This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
First Congratulations to Lake Superior State. With an uncharacteristic offensive output, the Lakers beat the visiting Bowling Green Falcons, 4-1, Saturday night, to claim their first CCHA victory of the season. Saturday night’s hero was Simon Gysbers, a sophomore defenseman who had the offensive game of his life. Gysbers had a goal and three assists … Read more
What did I say last week about things looking up at the U, if only for a weekend? Yeah, maybe it was only for that weekend. Still, the Gophers are starting to score a bit more per game, so they may be sloooowly turning the corner. Now if they could only hold a lead … … Read more
[EDITOR’S NOTE: We apologize for the significant tardiness with which the column was posted. The delay was a combination of technical and human error.] Sure, the price of gasoline is headed towards $4 per gallon, which in these parts will almost buy you a gallon of milk. And sure, jumping on an airplane these days … Read more
Midterm Examination I thought I had done a pretty thorough job in my column of two weeks ago, what with quotes from four different Hockey East coaches, but last week Dave Hendrickson wasn’t content to one-up me… he had to go and six-up me! The result was probably the first-ever Hockey East column with quotes … Read more
They say that the keys to winning in ECAC Hockey are to take care of your home games, and to take advantage of your power plays. So who’s doing both? Cornell — no surprise there — holds the longest current home unbeaten streak in the league. Granted, it’s only four games, so it doesn’t compare … Read more
Vote for Hobey — Fact and Fiction For the past several seasons, the Hobey Baker Foundation has run a promotion called “Vote for Hobey,” where the fans can cast ballots for their favorite candidate. It’s a good idea that drives traffic to the Hobey Baker website, drawing attention to the award (and the merchandise). There … Read more
The late, great Harry Nilsson once wrote a tune about “one” being the loneliest number. Applied to women’s hockey (and what a leap that is), that number would be four. As in the small number of programs that make up College Hockey America. It begs such musical questions as, “When is a League Not a … Read more
A Tale of Two Home Games Quinnipiac saw two-goal first-period leads disappear by the final horn in each of its two games last weekend. Fortunately for the Bobcats, they didn’t lose either game. Playing host to Harvard on Friday night, the ‘Cats jumped all over the Crimson and goaltender Kyle Richter with three first-period goals … Read more
There is still hope in Bemidji. All the Beavers need now is a rink. Or so it seems. Bemidji State president Jon Quistgaard will still go through with his presentation to the WCHA on Jan. 13 with hopes of being admitted to the conference, even though a couple snags have hit the proposal for the … Read more
Home Cooking Canisius College had five home wins by this time last season, and has four so far this year. The big difference is that last year the Griffs had six home losses to go with those five wins, while this time around they’re undefeated at home at 4-0-1. While playing 16 of its first … Read more
Zero Lake Superior has three points to show for 12 CCHA games, but the last-place Lakers have yet to beat a conference opponent. On the road last weekend, the Lakers lost spectacularly to No. 10 Michigan State, 8-2, before earning — and I mean earning — a 3-3 tie the following night. After the loss, … Read more
And Around The League We Go… It isn’t often that we get a chance to cover all the teams in one column, but here’s pennace for all the New Year’s resolutions already broken. Boston College A major catalyst for BC’s 4-0-0 December was Nathan Gerbe’s 16 points. No, that’s not a misprint: 16 points in … Read more
Division-III women’s hockey was back in full force this past week with most of the teams returning to action to kick off the 2008 portions of their schedules. Some of the highlights of the first week of hockey in the new year were Bowdoin turning things around and getting their first win of the season … Read more
Doth the new year kill the column jinx? After I talk about possible troubles concerning the Gophers and the Tigers, both teams swept their weekend series. After talking with Coach Scott Owens last week, I felt the Tigers might be okay, but held off judgment until the weekend series, where they went ahead and swept … Read more
NESCAC/ECAC West Face-Off This weekend, RIT and Utica will kick-off the 2008 portions of their seasons on the road against some very stiff competition. The teams? Oh, you know, just two of last year’s Frozen Four competitors in Amherst and Middlebury. Saturday, the fourth-ranked Amherst Lady Jeffs will host the Utica Pioneers and third-ranked Middlebury … Read more
As the days now accumulate in 2008 and a second chance and fresh start arrives for some of the D-III teams, lets take a look back at the 2007 portion of this season and relive some of the memories from a great semester of women’s hockey. The season started out innocently enough with traditional powers … Read more
Hockey, perhaps more than any other sport, has always been a family affair. For as long as dads have been constructing backyard rinks, and moms have been trudging through the frozen tundra to haul carloads of kids to 4 a.m. practices, hockey has been a centerpiece of the family experience. Through the ages, sibling rivalries … Read more
Sacred Moments Lauren Fontaine picked up the puck at the center ice spot, picked up steam as she hit the Boston University blue line, then (so it seemed, anyway) calmly picked the upper right corner behind Terrier goaltender Melissa Haber. And anyone who happened to be inside Walter Brown Arena last Saturday, picked the right … Read more
Letters To Santa Once again, we’ve intercepted mail from Hockey East arenas to the North Pole and are sharing them with you. On Northeastern stationery: Greg Cronin here, Santa. I might have been a little curt with you at this time last year, and I guess I should explain. We had a killer schedule to … Read more
Each CHA team has a need as the second half will be here soon enough. What better time to wish for something than the holiday season? Alabama-Huntsville — Some wins would be nice to keep coach Danton Cole with a full head of non-gray hair. Maybe the talent is there for the Chargers, but no … Read more