This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
New Rink, New Beginning? The Plymouth State women’s hockey program hasn’t had much to cheer about entering its fourth season as a Division III varsity program. The Panthers have won just one game in three seasons, but 2010-2011 could be the dawn of a new beginning for the program. On Friday night, Plymouth State will … Read more
Before there was the Frozen Four and the Kazmaier Award, and before there was the Women’s Hockey East and the NCAA (and even the AWCHA), even before the full kick in of Title IX, and the quadrennial chasing of Gold Medals, there was one towering figure on skates (but not on figure skates). That would … Read more
All three respective D-III Western Region conference favorites — Adrian, St. Norbert and Hamline — were upset last weekend, which always makes pundits wonder how they will respond the following week, if not the remaining season. Like a claims adjustor, the first task was to assess the damage: were they substantial losses so seismic in … Read more
Green Hockey Fredonia is doing their share to save our planet; they are not wasting electricity to turn on the red light. In three conference games, there has been a total of 11 goals scored in Fredonia games. To put that in perspective, Morrisville has scored 11 goals themselves in just two games. “I think … Read more
A Grand Opening The pieces were in place. And when the lights went on, the results were there, as Plymouth State christened its new arena at Hanaway Rink with a convincing 6-0 win over Southern New Hampshire Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 900. “It might have even been a little over capacity,” first … Read more
Connecticut is off to its best start since 1998, posting just a single loss in its first six games (2-1-3). The Huskies are 2-1-1 in conference, winning at Army and then taking three points from Canisius last weekend at home. Combine that with two come-from behind ties at nationally ranked Maine and Union and coach … Read more
Last season, Bowling Green and Western Michigan each notched four CCHA wins. The Falcons finished ahead of the last-place Broncos by two points. With a single win against Notre Dame last weekend, BGSU now has one-fourth of the league wins it earned in all of 2009-10. With a sweep of visiting Michigan State, WMU took … Read more
Anyone with more awareness than a plate of potato salad or a Gold Glove voter knows that Yale has been good lately. Anyone east of the CCHA ought to realize by now that Yale is crazy good, and anyone in ECAC Hockey is sure to know that the Bulldogs are a national contender … and … Read more
In 1985, New Hampshire coach Dick Umile was coaching at Watertown (Mass.) High School when he got a call from an old friend with an opportunity. The call was from Mike McShane. McShane has just been hired to replace Steve Sterling as bench boss at Providence and he wanted Umile to be his assistant. When … Read more
For Colorado College fans, this year has been somewhat of a roller coaster ride so far. The season started out with the Tigers taking three points from Rensselaer. It progressed to include a “split” at the Alaska Goal Rush and the same at Minnesota State. It also included a weekend that involved getting swept by … Read more
Game of the Week It certainly is a no-brainer this week. Plattsburgh and Oswego slug it out again on the shores of Lake Ontario. The Oswego campus has been abuzz all week, as students lined up Monday morning before 7:00 a.m. for their allotment of tickets. The tickets were quickly gone once the windows opened. … Read more
With the opening of the new season comes a new format in the way coverage is going to be presented at USCHO. If you’ve taken a look at some of the Division I columns and Division III blog postings, you’ll probably have a good idea how this is going to work. If not, here’s a … Read more
For over a decade, the St. Norbert men’s hockey and winning have gone hand in hand when it comes to the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) and NCAA Tournament appearances. The Green Knights are year in and year out a perennial powerhouse in the West Region. On Oct. 29, 2010, a new chapter was added … Read more
Gary Bettman has taken plenty of heat for his part as National Hockey League bench boss for trying to squeeze blood from a stone. Or, more correctly, by making the NHL a winsome property to national sponsors by overseeing the placement of franchises in Sun Belt cities. An excersice in futility, some would say. Or … Read more
Canisius and Niagara are separated by about 25 miles and the Niagara River. The Grand Island Bridge (bridges, actually) that spans the river has become a symbol of the sports rivalry between the two schools. The schools call the competition The Battle of the Bridge. And the stakes got higher this year with Atlantic Hockey … Read more
After back-to-back last-place finishes, Providence fans couldn’t be too happy to see this year’s Hockey East coaches’ preseason poll. It had the Friars pegged for a third straight residence in the cellar. Not the kind of hat trick you’re looking for. And when the Friars followed up an opening night win over Northeastern with four … Read more
Before the season, it seemed the overwhelming majority had North Dakota running away with the MacNaughton Cup in 2010-11 as the WCHA’s team to beat. The Fighting Sioux have gone 1-3 after a 3-0-1 start and have fallen from second to ninth in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll. Enter Minnesota-Duluth, undefeated and ranked second … Read more
To quote the Talking Heads, same as it ever was. One glance at the CCHA standings and last week’s results show the league’s top tier populated by a familiar cast: Miami, Note Dame, Michigan. Alaska and Northern Michigan are in the mix, for now. Michigan State isn’t. Yet. The difference between this year and last … Read more
The Union Dutchmen enjoyed a record-setting season last year, elevating the program’s Division I records for victories (21), win percentage (.615), and — most importantly — progression, advancing to ECAC Hockey’s final four in Albany for the first time. But with the graduation of the Dutchmen’s top two scorers in Mario Valery-Trabucco and Jason Walters, … Read more
New Season, New Teams, New Tournament Adrian and Cortland officially kicked off the Division III women”s season last weekend with the Bulldogs shutting out the Red Dragons 5-0 in Cortland. However, this weekend things start to pick up with 21 games on tap, including St. Norbert and St. Scholastica’s inaugural games as well as the … Read more