This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
It’s too early to say that the Sioux once again are starting their second-half surge, but the boys in green are 8-2 in their last 10 games. If anything, it’s only safe to say that you should never count UND out. It’s said that Gopher coach Don Lucia should be back for this weekend’s series … Read more
Streaking The 2008-2009 season has been a record-setting one for Air Force, which opened 13-0, tops in school history for both longest winning streak and best start to a season. The Falcons’ “travel partner” (the team they always play four times a season), RIT, has also set a school record for consecutive wins this season. … Read more
Even I Get It Right Sometimes As I return to teaching at Mott Community College this week, I’m faced with how wrong I am about everything, and how often. Don’t I know that no one gives homework in the first week of class? Why should I expect anyone to come to a writing class with … Read more
A lot has happened since the last time we published, but the meat of the season is upon us. Therefore, no looking backward — only forward. Onward we go … Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Chris VandeVelde, UND. Why: Scored three goals and had … Read more
Catching Up In the four weeks since my last column, Atlantic Hockey teams have had their share of highs and lows. Let’s see what each team has been up to. Air Force After the Falcons’ 3-2 overtime loss to RIT back on December 6, Air Force coach Frank Serratore was asked if he was worried … Read more
Around The Rinks With the holiday tournaments under our belts (not to mention a few more pounds), let’s take a whirlwind tour of all the league’s teams. But do check out the PairWise Rankings, where five Hockey East teams are on track to make the NCAA tournament and another sits on the bubble. Of course, … Read more
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 2009. If you look to the port side of the aircraft, you will see the collapse of Western capitalism as we know it … over the right wing, you’ll note the rising tide that serves as an unmistakable bellwether of global warming and the gradual-yet-unabated decay of our planet. Fortunately, … Read more
Happy New Year! It’s 2009 and time for resolutions. Ask any CHA coach, though, and their obvious answer to be successful this year is to get as many wins as possible, win the CHA tournament and get into the NCAA round of 16. For one team, that will be the case. But as to which … Read more
Back to School As the second half of the regular season begins, there is one undeniable truth: the top four teams in the CCHA are from states other than Michigan — some very far away from Michigan. With all due respect to the teams in my new home state, this continued non-Michigan dominance of the … Read more
Well, here it is — the last column of the calendar year. As promised, I give you an update on the penalty crackdown from this season as well as the midseason grades as I see them. Also, I missed St. Cloud State freshman Oliver Lauridsen when talking about players representing their country in the IIHF … Read more
Well now, this is a little more like it! After romping to a darned near 67 percent accuracy rate with my predictions, I was beginning to wonder if the league was becoming … well, predictable. Good to see that ECAC Hockey is still as schizophrenic as ever. This is the last column of 2008, though … Read more
Was It a Dream, or Not? The other night, I drifted off while watching my favorite cinematic adaptation of the Charles Dickens’ novel A Christmas Carol, the 1951 version entitled Scrooge, adapted by Noel Langley, directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Alatair Sim in the most definitive performance ever of the title role. Although … Read more
The Long and Winding Road With a light schedule on the horizon and the RIT-Air Force series the dominant story of last week, this column is a slight departure from the norm. Friday, December 5, 5:00 a.m. ET Rochester, N.Y. Ouch. I’m not a morning person, but duty calls. I have a 7:00 a.m. flight … Read more
Well, it’s finally starting to feel like winter in my neck of the woods. That, along with the calendar turning to December, means it’s almost the halfway point of the season. That in turn means a regular column this week and a report card of sorts next week. I’ll also revisit the penalty crackdown issue. … Read more
Unlike your fridge, this column isn’t packed with leftovers from last week. This column won’t start turning yellow or dripping on your floor or absorbing neighboring columns, it hasn’t been declared a federal biohazard and it doesn’t smell like feet. It doesn’t have any tryptophan, either, so hopefully it won’t put you to sleep. Freshly … Read more
Respect Last week might just have been the third most-important in the ten-year history of Atlantic Hockey (and the MAAC before it.). The first would obviously be the first league games, played back in 1998. The formation of the MAAC saved some programs from either folding or being relegated to a quasi-Division III no-man’s land. … Read more
Last weekend was a light one in the CHA, but the one coming up bodes for some major excitement. First off, Alabama-Huntsville makes the trek to Bemidji State in a series that over the years has proven to be arguably the league’s most intense. “When you play as few league games (18) as we have, … Read more
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…Circa 1981 There are six inches of snow on the ground in Flint, Mich., and the weather reports call for uninterrupted cold for the foreseeable future. When the snows first fell two weeks ago in my new hometown, I grumbled as though I’d moved north from the deep … Read more
Letters To Santa For the final column before the holidays, we’ve once again intercepted mail from Hockey East arenas to the North Pole and are sharing them with you. On Northeastern stationery: Greg Cronin here, Santa. Don’t set me up again, Big Guy. Yeah, we’re 10-3-2. Yeah, we’re in first place. But seems to me … Read more
Whistles Galore If anyone has attended a college hockey game this season, you may notice a few things are different. That’s particularly true when it comes to officiating. A quick look on the ice identifies the biggest difference. Instead of the regular single referee with two assistant referees, Hockey East, as well as all of … Read more