This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
With six weekends remaining in the Big Ten regular season, it would be foolish to say that the conference title is anyone’s to win. Michigan State tops the league standings with 34 points, Wisconsin is in second place with 30, and no one else is capable of catching the Spartans with a single-series sweep at … Read more
There’s typically an adjustment period for rookies in college hockey. Despite being a top contributor on their junior team, newbies often struggle with the speed of the college game and going up against older, more experienced players. But Canisius freshman Matteo Giampa picked up where he left off in juniors. The Virgil, Ont., native scored … Read more
The hype is undeniable and fully warranted. Boston University and Boston College — Four miles apart! Five NCAA titles apiece! — will play this weekend as the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the USCHO.com D-I men’s poll for the first time in their storied, decades-long rivalry. Packed houses are expected each night, and lots … Read more
We’re not saying polls and standings lie, but it’s hard not to notice that while St. Cloud State is tied for first place in the NCHC, the Huskies are listed 15th in the latest USCHO Men’s Division I Poll, behind three teams from their own conference. Huskies coach Brett Larson doesn’t believe his team came … Read more
Up until Monday, Arnaud Vachon and his teammates were getting dressed in a trailer. The Augustana hockey team, without an arena of their very own, were practicing in the Scheels IcePlex in Sioux Falls, S.D., and playing their games a few miles away at the Denny Sanford Premier Center. So when Vachon and the rest … Read more
The conversation about on-campus regionals and conference championships is nothing new to college hockey. It’s a near-annual exercise, much like the Pairwise Rankings, that enables fans and analysts to debate and coalesce around how to improve a postseason known for its ability to generate organic thrills at a moment’s notice. Much like realignment, NIL, and … Read more
A year can make a big difference in college hockey. Some things change. Some things change a lot more. In the Big Ten, the perception that things have changed dramatically is both accurate and deceiving. A year ago this week – more or less – Minnesota was in the process of running away with the … Read more
The 2023-24 season has been one of streaks for Niagara. Going into last week’s game against Rochester Institute of Technology, Jason Lammers’ team had a single win in its previous seven games. Just before that, Niagara had won four of five. Lammers is hoping that a 3-1 win over then-No. 18 RIT is the start … Read more
Northeastern’s 3-1 win over Vermont last Saturday night at Matthews Arena was only its second of the season over a Hockey East opponent. But third-year coach Jerry Keefe thinks his team’s conference record does not reflect how well it has been playing recently. “If you look at our last 10 games, we’ve played better hockey,” … Read more
Fresh off earning a road split against sixth-ranked North Dakota, Omaha this week re-entered the USCHO.com Men’s Division I Poll at No. 19. But for as competitive as the Mavericks were in Grand Forks, being ranked isn’t just about what you did over the previous week. This UNO team is as battle-tested as most anyone … Read more
If you told someone who fell asleep in 2012, Rip Van Winkle style, then woke up in 2024 that the St. Thomas men’s hockey team was in first place in mid-January, they probably wouldn’t be surprised. After all, the Tommies were routinely league champions of the MIAC in their Division III days. However, they might … Read more
Brown coach Brendan Whittet understood the importance of what he saw at the start of the 2023-2024 season. His Bears were trending younger after turning over their roster, and virtually everyone predicted a last-place finish for a team reliant on newcomers in all three phases. Nearly every metric pointed towards a reboot after the team … Read more
January begins the big push in Big Ten play, with midseason nonconference matches slowing giving way to nothing-but-B1G league series as students return to campuses by the third week of the month and classes resume. Last week, Wisconsin swept Notre Dame in South Bend to open the second half of the Big Ten season. This … Read more
Sometimes in life, and in hockey, you can do everything right and still lose. Air Force, coming off a last-place finish last season, had an improved start to 2023-24, but ran into a scoring slump to close out the first semester on a 1-5-1 stretch that saw the Falcons score a total of eight goals. … Read more
Maine’s Alfond Arena isn’t the largest in college hockey — it isn’t even the largest in Hockey East. But it’s a far cry from where Maine’s Nadeau brothers played youth hockey. “Where I’m from, we have, like, 50, 60 persons coming to every game,” said Josh Nadeau, who, with his brother Bradly, hail from Ste-François-de-Madawaska, … Read more
Tenth-ranked Western Michigan’s road sweep last weekend against Lindenwood was a trip down memory lane of sorts for coach Pat Ferschweiler, while watching his Broncos start the second half of the season how they mean to continue. Friday’s come-from-behind 3-2 win and a relatively easy 6-1 victory Saturday at the Centene Community Ice Center saw … Read more
It might not seem like a team who just snapped a seven-game losing streak would be exuding confidence. But Ferris State’s recent win over CCHA-leading Bemidji State was an important one for Bob Daniels. “I think we’re in a good place right now,” Daniels said in a phone interview on Tuesday afternoon. “We feel like … Read more
The semester break often sits silent for college hockey teams. The World Junior Championship ramps into gear around the holidays, but aside from the occasional four-team tournament, movement almost never occurs within conferences until players return from their individual and collective layoffs. Standings don’t change, and only the limited game offers the rare opportunity for … Read more
There’s nothing like December hardware to kick off the second half of the college hockey season. With a pair of 3-0 wins, Wisconsin captured the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off in Milwaukee, extending the Badgers’ current win streak to seven games and bumping Wisconsin up one spot to No. 5 in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s … Read more
I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season. As we head into the second half of the college hockey season, which Atlantic Hockey players have excelled so far? Here are our midterm awards. Will things change before the league names the actual winners in March? Probably. But these are our picks for the … Read more