th season … Read more
Almost every year, the Sacred Heart Pioneers are near the top of the Atlantic Hockey standings. Losing the likes of Pierre-Luc O’Brien and Jason Smith hasn’t set Sacred Heart back in recent seasons, and the same will probably be the case this time around, as Alexandre Parent graduated and took his 141 career points with … Read more
Last season was a classic rebuilding project for the Connecticut Huskies, who rostered 13 freshmen. “We came on strong at the end of last season, and we can build on that,” said coach Bruce Marshall. “We had our peaks and valleys but this year we’ll be able to focus on some new things and not … Read more
Experience wins games. That’s the message that the coaches of Atlantic Hockey are sending in their preseason poll, picking defending regular season champion Army to finish fifth, out of a home-ice spot for the playoffs. “I think they’re looking at the fact that we lost 12 seniors,” said coach Brian Riley. “You can’t really argue … Read more
Last year, the Vermont Catamounts took a major step forward in reaching the goal of becoming a perennial powerhouse. A late-season charge saw Vermont catapult to third place in the Hockey East standings, win a hard-fought quarterfinal series over Northeastern and then upset Boston University at the TD Banknorth Garden to earn the school’s first … Read more
What a difference a year makes. Instead of emerging from an offseason that threatened the existence of the program and decimated the depth to the point where games with no healthy scratches became the norm, Massachusetts-Lowell opens this season healthy in all respects and with a legitimate shot at playoff home ice. Virtually the entire … Read more
No Hockey East team lost more across-the-board talent than the New Hampshire Wildcats. Last year’s senior-dominated team took the regular season title going away but graduated five All-Hockey East selections: top scorers Mike Radja and Matt Fornataro; top defensemen Brad Flaishans and Craig Switzer; and Player of the Year goaltender Kevin Regan. The Wildcats don’t … Read more
When the Hockey East preseason coaches’ poll was released, it looked similar to most years, with Boston College, Boston University and New Hampshire all sitting at the top. But missing from that group of usual suspects were the Maine Black Bears, whom the coaches picked ninth out of ten teams, most likely the lowest preseason … Read more
Massachusetts reached new heights midway through last year when, after toppling Notre Dame and Colorado College in a holiday tournament, pollsters ranked the Minutemen fifth in the country. Unfortunately, they could not sustain this lofty perch, dropping the next five games and going winless over seven. The euphoric and sadly premature talk among some supporters … Read more
If the college hockey regular season ended in the first week of February rather than March, last year’s campaign for the Providence Friars would likely have been considered a glowing success. It was those final 30 days, though, that took things from a banner year for the Friars to one of mediocrity. The turning point … Read more
If anyone told you on the final night of the regular season last year that the Boston College Eagles could win the national championship, you’d likely have had them committed to a mental institution. An inconsistent team all season, the Eagles stumbled into the playoffs, barely earning home ice, before unbelievably putting the pieces together … Read more
When Hockey East coaches picked Northeastern to finish fourth this year, it marked the Huskies’ highest preseason projection within the league. It’s easy to see the reasons for the optimism and why they are likely to continue the program’s progress under coach Greg Cronin. Northeastern returns all but two players from the squad that finished … Read more
In each of his first three seasons at Merrimack, head coach Mark Dennehy’s team took steps forward. After winning just six games in his first campaign in 2005-06 and three games the year following, last year’s club posted 12 wins total and surpassed the win total of a year prior by November 1. Seems like … Read more