Season previews for teams
Some teams perform a last-to-first rebound from a disastrous season to a tremendous one. Last year, Boston University achieved an almost-last to an almost-first performance. Following the very forgettable 2003-04 season in which the Terriers finished a point out of last place, avoiding the cellar only by an overtime goal in the final game, they … Read more
Stop the presses. Boston College is picked to finish first. Okay, maybe you can unstop the presses. It’s become almost as predictable a rite of autumn as the leaves turning color, mornings growing cold and college students returning en masse to the Hub. Six of the last eight years the Eagles have been picked to … Read more
No team suffered a bigger early-signing loss to the pros than Maine. Chris Bourque left Boston University in the spring. Then, after the new NHL collective bargaining agreement went into effect, Lowell lost Ben Walter, Boston College lost Patrick Eaves and Maine lost Jimmy Howard. BC fans might argue that the departure of Eaves, the … Read more
For Massachusetts, last season was without question a tale of two years. In 2004, the Minutemen posted a 10-10-1 record. In 2005, however, the wheels came off and they plummeted to 3-13-1. Coming on the heels of the breakthrough 2003-04 season in which they finished third in Hockey East, the freefall was disheartening. On the … Read more
Questions, Questions and More Questions This year in Hockey East answers are hard to come by and questions abound. It may be the toughest season to handicap in the decade of USCHO’s existence. The predictions would have been considerably easier had not three late-summer defections to the NHL occurred. Boston College was the clear favorite … Read more
As the season beckoned and the sports highlights showed Ben Walter scoring goals in Bruins training camp, River Hawk fans had to feel both a sense of pride that one of their guys was making an impact at the next level and also a sense of disappointment at what might have been. With the 26-goal … Read more
Not to be negative, but new coach Greg Cronin has his work cut out for him. Northeastern finished sixth last year after two straight seasons in the cellar, which certainly amounted to an important step forward. However, the Huskies then graduated two First Team All-Hockey East stars in goaltender Keni Gibson and forward Jason Guerriero, … Read more
When new Providence coach Tim Army was a senior, the Friars won the Hockey East championship in the legendary 1985 title game, a double-overtime 2-1 win over Boston College. Getting PC back into the Hockey East title picture is Army’s goal. “Our challenge is great,” Army says. “We are in a great conference and the … Read more
New Hampshire’s talent ranks among the best in the league. When have we heard that before? UNH graduated two of the top forwards in the league, but still appears loaded up front with plenty of candidates to pick up the slack. When have we heard that before? The Wildcats should have a stellar power play … Read more
The Western Collegiate Hockey Association is not necessarily the strongest conference in women’s hockey, but it is definitely the most successful. The first six years of the league’s existence have resulted in six national championships, three apiece for members Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota. Beginning its seventh season and second as an eight-team conference, the WCHA has … Read more
Colgate finished in third place in both the ECACHL regular season and in the conference tournament; the Raiders made the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, and lost 6-5 to Colorado College in the semifinals of the NCAA Midwest Regional. Much of the team’s success was attributable to the stellar play … Read more
A year after winning the ECACHL regular-season and tournament championships and then losing in overtime at the NCAA West Regional to Minnesota, Cornell returns the two best players from last year’s squad — senior forward Matt Moulson and junior netminder David McKee — to take another shot at a national title. McKee was a Hat … Read more
The common theme sounded by coaches from around the ECAC at the league’s media day was the parity that exists among its teams. The coaches’ poll and the media poll both had four teams — Colgate, Dartmouth, Harvard, and St. Lawrence — predicted to finish from second to fifth and separated by only a handful … Read more
The Dutchmen have been making incremental improvements under coach Nate Leaman, but despite having home ice in the opening round of the ECAC tournament three years in a row, they’ve been unable to advance beyond the opening round. Last year was the closest that Union has ever come to moving on to the second round; … Read more
In coach Guy Gadowsky’s first season behind the Princeton bench after making the transition from Alaska-Fairbanks, he brought to the ECACHL some of the up-tempo offense perhaps more common in the West. The Princeton players — who had attempted to use the trap under former coach Len Quesnelle — and fans identified with the exciting, … Read more
Transitioning to a new league can be tough, but imagine trying to make that transition having just lost 10 seniors to graduation. That’s the challenge that awaits Rand Pecknold and the Quinnipiac Bobcats in their inaugural run in the ECAC. “We don’t know how we’re going to do in the league, and we’re going to … Read more
A disappointing fifth-place regular-season finish and a loss to Vermont in the quarterfinals of the ECAC tournament ensured that Dartmouth would again miss the NCAA tournament. Despite having some of the best forwards in the league over the last three seasons — in the forms of Hugh Jessiman, who departed after the 2003-2004 season, and … Read more
The 2004-2005 season was one of nail-biting frustration for the fans of Houston Field House, who saw their Engineers lose 10 games by one goal and struggle mightily all season long en route to a 11th-place finish. Coach Dan Fridgen is optimistic, though, that the tough losses last season will help in the growth and … Read more
The 2003-2004 season saw the Golden Knights finish in the middle of the pack during the regular season but make a surprising sprint through the ECAC tournament only to fall to Harvard in the last minute of the ECAC championship. Hopes were high, then, in Potsdam at the start of the 2004-2005 season, a season … Read more
In coach Ted Donato’s first season in Cambridge, he inherited a talented senior class that included an All-American defenseman in captain Noah Welch, a Hobey Baker finalist in goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris, defenseman Ryan Lannon — USCHO.com’s Unsung Hero for 2004-2005 — and Tom Cavanagh, the best defensive forward in the ECAC. “We’ll miss those guys,” … Read more