This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
None of That Talk Here’s some news that should make fans of seven Hockey East teams stand up and cheer. There will be no Beanpot talk in this column. Thank you. Thank you. You can be seated now. Oh, you’re too kind. Please be seated. Thank you. Hey, the Tournament-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named is great fun and generates … Read more
Spoiling the Party By all measurements, last Saturday’s “Make the Rink Pink” game at RIT was a success. The game between the Tigers and Bentley Falcons sold out days in advance, and over $21,000 was raised for cancer research by the RIT men’s and women’s teams via special jersey raffles and T-shirt sales. The atmosphere … Read more
Like last week, the playoff picture is getting a little clearer. We’ve probably got our five teams that will get home ice, though the order is still anyone’s guess as we still have three points separating everyone. Which, of course, is a point better than last week, but still. Spots six through eight are the … Read more
It was about time Alabama-Huntsville started getting some ink in this column. After starting out the year en fuego, the Chargers tailed off, but came back alive last weekend in sweeping Niagara at a place they hadn’t played in 75 days — the Von Braun Center. Alabama-Huntsville celebrates its sweep of Niagara (photo: Doug Eagan). … Read more
ECAC Editorial There are innumerable positive things about Harvard; it’s arguably the world’s premier and most famous university for a reason. But right now, the men’s hockey team isn’t one of them. This will come off as more rant than repartee, but the Crimson’s performance en route to its 6-0 slaughtering at the hands of … Read more
Thank You, Punxsutawney Fraud You’ve been had. We’ve all been had. For reasons clear only to The Weather Channel and the rest of the Media-Greeting Card-Big Pharma complex that controls these United States, Groundhog Day has gained alarming momentum in recent years, spawning a new niche plush toy industry and celebrations that include trademark-infringing Whac-A-Mole … Read more
Kickin’ It Old School After a few columns of a more somber variety lately, I think that ending January with a more gazette-style offering is a good idea. It’s a chatty one. Grab your coffee. I Love the Buckeyes! That seems to be the subtext that some readers gleaned from last week’s column, when I … Read more
Last week, we discussed how Bemidji State was becoming mortal again. Last weekend, the Beavers perhaps took notice of their slump and came out with a two-game sweep against then-No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth in a home-and-home series. “This was important because UMD is in the WCHA and they’ve been ahead of us in the rankings,” BSU … Read more
Not-So-Dire Situation After All A week ago, my colleague and friend Dave Hendrickson painted a bleak picture in this exact space for Hockey East prospects for bids to this year’s NCAA tournament. At the time, Dave had every right in the world to feel that way. Hockey East had just three teams inside the top … Read more
With just over a month left in the season, the gap between first place and fifth place is two points. You read that right. Two. League-leading Minnesota-Duluth has 25 points, followed by St. Cloud State and Denver with 24 and Wisconsin and Colorado College with 23. North Dakota isn’t quite out of the hunt for … Read more
It’s funny how different people will see the same situation differently. Take my columns: St. Lawrence fans think I have it in for them, as do Colgate and Cornell fans. RPI backers hate it when I pick them to win, and love when predict a loss. I’ve apparently ticked off supporters of Princeton and Clarkson, … Read more
Buzzer Beaters It’s the most exciting play in basketball: the Buzzer Beater. A last-second basket that wins a game just as time expires. It’s a rare, but not miraculous occurrence in a sport where lots of points are scored and the final minute can take a half an hour to play. Hockey is another matter. … Read more
Fighting to Death Quick: What’s the roughest neighborhood in the CCHA? If you answered, “Bowling Green,” or, “Big Rapids,” you’d be right — at least as far as last weekend’s action is concerned. In Northern Michigan’s 6-0 win over BG last Friday, the teams combined for 99 penalty minutes, in large part because of a … Read more
A Zero-Sum Game If the season ended today, Hockey East would get three teams into the NCAA tournament but none would be seeded highly. According to the current PairWise Rankings, Boston College would top the league teams at No. 9, followed by Massachusetts (tied for 10th) and Vermont (tied for 12th). On or outside the … Read more
Looks like Bemidji State is human after all. After being swept by Minnesota State five weeks ago, Bemidji State still had hopes of being undefeated in CHA play this season. Niagara, the only team to have ever gone undefeated in league action, wanted it to stay that way and now it will after the Purple … Read more
Playing With Heart Don’t look now, but the hottest team in college hockey is the Sacred Heart Pioneers, who are riding a seven-game unbeaten streak. After a 3-9-2 start to the season and some time in the basement of the Atlantic Hockey standings, Sacred Heart has turned it around by improving on all fronts: offense, … Read more
The gap is expanding. 21 points separate first (Minnesota-Duluth, 25 points, by virtue of Denver’s bye week) and last (still Michigan Tech, still with four points). The gap is still close. Six points separate first from sixth place. Eighth place is six points down from that (for clarity’s sake, eighth-place Alaska-Anchorage is 10 points behind … Read more
Midseason Report Every team in the league has now played at least 10 games of the ECAC Hockey variety, with a few having already passed the 11-game halfway point of their conference schedule. It’s time for a look back at the first half of the 2009-10 campaign. Note: league stats are the focus, but overall … Read more
The league race is getting clearer at the same time it’s getting even more muddled. The gap between first and last (Denver, 23 points and Michigan Tech, four points) is as large as ever. However, the race for home ice is as tight as ever. Behold: Denver, 23 points Minnesota-Duluth, 21 points St. Cloud State, … Read more
Back on Track The top three teams in Atlantic Hockey returned to winning ways last weekend, as the the league left most of its non-conference games behind and got down to crunch time. The sight from the rear-view mirror isn’t pretty — the league has gone 8-43-5 out of conference this season, with just five … Read more