This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
Not only did the Wisconsin-Eau Claire men’s hockey team move into first place in the NCHA, the Blugolds made history in the process. Battling second-ranked St. Norbert on Friday, Wis.-Eau Claire shutout the Green Knights, 3-0, on their home ice, marking only the second time the Blugolds have blanked mighty St. Norbert in program history. … Read more
St. Olaf wants to win a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship as much as any team in the league, and the Oles took a big step toward the title this past weekend. They accomplished something that doesn’t happen to often in the balanced conference, and that is sweep an opponent, especially a national power such … Read more
There is a very old coaching adage that says “You play like you practice.” While some teams may not appreciate the true value of that statement, the Middlebury Panthers are finding great value and relevance in their recent game performance correlated with the intensity level that has been showing up during practice. So the adage … Read more
Currently, the Adrian Bulldogs hold the nation’s longest unbeaten streak, going 7-0-2 in their last nine contests. Previous to this streak, the team was on a nine-game win streak before Wisconsin Stevens-Point beat the Bulldogs 7-4 in December. That marked the lone loss for Adrian thus far this season. The Bulldogs boast a 12-0-2 conference … Read more
David Titanic majors in Wellness Management at SUNY-Oswego, but he might want to consider a minor in something like home economics. After all, he’s shown a distinct talent for tailoring. That was especially true over the weekend, when the junior winger threaded the needle twice in a Lakers win over Brockport (5-1) followed by their rousing … Read more
The Fitchburg State Falcons captured the MASCAC title in 2011, the first postseason title in the program’s history. Dean Fuller, who enters his 29th season as head coach for the Falcons, has been behind the bench for most of the program’s existence. Yet even after winning that title, he still feels that there is more … Read more
R.J. Tolan never panicked when Wentworth didn’t race out of the box like most around Division III expected. The Leopards, after all, won the ECAC Northeast last season, and were the preseason choice to win it all again this season. They indeed had a lot going for them: skill, speed, depth, motivation, you name it. … Read more
The wait is finally over for Nazareth College. The Golden Flyers earned their first-ever ECAC West conference win on Friday night when they defeated visiting Manhattanville, 6-4, at The Sports Centre at MCC in Rochester, N.Y. In a season of firsts for the nascent Division III program, this may have been one of the best. … Read more
When Wisconsin lost at home to Minnesota on Sunday, it mathematically ended the possibility of the Badgers earning a third straight WCHA regular season championship. That isn’t entirely surprising; in the brief history of the league, no program has ever won the season nor the playoff crown in three straight years. But for a team … Read more
What do Plattsburgh, Gustavus Adolphus, and Lake Forest all have in common? While it might be easy to pick the first two out as the two remaining unbeaten teams in Division III women’s hockey, Lake Forest currently holds the nation’s next longest unbeaten streak at nine games. After starting the season 2-2-4, the Foresters have … Read more
Connecticut interim coach Dave Berard is getting his first taste of leading a college hockey program, and it’s been an eventful season so far for the former longtime Providence assistant coach who joined Bruce Marshall’s staff two years ago. What started as Marshall’s 25th season behind the Huskies bench soon saw him take a medical … Read more
Think of this weekend’s series between No. 10 Denver and Minnesota-Duluth as a crossroads. After bye weeks for both teams, Denver and UMD are at a similar spot in the standings coming from different directions. The Pioneers have traveled downward in the WCHA standings while the Bulldogs have been hot in the WCHA lately, looking … Read more
Sometimes the word “upset” is thrown around college athletics far too loosely. If you look at college basketball this season, the top 10 teams have been a revolving door. But last weekend, anyone who openly predicted that last-place Maine would travel to Chestnut Hill and sweep then-No. 3 Boston College might have been checked into … Read more
With Western Michigan’s sweep of Michigan last weekend, the Broncos became the new top team in the CCHA, sitting one point ahead of second-place Miami and three points in front of the former No. 1, Notre Dame. Given that two of the Broncos’ five remaining series are against Miami and Notre Dame, I thought it … Read more
St. Lawrence coach Greg Carvel and his staff didn’t have to look very far to find what was wrong with the Saints. A scorching start to the season led to an appearance in the national polls, but a winless December sent St. Lawrence tumbling near the bottom of the ECAC Hockey standings. It got a … Read more
With just eight games remaining on the regular season schedule, coach Jim Ward knows that if there is a time to really get things going in the right direction, it is now, entering the last month. Only eight teams qualify for the NESCAC tournament, so two teams will be on the outside looking in come … Read more
It may seem like a year or maybe even longer than the crossing their namesake Pilgrims made in the 17th century to the New World. For the New England College Pilgrims, this Friday night’s home game is the first time they have played in their own rink since Nov. 17, 2012, a period that spans … Read more
It’s tough to keep getting up when you repeatedly get knocked down, and few teams have been knocked down as often as Augsburg this season. The Auggies are in the grip of a seven-game winless streak, which has included a pair of ties and two losses by two goals or less. Augsburg sits at 3-11-3 … Read more
Northland had a rough start to its season, to say the least. After five games, the Lumberjacks had allowed 34 goals while only scoring 11, holding a goal differential of minus-23. Things needed to change for the young team. They lost five straight through Nov. 16. “As times get tough, it’s hard to stay positive; … Read more
The biggest upset of the NCHA season occurred last Friday night in De Pere, Wis. Wisconsin-Stout shocked top-ranked St. Norbert, holding on to a 4-3 victory at the Cornerstone Community Center, a venue where the Green Knights seldom ever lose. The upstart Blue Devils, who came into the contest 3-7 in the NCHA, received two … Read more