Season previews for teams
Last year, Massachusetts-Lowell endured a 20-game winless streak that lasted almost three months — from Nov. 10 through Feb. 2 — before putting on a fierce, albeit unsuccessful, 5-2-1 drive for a playoff berth. In the offseason, the UMass Board of Trustees considered terminating the hockey program until a new lease agreement with the city … Read more
It was a pretty typical year for Boston University in many ways last season. The Terriers picked up their usual Beanpot, earned home ice in Hockey East, and made the NCAA tournament. The failure to do any more than that was a disappointment given that it was the swan song for goaltender John Curry, and … Read more
Offense: Clarkson tied Quinnipiac for the most goals scored in the league last year with 74. Seven of that team’s top eight scorers are back for another year in the green and gold. So, things are looking good for the Knights. With the acid of the first-round NCAA loss to Massachusetts still on their tongues, … Read more
Last year was certainly “A Tale of Two Seasons” for the Maine Black Bears. They failed to secure playoff home ice for the first time since 1997-98 and then got swept in the first round by Massachusetts. Initially, many wondered if an NCAA berth would be forthcoming. The PairWise numbers, however, didn’t lie and the … Read more
Had Boston College goaltender Cory Schneider returned for his senior year, the Eagles would have been the near-prohibitive favorite to win Hockey East and potentially the team to beat nationally. Even with Schneider’s departure for the pros, they are the league co-favorites with New Hampshire based on a stellar group of forwards and solid, veteran … Read more
Offense: Fortunately for the Brown Bears, Brian McNary was the only top-four scorer lost from last season, as the six-goal, 18-assist junior elected to focus entirely on academics in his final year in school. Senior Jeff Prough led the squad with 33 points last year, while Sean Hurley was one of the league’s best offensive … Read more
Although Vermont’s move from sixth place (10-11-6) in its first season in Hockey East to a tie for fifth (12-10-5) last year might seem like only the most modest of improvements, there’s reason to view the step forward as more significant than first meets the eye. In the Catamounts’ inaugural campaign, they struggled against “the … Read more
Offense: True, true, the Raiders practically couldn’t win a game in which they didn’t pitch a shutout last season, going 7-21-3 when allowing more than a single goal. That record fell to a disastrous 0-16-1 when the team surrendered three or more. With figures like that, Colgate didn’t stand a chance against top competition, going … Read more
Offense: The Tigers tied for fourth in league scoring last season with 69 goals, just over three a game, and hit that 3.00 mark right on the nose in 34 games overall. The forward lines will be missing last season’s second-, third- and fourth-leading scorers, who combined for 29 goals and 78 points in 100 … Read more
Will The Goalies Decide? Goaltending could be the deciding factor in this season’s Hockey East race. A year ago, only Massachusetts-Lowell had lost its number-one goalie. New Hampshire and Massachusetts were moving from a tandem to lead roles for Kevin Regan and Jon Quick, respectively, but transitions in that most critical of positions wouldn’t be … Read more
Offense: Despite losing T.J. Fox to Worcester of the AHL — and good for him — the Dutchmen look pretty solid up front. Five skaters who had 20 points last season are back for another round, including defenseman Lane Caffaro, who had seven goals and 18 assists in 2006-07. Coyle is literally the senior leader … Read more
Offense: In what seems to be a bit of a league-wide pattern, the Saints graduated three of their top six scorers from last season in Kyle Rank, Max Taylor and Drew Bagnall. As a team, SLU was third in the league with 73 goals scored, nearly three and a third per game. The drop in … Read more
Offense: The Crimson found themselves in the opposite situation from that suffered by Union last season: Harvard scored over three goals a game in league contests, but the production fell off significantly to only 2.67 GPG overall. The team’s 67 ECACHL goals were good for sixth, same as their final spot in the standings. Worked … Read more
Colgate head coach Don Vaughan may have put it best when he described his experiences last season: “It was a crazy year.” And as succinctly as that, you have the 2006-07 ECACHL season in a nutshell. George Roll’s Golden Knights are the pick in the ECACHL — but nothing is certain in this topsy-turvy league. … Read more
The University of New Hampshire had a terrific year in many ways last season, though they ultimately failed to silence the USCHO.com message-board denizens who rib Wildcat fans about being the University of No Hardware. The Wildcats won the regular-season league title, only to fall to Boston College in the Hockey East tournament championship. The … Read more
Given that Merrimack’s win total has declined each of the last five seasons — 12, 10, eight, six, and three successively — as well as the level of competition in Hockey East, you might excuse coach Mark Dennehy for believing that the light at the end of the tunnel could be an oncoming train. Yet … Read more
Offense: The Big Red are without three of their top six scorers from last season, a campaign in which they averaged just shy of three goals a game in league and overall. Cornell’s 64 league goals were only eighth-best, and the top sniper-freshman Greening-only totaled 11 goals in the full 31 games. On the flip … Read more
Offense: When your scoring chart is led by a pair of freshman, you’re probably sitting pretty for the following year. Sean Backman and Mark Arcobello would’ve earned a lot more attention if not for that Brandon Wong fella across town, and Bill LeClerc is the only double-digit scorer lost from the 2006-07 Bulldogs. “I think … Read more
The new kids on the block ruled in Atlantic Hockey last year, with RIT claiming the regular-season title and Air Force winning the playoff crown and representing the league well in a 4-3 loss to Minnesota in the NCAAs. “We weren’t fortunate enough to make it to Rochester last season,” said Holy Cross coach Paul … Read more
The bad news for the Golden Griffins last season was that they won only nine games and lost in the play-in game in the Atlantic Hockey playoffs. The good news is that the freshman-dominated lineup played a lot of minutes, which will only make them better coming into this season. Coach Dave Smith is continuing … Read more