This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
Well, folks, this here is the end of the WCHA “season,” so to speak — the WCHA Red Baron Final Five starts today. So here’s a little something to chew on while waiting for the games. Putting the ‘Student’ in Student-Athlete The league released the 2007-08 All-WCHA Academic Team last Friday and 45 of the … Read more
Torn There are times when a woman has to say what’s on her mind, even though she knows how much it’s gonna hurt. I am elated that Northern Michigan is heading to Joe Louis Arena this weekend. I am saddened, however, that the Wildcats’ trip comes at the expense of Michigan State. Here I sit, … Read more
So here we are. The final ECAC Hockey weekend of the year, and it appears that only one of these teams will join Clarkson in representing the league in the NCAA tournament. Where it once seemed as though Harvard or maybe even Princeton could sneak in without winning the whole shebang, resident PairWise swami Jayson … Read more
Niagara head coach Dave Burkholder said last fall that the NU class of 2008 was the only senior class never to get to the NCAA tournament. He said the No. 1 goal this season was to win the CHA tournament on home ice and move on to the NCAA round of 16. Talk can be … Read more
Two For Sure, Maybe Three You can’t say you weren’t told. Last week’s column pointed out that not only were Boston University and Vermont on the NCAA Tournament selection bubble, but Providence, Northeastern, and Massachusetts-Lowell were on the cutting edge of being Teams Under Consideration. The implications were enormous. Sure enough, all three dropped out … Read more
We’re talkin’ ’bout playoffs this week. While I have a lot to say this week, I think Denver’s George Gwozdecky sums it up best — “The first round playoffs are going to be as close and competitive as they’ve ever been in this format.” Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week Red Baron WCHA … Read more
No lengthy intro needed this week — it’s tournament time! Let’s see what the crystal ball reveals this year. The one used last year was sent back to the manufacturer labeled “defective” as it failed to predict an Alabama-Huntsville championship run. Here are the facts: The winner of the tournament this weekend at Niagara gets … Read more
The Real Hardware This week the CCHA named its all-league first, second, and academic teams and its finalists for Player of the Year. While every player honored by the league this year is worthy of praise, I wonder about two things — and the public wondering will probably get me into trouble with someone, somewhere … Read more
Implications Abound The playoffs are, by definition, huge. These playoffs, however, have taken on an extra dimension based on how the PairWise Rankings have shaken out. Not only are Boston University and Vermont on the NCAA tournament selection bubble, but Providence, Northeastern, and Massachusetts-Lowell are all on the cutting edge of being Teams Under Consideration. … Read more
On To Rochester The top five teams advanced to the Final Five in Rochester, but not without some drama. Three games went to overtime on Saturday night and Sacred Heart was pressed to a third game by UConn. RIT needed two overtime games to eliminate Holy Cross. The Tigers will play Air Force, which had … Read more
Welcome to the second round … the quarterfinals, if you will. By this time Monday morning, we’ll have our Albany brackets, and I’ll have my hotel room. A couple of strange things happened while writing this week’s column. For starters, I was a perfect eight-for-eight on contacting coaches. This never happens. Second, each and every … Read more
Pile-up At The Finish Line I’m not going to even try to figure out all the different possible orders of finish in this absurdly close race as we go into the final weekend of the regular season. If I tell you that BC or Providence could finish as high as second and as low as … Read more
The ECAC Hockey first-round playoff series sat down at their respective computers the other day, and — following a rather protracted visit to addictinggames.com — proceeded to update their Facebook* pages, as intangible collegiate sporting events are known to do. After signing up for Scrabulous, leaving the “Back in my day, Pluto was still a … Read more
This is it, folks. This weekend, the Wayne State hockey program makes its final on-ice appearance in Detroit before jaunting to the CHA Tournament next weekend at Niagara. Can’t believe it’s been nine years, can you? That first game, albeit an exhibition against Western Ontario, back on Nov. 5, 1999 had glitz, glamour — and … Read more
The NCAAs Start Now With no AHA teams on the “Under Consideration” list, it’s obvious that only the league’s tournament champion is going to the NCAAs. So that makes the AHA playoffs essentially an extension of the big dance. Lose, and you go home. Your seniors have played their last game. So expect things to … Read more
Here we are, everybody — the final season of the regular season. We’ve got playoff spots to be decided with everybody except Wisconsin and Alaska Anchorage having a hand in their final fate. Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Jack Hillen, CC. Why: Became the … Read more
Congratulations, Wolverines! Picked fourth in the preseason league coaches and media polls and third preseason by this reporter, the Wolverines surpassed all expectations by capturing their 10th regular-season league title last weekend. Upon winning, head coach Red Berenson said that his young team “found a way to win games night after night, home and away, … Read more
Streaks All coaches say that they want to see their teams playing their best hockey at the end of the season. Well, two teams have taken that message to heart and have saved their best for the second half of the season to surge to the top of their respective conferences. Amherst currently holds the … Read more
Doing the Math It’s been a wild and wacky season in Atlantic Hockey, and as we head into the final weekend, the final 10 games of the regular season, there’s still much to be decided. For example, we could end with a four-way tie for first place, and Air Force and RIT are able to … Read more
Bemidji State traveled to North Dakota last weekend looking to end a horrid losing streak against the Sioux and nearly did. Though BSU came away with two defeats against the second-ranked team in the country, it could easily have been a split. In the finale on Sunday afternoon, Bemidji State nearly pulled it out, but … Read more