This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
Tyler Gotto came to Niagara last season as a player head coach Dave Burkholder envisioned could play in all situations and eventually run the defense from an offensive standpoint. The Calgary native made the CHA All-Rookie Team and ranked sixth in defenseman and rookie scoring (16 points) while playing in all but one game. This … Read more
“Heavy is the head that wears the crown…” Sure, let’s start out by ripping off Shakespeare. Then again, if the Bard of Avon had been watching the recent Division-I doings as they pertained to the Nation’s No. 1 ranking, he might well have summed matters up thusly. It has, after all, been a tough time … Read more
Another World The CCHA and Buckeye football are conspiring to ruin my life. The two-week on-site playoff system forces weeknight games, while Ohio State avoids playing on Saturdays when the pigskin boys are home, giving us Thursday night contests and Sunday afternoon games when the Buffalo Bills are actually on local television because they’re playing … Read more
Welcome, welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another season of chair-kicking, trash-talking, ego-deflating, weekend-ruining, zebra-hating ECAC Hockey action! Everyone’s mum before the games, so the controversy is pretty minimal so far. We’ll be sure to catch up with the most loquacious personalities afterwards, though. Big Greenhorns Dartmouth is a little wet behind the ears this season … Read more
Big Orange There were a lot of unknowns coming into last Saturday’s game between RIT and Cornell at Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena. The Tigers were 0-2, coming of a disappointing home opener and facing a ranked opponent. Cornell was playing its first official game of the season. And for the Tigers, playing in that building … Read more
When Ryan Cruthers transferred from Army to Robert Morris two years ago, RMU head coach Derek Schooley hoped the talented forward could add to the Colonials’ offense and put up some decent numbers. Are 17 goals decent enough for you? Cruthers popped 17 (including nine on the power play) and added 20 assists last year … Read more
Dave Hendrickson is not available to write the Hockey East column this week. To raise awareness regarding world hunger, Dave is attempting to eat enough to sustain one human being for a whole year in the two weeks between his last column and his next column. The Spirit of ’76 You’d have to go back … Read more
Baby Steps If we’re going by factual errors, I only had one last week — I mistakenly had Kyle Turris as a potential first-round draft pick when, in fact, he already was drafted. Oops. If we want to get technical about things, I was half-right — he was a first-round pick as in a third-overall … Read more
It’s Alive! It’s Aliiiiiive! Collectively, they are The Thing that Wouldn’t Die. Tales of the Michigan Wolverines’ demise this season — or at least their descent to the realm of the mere mortals — seem a bit exaggerated. Picked in both the CCHA media and coaches preseason polls to finish fourth, the Wolverines are ranked … Read more
Worst. Beginning. Ever. I first want to apologize for the mistakes in the last column, particularly those regarding Andrew Gordon of St. Cloud State and the mishap about Wisconsin in the sidebar. Paraphrasing the Guinness commercials: “Factual errors in a first column? BRILLIANT!” That being said, thank you for all the e-mails pointing out said … Read more
It’s in the Stars, Again An escaped prisoner is captured 28 years later. A woman receives her wedding photos 27 years after her big day, when the photographer surprises her at her place of work after cleaning house and finding the pics. An 80-year-old Japanese man receives a postcard sent 64 years earlier. The Red … Read more
It’s long been a topic of discussion in College Hockey America circles. Does the CHA have a future? The league has never had a steady core of teams and since the inception of the league in 1999, Army, Findlay, Air Force and, at the end of this season, Wayne State will all have fled the … Read more
Flying High In its opening weekend, Atlantic Hockey went 0-9-1 in non-conference play. This past weekend, AHA teams were a more respectable 4-9 if you count Canisius’ exhibition win over Manitoba in the consolation game of the Maverick Stampede tournament. Teams again came close in other contests, with Sacred Heart losing 1-0 in overtime at … Read more
Congrats To Umile Congratulations to New Hampshire coach Dick Umile on his 400th win. One of the class acts in the sport, Umile has his Wildcats in the thick of things year in and year out. Perhaps making the win even more satisfying was that it came over rival Boston University and in its barn, … Read more
There’s a shocker; Clarkson is on top of the standings. But for a real surprise, Quinnipiac scored twice as many goals — 10 — in its shutout exhibition win than it has in three games of NCAA competition since. The Big Red hope the same affliction doesn’t hit their squad, after an 8-0 win over … Read more
We Are the Champions “It’s kind of the worst nightmare,” said Michigan State head coach Rick Comley after Saturday’s loss to North Dakota. “It’s what you fear after six months of people patting you on the back and then you come in here and play a team of that caliber.” It was not the way … Read more
The Basics Hi, my name is Theresa and I’m a hockey dork. With that out of the way, I’d first like to thank the powers that be at USCHO.com for giving me the opportunity to cover the WCHA this season. If I can do half as well as those before me, I’ll count this season … Read more
Moral Victories … … are usually still losses. Or in the case of Canisius’ rally against St. Cloud last Saturday, a tie. At the beginning of this season, commissioner Bob DeGregorio and several coaches told me that the time for moral victories — coming close against teams from the “Big Four” conferences — was over, … Read more
Well it’s about darned time. The 2007-2008 college hockey season is back in full swing, and there are more than a couple teams in ECAC Hockey who are eyeing big returns on the heels of last season’s successes … or failures. Early Risers The non-Ivy programs have all played their season openers, and while the … Read more
Friday The 13th… In Everything But Number Friday. October 12, 2007 7:00 p.m. It’s opening night for Hockey East, a show that’s about to begin its 24th season. Phantom of the Opera, Broadway’s longevity king, is a baby by comparison. Chris Terreri, Tim Army and Peter Taglianetti were leading Providence to the inaugural league title … Read more