This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
Getting Better All the Time Things are looking up in Springfield. AIC pulled off its first conference sweep in almost two years last weekend, defeating Canisius 3-1 and 4-2. It took 13 games last season for the Yellow Jackets to get their first point; they already have five this season and are just two points … Read more
Dave Hendrickson is not available to write the Hockey East column this week. For most of us, Thanksgiving is a nice day to be spent enjoying a big meal with family. For Dave, Thanksgiving is a two-week event in which he consumes meals each day that are as big as a family. Puppy Uppers Don’t … Read more
Knights’ Big Nights Maybe it wasn’t the greatest win in the six year history of Clarkson women’s hockey. But last weekend’s 3-2 triumph over Mercyhurst ranks as a close second. Clarkson wrapped up a highly successful two game set with the Lakers, then ranked No. 2, with a tie and a win to show for … Read more
The Semi-Awful Truth In theory, someone will pick up some points in the CCHA this week. It has to happen. Sure, I know that Earth is round, that illness isn’t caused by an imbalance of humors and that gazing into an emerald won’t make your eyesight perfect (although I’d be willing to put that idea … Read more
First off, Happy Thanksgiving! Everyone starts to reflect this time of year and begins to realize what they are most thankful for. Maybe it’s health, a new job or even additions to the family. Heck, even the CHA has lots to give thanks for this time of year, even if the league may go kaput … Read more
I was going to say I’ll try to keep this short this week, but holidays are no excuse; the column must go on, and go on as usual. Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week Red Baron WCHA Offensive Player of the Week: Chad Rau, Colorado College. Why: Had four points (3g, 1a) including … Read more
To catch up on the big stories around the league: Clarkson is now up to 376 days without a home loss, Harvard is pretty good, Colgate finally won, Quinnipiac is scoring, St. Lawrence isn’t, the league might actually be earning some respect, and it’s time for Non-Conference Weekend! Whew. On to the minutiae. It’s What … Read more
Clarkson: No, of course I don’t want to break up! It’s just … Colgate: Then what is it? Why are you pulling away so much, so soon? I don’t understand! Clarkson: I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be mean here … Colgate: It’s too early for this! We are destined to be so much more … Read more
College Hockey America is hardly the ugly stepchild of the college hockey community when it comes to moving its players onto professional hockey in North America. In taking a look at current rosters of six minor leagues (American Hockey League, ECHL, Central Hockey League, International Hockey League, Southern Professional Hockey League and the new Mid-Atlantic … Read more
Showdown in Vermont This weekend, all eyes will be on Middlebury, Vt., as Plattsburgh, Elmira, and Williams will all come to town in search of the 2007 Middlebury Tournament Championship. This will be the third annual tournament involving the quartet. Plattsburgh and Middlebury created the idea and share hosting rights every other season. “We started … Read more
Splitsville There have been 12 weekend series so far this season in Atlantic Hockey, and in all but two, both teams have come away with points. Seven series have ended in splits, with the other three resulting in one team taking three points in the two games. “You have to take points every weekend to … Read more
Chatter Is the sky falling? Can the center hold? For the first time in living memory — okay, so perhaps not that long, but you know what I mean — the top three spots in the USCHO.com/CSTV Division I Men’s Poll belong to the CCHA. Honestly, on the heels of the second Red Sox World … Read more
The quick breakdown: The Gophers finally won, the Sioux are playing like they usually do this time of year, the Badgers have an offense, the Sioux and Badgers renewed their rivalry and the Tigers found someone to fill Zaba’s skates with great success. Red Baron Pizza WCHA Players of the Week Red Baron WCHA Offensive … Read more
Not Your Father’s League Hockey East has long prided itself on its top-to-bottom strength, but the fearsome foursome of Boston College, Boston University, Maine and New Hampshire has been a tough nut to crack at the top. Yet if the season’s opening night was a stunner as only Merrimack emerged with a win, so too … Read more
Road sweet home They say you can’t go home again, but Hilary Knight begs to differ. The sensational Wisconsin freshman forward will return to her native New Hampshire with the rest of the No. 1-ranked Badgers for a two-game weekend showdown with No. 3 UNH. “I’m very excited,†said Knight, who was bred in the … Read more
Atop The League Many people, yours truly included, expected Maine to get off to a slow start this year. In addition to graduating stalwart defenseman Mike Lundin, the Black Bears lost six of their eight top-scoring forwards. You don’t lose that much firepower without a few resulting bumps in the road. So when Maine opened … Read more
Not a Cliché Coaches in Atlantic Hockey constantly talk about the balance in their league — how “on any given night …”. Well, we’re barely into the season, with each team playing anywhere from two to five league games, and everybody already has at least one loss in league play. “Every team has good goaltending … Read more
Let’s play word-association. Albany … tournament. Daylight savings … glorious. Season … winter. Harvard … Crimson. ECAC Hockey … parity. Talk to any coach in the league for more than two minutes, and I’d bet you top dollar (Canadian now, please) that he would say that word. To put it simply, out of 13 league … Read more
No bull about it… …these girls can play. When you think of first-year programs, you normally think of sub-par records for a few seasons while the players get their feet wet and experience playing collegiate hockey, right? Well, Adrian College, located a little over an hour away from Detroit in southern Michigan, is proving that … Read more
We’ve finally completed our first full weekend of WCHA action (well, save for Minnesota State’s weekend against Alabama-Huntsville, of course) and at the end of it, we’ve got some surprises. Granted, it’s still early (how many times have I said that so far?), but by this point in the season, who would have expected Michigan … Read more