This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
Maybe it was ironic that mere months after the CCHA chose not to accept Alabama-Huntsville into the conference, UAH opened its season on the road at Notre Dame. Most figured it would be a cinch for the Irish to get four points from the Chargers, but “most” didn’t include the Chargers themselves as UAH earned … Read more
Why, hello there again. Are you ready for hockey season? Most of the WCHA turned up to play this past weekend, with all teams in action but one earning victories Friday night. Granted, most of those teams lost on Saturday, but it’s always nice starting off one’s season with a notch in the win column. … Read more
Every year, in every league, folks say that “this year looks even more competitive and balanced than last year, or any other year for that matter.” Every single year, without fail. It’s what they — the coaches, administrators and players — are expected to say. It’s a way of showing a little “aw, shucks” humility … Read more
One Last Satisfying Look For a while there, I was fielding the same question following one national championship game after another. “Why can’t your guys win it all? You guys always finish second.” The words invariably came from the mouth of a smug WCHA fan (pardon the redundancy), a drink in one hand and a … Read more
Beginnings, Auspicious and Otherwise Not with a bang, but with a whimper. Or, maybe, a tiny yelp. Not very loud. A smallish hooray. It was the proverbial mixed bag in the opening weekend for the CCHA, with clear-cut winners, out-and-out losers, and teams that were somewhere in the middle. Congratulations to the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks, this … Read more
Perhaps the third time is the charm for Bemidji State. After winning the CHA tournament title in 2005 and 2006, the Beavers are once again champions after their nail-biting 3-2 overtime win over Robert Morris last Saturday night on home ice. Tournament MVP Matt Read scored 8:05 into the extra session to send the 1,962 … Read more
Going the Distance The top four seeds in Atlantic Hockey advanced to Rochester, but it wasn’t easy. Mercyhurst swept Army in convincing fashion (6-2, 5-0), but the other three series were dogfights that went the distance. Expect more of the same this weekend. Here are your semifinal matchups: No. 4 Bentley vs. No. 1 Air … Read more
Here it is. We’re finally at the culmination of the WCHA season — the Final Five. I’ll try not to ramble on too long as I’m sure you all want to head on out to the Xcel Energy Center … or the bars. I don’t judge. On Brawling, Fighting and General Mischief — Year Two … Read more
The 25th edition of the Hockey East championship tournament is upon us and within the next couple of days, a champion will be crowned. If the final four is anything like the quarterfinals, expect plenty of shock and awe. Assuming that the regular-season standings dictated a “script,” last weekend’s quarterfinals simply ripped that script in … Read more
Gustavus Adolphus (18-10-0 overall, 10-6-0 in MIAC) Gustavus Adolphus will make its first NCAA final four appearance Friday when the Golden Gusties face off at 4:30 p.m. Eastern against the University of Wisconsin-Stout for a spot in Saturday’s national championship game. This is a Gusties team, however, that was picked just third in the MIAC … Read more
Get Down to It Congratulations to the four teams in Detroit this weekend for the CCHA tournament. Two teams had to earn their way to The Joe by playing three games. Two teams posted two shutout wins each, one with a shutout sweep of its opponent. One team had to win on the road. Already … Read more
There are a lot of ways that people analyze the playoffs. Who’s played the best this year. Who’s played best lately. Who beat whom, how often, and how convincingly in the regular season, or who has the greatest incentive. For that matter, which is a greater incentive … playing for a title, or playing for … Read more
Neumann Knights (19-9-2 overall, 8-5-2 in ECAC West) Despite having put together a tremendous run to earn a berth in the national semifinal round in Lake Placid, the Neumann Knights aren’t embracing the label of a Cinderella team. Just a month ago, Neumann was barely a blip on the NCAA tournament radar. The Knights were … Read more
Picture 1: No idea on a caption, but Josh wanted me to add one for GA and he wanted Martinson
Picture 2:
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Versatile forward Keith Nelson is looking to fire away at Hobart goalie Keith Longo in Saturday’s game to earn a Frozen Four berth (photo: Tim Costello).
University of Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils (22-5-2 overall, 10-2-2 in NCHA) This weekend marks only the second appearance ever for UW-Stout in the NCAA tournament. The first came last season. Though the Blue Devils have strung together a couple tremendous seasons, the road to this end was not a short one. The Blue Devils failed to … Read more
Now starts the real work. After losing in the national championship game a year ago, Plattsburgh had one thought on their minds–make it back. They did what they had to do in the regular season towards that goal, and then some. “Going into the SUNYAC playoffs this year was different than going into a typical … Read more
Phew. That could have been so much worse than it ended up. Only third place had to be determined by a tiebreaker, and an easy one at that. In trying to figure out the different situations on Saturday, I didn’t even consider the possibility of a tie in the Minnesota State/St. Cloud State game … … Read more
The Second Season Begins It’s been five years since a lower seed advanced in the Hockey East quarterfinals. Will the home teams once again all move on to the Garden? If you look at the PairWise, you’d say that the identities of next Friday’s semifinal contestants are already known. Boston University, Northeastern, New Hampshire, and … Read more
Unfitting Ends What a way for two senior CCHA goaltenders to go out. In Marquette, Michigan State senior goaltender Jeff Lerg played his last collegiate contest, allowing a career-high eight goals in the loss to Northern Michigan. In Columbus, Bowling Green senior goaltender Jimmy Spratt played his last collegiate contest, left the crease during a … Read more