This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
This is a story about Steven Holtz, a player you may not know who nearly lost his life to adenovirus in November. This is also about an interim head coach whose approach exemplifies a new – and welcome – way of defining what it means to be a college coach. It’s also the story of … Read more
With the calendar month turning to October, conversation around college hockey is bound to center on the national tournament, the contenders, the pretenders, the bubble teams, possible Cinderellas and spoilers, and anything in between. Dark horse discussions are more prevalent than ever as teams ramp their best hockey into form, and the idea among the … Read more
Growing up in Milton, Mass., in the figurative shadow of the TD Garden, Aidan McDonough was that rare youth hockey player from New England who didn’t necessarily dream about someday wearing a Bruins jersey. For McDonough, it was all about the Beanpot. “I didn’t want to play in the NHL — that’s a far-fetched dream,” … Read more
Last Friday’s Gold Pan rivalry game between Denver and Colorado College at Ball Arena, home of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, didn’t mark the first time that Denver had played there. But there was a huge difference between the in-state rivals’ latest meeting and DU’s last game downtown, back in 2012. On Oct. 7 of that … Read more
Bentley coach Ryan Soderquist knew that his young team would need some time to gel. With nine freshmen in the lineup, he expected growing pains, and the Falcons’ record though the first half of the season reflected that. At Christmas, Bentley was 5-13-0 and had taken points in two of five conference series. But since … Read more
By most measures, it’s been a tough winter in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. A team that was predicted to be in the mix for home ice advantage and potentially competing for a CCHA title before the season started, Lake Superior State has found itself in a place it never would have expected: In the basement. … Read more
There were plenty of celebratory hoots and hollers coming from the UMass Lowell locker room last Saturday night in the immediate aftermath of its most recent game. It’s safe to say the River Hawks were happy about more than just a 3-2 overtime win at New Hampshire. With four wins in their last five games, … Read more
This weekend marks the return of several historic rivalries throughout the college hockey landscape. In nearly every league, a major matchup dots the schedule with a rare confluence of games, and it feels as if fans got together and circled a collective date for the weekend series between Boston College and Boston University, Northern Michigan … Read more
Adam Augustine is a pragmatic man. A son of the great state of Wisconsin, the senior director of sports administration for the Big Ten is of course pleased with what he’s seeing from B1G hockey this season, but his Midwestern sensibilities add a dose of slow-your-roll when discussing any bigger picture. “While it’s nice that … Read more
When describing on Tuesday the elevator pitch for how he likes his St. Cloud State team to play, coach Brett Larson pointed to a pair of wins from last weekend that helped the Huskies become the new No. 1 human-polled team in the country. A home sweep of third-ranked Denver saw SCSU jump three spaces … Read more
Last weekend’s series between Air Force and Niagara brought some good news and bad news for the Falcons. The good news was that Frank Serratore’s team was able to snap a nine-game losing streak on Friday when the offense came to life in a 6-3 win over the Purple Eagles. While that outburst included two … Read more
What a whirlwind of a week it was for St. Thomas and its men’s hockey program. On Jan. 14, the Tommies earned their first-ever victory against a ranked team in the Division I era when they beat Michigan Tech 3-2 in Houghton, Mich., to earn a road split – one of the toughest arenas to … Read more
As we creep closer and closer to conference tournament time, these league games start to mean more and more now that pairwise and the overall tournament outlook is coming together in the final stretch. This week, some top teams continued to roll through their schedule, while one team played spoiler and forced an upset. Amherst … Read more
My brother Mike is a big reason why I’m involved with college hockey. He’s been at Brown University since his days as an undergraduate student in the late 1990s, and after a year working as a sports information intern with the athletics department, he started broadcasting for the Bears as part of what eventually became … Read more
How strange is this season of Big Ten hockey? If the season were to end today, five of the conference’s seven teams would play in the NCAA tournament. Minnesota would be the overall No. 1 seed and Penn State would likely be the top seed in its regional. How strange? Of the five Big Ten … Read more
To say that the season to date for New Hampshire has been a difficult one is an understatement. The Wildcats began the year with two wins at Clarkson and St. Lawrence, a notably tough series over the year. But from that point, UNH had but a single win – a late-October win over Army West … Read more
In 2007, I attended my first Sacred Heart game as part of Rochester Institute of Technology’s radio broadcasting crew. The game was played at SHU’s home rink at the time, the Milford Ice Pavilion. The place, to be kind, wasn’t up to the standards of a Division I Hockey program. In 2016, SHU upgraded and … Read more
If you’ve ever followed Bowling Green’s hockey social media account, you’ll notice an odd tradition. They call it “The Diamond Cutter:” Every time the Falcons complete a weekend series sweep, longtime BGSU equipment manager Scott “Scooter” Jess leaps off a cooler in the locker room and does a wrestling move inspired by former WWE and … Read more
It’s usually before Christmas, not after, when you hear about missing front teeth. Don’t tell Colorado College freshman goaltender Kaidan Mbereko about that, though, or Tigers coach and former Union and professional goalie Kris Mayotte. They’ve now both lost teeth during games, after getting hit in just the right spots on their masks. Mbereko and … Read more
With all eyes on the IIHF World Junior Championship tournament last week and the young Big Ten talent that was on display there, it’s easy to see why Minnesota is the top team in the conference and why Michigan looks very much like it will be in the NCAA tournament mix yet again. Both the … Read more