This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
How spectacular is this? One weekend left, two games apiece, and almost nothing is predetermined. ECAC Hockey has only one team that is locked into its seed, and only three that know their “grouping” (first-round bye, in this case) … and those three are all fighting for the Cleary Cup. Everybody else is fighting to … Read more
I hate February. February is, in many ways, the Monday of months. The one good thing about February is that it’s a short month and thankfully, it has flown by this year. I took a look at the schedule and realized we only have two weekends left in the regular season and there’s only a … Read more
The End of the Regular Season? It’s hard for me to contemplate the end of the regular 2009-10 season, mostly because so much of what’s transpired in the CCHA since October. If last year’s Michigan State Spartans had shoulders made of glass, then this year’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish have heads of glass — or … Read more
And Down the Stretch They Come Two weekends is all that remains in Hockey East’s regular season and, at this point, the standings are about as muddy as they could be. A few things we know right now: One team has clinched home ice: New Hampshire. One team has guaranteed it won’t make the postseason: … Read more
And Down the Stretch They Come The top two positions in Atlantic Hockey have been settled, but, going into the final weekend of the regular season, little else is. RIT clinched its third regular season title in four seasons with a sweep of Air Force, and Sacred Heart guaranteed itself the second seed by taking … Read more
It’s Playoff Time And with it comes this midweek column to preview the play-in round. There are two rematches of a different sort in the first round. A rematch from last year, and a rematch from last weekend. Potsdam and Brockport do it again one year later, once again at the Tuttle North Ice Arena … Read more
Conference Battles This weekend all across the country, teams are gearing up for their respective conference playoffs. Some teams have already clinched berths, while some are still looking to solidify their positions. Every conference except the MIAC will be playing its final games of the regular season this weekend. There are some great battles in … Read more
Hands up, anyone who thinks you can name the top NCAA D-1 goal-getter in the land. Does it matter that we didn’t specify the gender? Any hands still up? You can use it to pat yourself on the back, if you guessed that it’s St. Cloud State senior sniper Felicia Nelson. The pride of St. … Read more
A Blast from the Past Notice anything familiar at the top of the Hockey East standings? How about the re-emergence of the old Big Four? New Hampshire, Boston College, Maine and Boston University have once again claimed Hockey East’s top four spots and are all now in the driver’s seat for playoff home ice. Until … Read more
It’s hard to believe that we’re in the final three weeks of the last-ever CHA regular season. Like Metallica said long ago, you know it’s sad, but true. All that’s pretty much left on the docket are conference games, including this weekend where Niagara heads to Bemidji State and with a single point, the Beavers … Read more
Perfect Storm I don’t usually like devoting column space to talk about games that are already in the books, but last week’s Yale-Cornell tilt was clearly a matchup worthy of some apres-buzzer analysis. As Union was busy losing to Harvard in an uninspired performance, the Bulldogs and Big Red battled it out for sole possession … Read more
From all outward appearances, it looks as though things are becoming clearer in terms of the league picture. However, one has to keep in mind that four teams were off last week, kind of screwing with the numbers. In any case, things have started to spread out as much as they’ve bunched up. The gap … Read more
Coming Into Focus The Atlantic Hockey playoff picture is beginning to come into focus, with RIT taking a huge step toward its third regular season title in four years thanks to a road sweep of Army last weekend, the first time the Tigers have been able to take four points at Tate rink. On Friday, … Read more
Inevitabilities Congratulations to the Miami RedHawks, the 2009-10 regular-season CCHA champions. As this season progressed, there was never a question about whether the RedHawks would earn this title. It was always a matter of when. Miami clinched its third title with a 3-2 road win over Bowling Green last Friday night. On Saturday, the RedHawks … Read more
Sweeps and Splits With just three weekends left in the Atlantic Hockey regular season, it’s getting crucial. Air Force and Mercyhurst ventured out of conference for the final times this season, while the four AHA series resulted in two sweeps and two splits. American International recorded its first four-point weekend of the season, and first … Read more
Unlike My Counterpart… There are a lot of things different between Dave Hendrickson and myself. Dave is married. I am not. Dave is an avid reader. I have a hard time getting to the end of reading my own column. Dave will eat anything and is a two- or three-plate guy at the free media … Read more
Of Gays and Girls Last week, the college hockey world lost a friend and pioneer. His youth — 21 years — doesn’t diminish what he did with one brave act. Brendan Burke, son of Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke and student assistant for the Miami hockey program, died Friday, Feb. 5, in a … Read more
Well now, last week’s column was close to 4,000 words … let’s pair that with a bit of brevity this week. There are — believe it or not — only three weekends left in the ECAC Hockey regular season, so let’s waste no time in getting down to business. Myths & Legends In what is … Read more
Thanks to some late-season bye weeks and non-conference match-ups, we saw a bit of a shake-up in the league standings last weekend. The gap has grown significantly between first and last (21 points) and even between first and sixth (10 points). Still, things remain close in some ways. Minnesota-Duluth and St. Cloud State now share … Read more
O captain, my captain! The six captains that lead the four CHA teams all bring unique qualities to their respective teams. How they each came to wear the “C” brings more stories to tell, as well as how each is dealing with the pressure of captaining a Division I team. Moreover, each will also go … Read more