This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
Wow! What a surprise! The ECAC East championship once again goes through Northfield, Vt., and Kreitzburg Arena, the home of the top seed and number one team in the country, the Norwich Cadets. That said, the top four assembled in Vermont for Friday and Saturday all have visions of claiming the league crown, and their … Read more
Had Harvard managed to score one more goal versus St. Lawrence on Friday and won, rather than tying the Saints, the Crimson would have won a share of the ECAC title, been the top seed for the tournament, and would be heading into a first-round match with a Colgate team where only the seniors have … Read more
Gustavus Adolphus and St. John’s will play for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship on Saturday afternoon. A trip to the NCAA tournament will be on the line as well. Both teams are familiar with each other, having played twice during the regular season. At this point, the focus of the Gusties and Johnnies isn’t … Read more
Well, so much for postseason rust. After enjoying a two-week bye from competition, Wisconsin-Eau Claire began the NCHA playoffs with a dominating 7-2 win over Wisconsin-River Falls on Saturday. This Saturday, the Blugolds (20-4-2) will try to win the Peter’s Cup championship and advance to the NCAA Division III tournament, which begins March 6. Wis.-Eau … Read more
With the exception of maybe the NESCAC, no league has been as unpredictable as the NCHA this season. Look no further than last weekend’s results to find that three of the four NCHA quarterfinal hosts were upset by the lower-ranked road team. Two of those teams to pull upsets were St. Norbert and St. Scholastica, … Read more
The mighty fell on Saturday night in the ECAC West Tournament semifinals, and now it’ll be the third and fourth seeds meeting for the league title this Saturday when Manhattanville College visits Neumann University. The two schools went 1-1-1 against one another this season. No. 3 seed Neumann (18-6-3 overall) topped No. 2 Hobart (19-5-2) … Read more
Odds are pretty good that Nebraska-Omaha and Wisconsin won’t both make the NCAA tournament, but one of those teams could strengthen its chances with a sweep when they meet in Omaha this weekend. Both teams are outside of the tournament field and a sweep in either direction this weekend could move that team closer. The … Read more
The final weekend of Atlantic Hockey regular season play this season won’t be as frantic as it was a year ago. How could it be? During the third period on the last night of the 2011-12 regular season, there were still three teams in contention for the top seed. This season, Niagara locked up first … Read more
On Dec. 1, the Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks lost to New Hampshire 5-2 for the second straight night. At that point, Lowell had gotten off to a somewhat miserable 4-7-1 start. Sure, there was a win at Colorado College and an 8-2 drubbing of rival Massachusetts in those four wins. But this was a UMass-Lowell team … Read more
You can no longer ignore it, and with just three games left in this ECAC Northeast season, it might as well be time to embrace it. Let’s face it, this league has played out like a sports cliche all season, and you can pick your poison as to which one: Expect the unexpected. Anyone can … Read more
This was an interesting year for the CCHA, and not just because it’s the conference’s last season. While the hockey this year was good, it seemed a shade off the quality we’ve been privileged to see for the past two seasons. It felt like a return to the kind of parity the league experienced in … Read more
One of the least-contested races for first place in ECAC Hockey history officially came to an end two weeks ago along with Quinnipiac’s 21-game unbeaten streak. The Bobcats’ 2-1 loss to St. Lawrence on Feb. 15 wasn’t necessarily all bad. Quinnipiac clinched the Cleary Cup that night, and it also gave them the opportunity to … Read more
We’re coming down to the home stretch, now that the two SUNYAC quarterfinal tilts are in the books, and semifinal match-ups — No. 4 Buffalo State at No. 1 Oswego and No. 3 Geneseo at No. 2 Plattsburgh — are set for Saturday. It’s unusual to some degree to see the top four seeds holding … Read more
T.J. Manastersky has talked often throughout his first season as coach about not only carrying on the winning tradition at Curry College, but also putting his stamp on the proud program as well. Mission accomplished. The Colonels shook an up-and-down start, digested a tough nonconference schedule, and are playing some of their best hockey as … Read more
Don’t call it an upset, but sixth-seeded Wisconsin-River Falls certainly captured headlines when it upset third-seeded Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the opening round of the NCHA playoffs last weekend. Playing on the road, the Falcons dropped the first game on Friday, but rebounded to win the second game, 4-1, and a mini-game tiebreaker on Saturday night … Read more
On paper, the semifinals one could imagine bring a lot of drama to the playoffs for the ECAC East. Just hold on a minute there though. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, because there could be some giant killers along the way to upset any purists hope for the top four convening in … Read more
In early November, Gustavus Adolphus looked like a team that seemed destined for a doomed season. Defending its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament championship looked like mission impossible. So did a return trip to the NCAA tournament. In fact, just getting into the conference tournament was going to be a grueling task. The Gusties were … Read more
When any player transfers from one school to another, the ability to come in right away and make any sort of impact can take time. The new league, coaches, and even teammates, can affect the comfort zone and slow down one’s early success rate. Salem State Vikings forward Chad Goodwin however, has shown no signs … Read more
This weekend begins the MCHA postseason. Adrian and Marian earned a bye this weekend by being the top teams in their division. We’ll see them next weekend playing the winners who come out of the quarterfinals. The Bulldogs will host this year’s Harris Cup Four at the Arrington Ice Arena in Adrian, Mich. Quarterfinals will … Read more
Four out of the five Division III women’s conferences wrapped up their respective regular seasons this past weekend. As per the norm, the MIAC is the lone conference still left to finish up, as the Minnesota schools have one more regular season weekend remaining before holding their five-team postseason tournament over the course of next … Read more