This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
No. 1 and No. 2 in the league. The second-longest win streak in the nation meets the longest win streak in the nation. No. 1 in the country hosts No. 10. Minnesota-Duluth vs. Denver, to close out the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center after 45 years. Yep, it’s a big one. The series also hosts two … Read more
Out of the eight Atlantic Hockey teams in conference play last weekend, only American International was able to pick up four points. While sweeps have been few in far between for the Yellow Jackets, their victim last weekend made it all the more impressive. Mercyhurst was on home ice and riding a four-game winning streak … Read more
East meets West in Adrian College’s Hackett Builders Thanksgiving Showcase Friday and Saturday. The second-annual hockey revue at Arrington Ice Arena features three Top-10 ranked teams with No. 5 Hamline, No. 7 Adrian and No. 9 SUNY Geneseo, as well as Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Geneseo takes on Hamline at 3 p.m. Friday, followed by UW-Eau Claire … Read more
UMaine may have polished off one of the most significant wins in its history on Tuesday, a 4-1 upset of New Hampshire. But there was little time to savor it. The Black Bears were back on skates and on the ice early (if not bright) on Wednesday. Still, there wasn’t a grumble to be heard, … Read more
As I finish this column, it’s the day before Thanksgiving and just moments after my last class of the week has let out. In three days this week, I’ve taught six classes, provided feedback on more than 100 drafts of student work, been observed for evaluation purposes by two of my peers in two different … Read more
I know today is a day for enjoying turkey and football (and, for some, resting up before waking up before the crack of dawn for crazy shopping deals), but here’s some quick, light reading about some hockey, Husky style, before you start your day. ‘Consistently inconsistent’ Coming into this year, the St. Cloud State Huskies … Read more
I’ve devoted word-count to the streaking likes of Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, Union, Rensselaer and — yes — even Brown can consider its men’s icers hot this year. But who does that leave behind? Half the league, that’s who. Clarkson, Colgate, Cornell, Harvard, Quinnipiac and St. Lawrence have each struggled to some extent through the season’s … Read more
Atlantic Hockey teams have performed well recently in non-conference games, a welcome change for the league. After starting out the season 1-15-1 against teams outside the league, AHA teams are 7-3-1 out of conference in their last 11 games dating to early November. It doesn’t help that the majority of these games are played away … Read more
We have reached the day of my favorite holiday each year, Thanksgiving. What other holiday would a man of 250 pounds and a healthy appetite love more? Seriously, I ask you. I do know that Thanksgiving isn’t all about the food (though I can’t wait for the scallops wrapped in bacon, Mom!). So I thought … Read more
Hard to believe it, but we’re nearly two months into the 2010-11 season. That’s more than enough time to assess the impact of returning Olympians on their college teams, don’t you think? At first blush, it would appear to be enormous. After a year-long Olympic layoff, Canadian Meghan Agosta is again filling the nets with … Read more
With one week to go until Thanksgiving, we’ve got a couple of dandy showdowns in the NCHA this week. The six teams that have positioned themselves in the top half of the NCHA standings will all be in action against each other this weekend. At the forefront, defending regular-season champion Lake Forest travels to Wis.-River … Read more
Milwaukee School of Engineering players remain grounded, despite getting a sniff of rarefied air with the team’s Top-15 ranking and first place standing. The Raiders pierced the NCAA Division III’s upper tier after a weekend sweep of then No. 15-ranked Marian. The victories in the home-and-home series lifted MSOE (6-0) into first place in the … Read more
Definition of Parity Ever watch a dog chase its tail? Round and round the dog goes, getting nowhere. Then, the dog gives up or tires or both and lies down licking its paw. The tail is still there. The dog accomplished nothing. It’s great fun to watch, but in the end, nothing happens. That’s the … Read more
There’s been a lot of inter-conference mingling in the early part of the season, particularly between the Northeast-10, MASCAC, and ECAC Northeast. In fact, with the exception of Franklin Pierce’s season-opening two-game series with Utica, all the Northeast-10 action has come against the MASCAC and ECAC Northeast, with varying results. The conference has an overall … Read more
Mixing It Up With five strong teams in the conference, an easy prediction before the season was that the teams would beat each other up in the standings. The early results are reinforcing that feeling. Elmira holds a slim lead as the only team to rack up two wins. The other four teams are all … Read more
Life in the post-Andrew Volkening world has seen its highs and lows for Air Force. The Falcons been on a roller coaster ride the past three weekends: • Oct. 22: Lose at home for the first time ever to American International 5-3 • Oct. 23: Bounce back to blast the Yellow Jackets 12-0 • Nov. … Read more
When Ohio State took a timeout at 13:29 of the third period of their 4-0 loss to Michigan State last Saturday, coach Mark Osiecki said he was “trying to give some guys rests.” Soon after, two Buckeyes got quite a bit of rest: Sergio Somma at 13:44 and Cory Schneider at 14:16. Each earned two … Read more
If you were surprised by Dartmouth’s 13-2 romp through the North Country last weekend, raise your hands. I ought to be smelling a lot of deodorant right now. The Big Green improved to 3-2-1 overall, 3-1-0 on the road and 2-1-1 in ECAC play by scoring early and riding the momentum to make big saves … Read more
Usually this column focuses on one or two teams, but this week let’s take a whirlwind tour around the league. First stop, however, is at the league office, where Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna weighs in on “the usual suspects” (Boston University, Maine, New Hampshire and Boston College) once again showing up in the top … Read more
Now Jack Connolly knows how the guys on the Minnesota-Duluth football team feel. The football team has been ranked No. 1 in the AFCA Division II Poll for two weeks, and the Bulldogs hockey team is now the top-ranked team in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll. “It’s pretty cool and a lot of the … Read more