This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
One more week to go in the NCHA and two in the MCHA, and despite the NCHA big dogs beating up on each other a bit not much has changed in terms of the national scene. UW-Stout’s loss to UW-Superior dropped them out of the top spot in the PWR, but only down to No. … Read more
The Oswego Situation Snow began to fall this past Sunday evening, and it has not stopped. As of Noon on Thursday, Oswego had accumulated 71″. And there’s no end in sight. As of the writing of this column, all athletic events in Oswego are still on. They will reevaluate the situation early Friday afternoon. If … Read more
Off The Top Of My Head All right, brace yourselves. There is now less than one month until the final week of the WCHA regular season schedule and we have plenty yet to figure out: Will North Dakota hang on to the final home-ice spot? Will teams continue to beat up on each other and … Read more
Things are really getting tight now in the East. When you look at both leagues, the separation from first to sixth is only three points in the East and just six points in the NESCAC conference. That means with just four games remaining in the regular season that everything is up for grabs in terms … Read more
Big Sweep for Auggies Coming off its first sweep of St. John’s since the 1998-1999 season, Augsburg is in prime position to reach the MIAC playoffs for the first time since the 2002-2003 season. With just two wins in eight conference games, but enough ties to start a kissing booth with their sisters, the Auggies … Read more
Freaky Friday Does anybody want to win this thing? Based on last Friday’s results, one wonders. Frontrunners RIT, Sacred Heart and Air Force all lost last Friday, maintaining the status quo. RIT broke through on Saturday, and Army tied Holy Cross as well. But in total, the top four teams in the league gained just … Read more
Who’s Your Father? Perhaps the more appropriate question, given that we’re talking about Notre Dame here. For the first time ever, the Irish are ranked first in the nation — and not just by USCHO, but by the other guys who poll, too. It is not, apparently, enough for some of the Irish faithful … … Read more
Aaaand here they come, around the bend and down the stretch! Saints in the lead by a nose, but the Bobcats are a half-step back. Golden Knights are nipping at the ‘Cats tails, and the Red and Green are neck-and-neck for fourth. It’s like rush hour out there, all jammed between the 23- and 12-point … Read more
A Little Light After being pounded in its previous three league games by a combined score of 32-0, it would have been understandable if Lebanon Valley went in to The Cooler at Hobart last weekend down and out. But the reality couldn’t be farther from the truth. The Flying Dutchmen have been able to keep … Read more
Take a look at a Robert Morris scoresheet from the previous two seasons and one name sticks out. Christian Boucher’s name comes up on the majority of the box scores as the Colonials’ starting goaltender. Now, take a look at the last month’s worth of RMU scoresheets and Boucher’s name might not be as prominent. … Read more
Beanpot: Same Old, Same Old Once again, Boston University and Boston College will face off against each other in the Beanpot championship game. The last time that the two archrivals didn’t face each other for the title — other than those years when it was impossible because they met in the opening round, of course … Read more
Despite the fact that the top of the standings are still crowded in the ECAC NE — with Curry and UMass Dartmouth both with 20 points — there are some teams looking up from the bottom, and that’s our focus this week. In the Northeast-10, Framingham State College is still looking for its first league … Read more
Groundhog Day! Pretty sure that most teams are hoping to see their shadow today and extend winter for another six weeks! More winter should mean some more hockey and great hockey at that coming into the playoffs. Hard to believe there are only three weeks left in the regular season but if you are going … Read more
Groundhog Day! Pretty sure that most teams are hoping to see their shadow today and extend winter for another six weeks! More winter should mean some more hockey and great hockey at that coming into the playoffs. Hard to believe there are only three weeks left in the regular season but if you are going … Read more
The Perfect Combination Last week in my On The Periphery section, I complained about how the All-Star game is missing a key component of what makes hockey so exciting. This past Saturday, I watched a game that was everything hockey is supposed to be. It was a prime example of speed and force in just … Read more
Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’ The Neumann Knights keep rolling through league play. Tied for first with Manhattanville, Neumann is currently riding a three game winning streak after losing its only league contest to Utica four weeks ago. WILLIAMS “It’s definitely not easy,” said Neumann coach Dennis Williams. “At any point, if you lose two you are … Read more
With another week in the books, the NCHA still looks to be in good shape when it comes to positioning for the NCAA tournament, as four NCHA teams still reside in the top eight of the PairWise Rankings (PWR). The week did see one big change as a NCHA team now claims the top spot … Read more
Chirping is a part of hockey, especially college hockey. Most players don’t take it seriously, as the remarks are usually juvenile phrases. But when Brett McConnachie gets called “Eminem,” he takes that as a compliment. The Alabama-Huntsville senior forward is an up-and-coming rapper away from the rink and has recorded two albums under the stage … Read more
Just for something a little bit different, the Hosts decided to show up and throw their weight around this week. The home sides went 5-4-2 for only their third victorious column update of the season. St. Lawrence (2-0), Colgate (1-0) and Cornell (1-0) were perfect on friendly ice, while Clarkson (1-0-1) and Quinnipiac (0-0-1) escaped … Read more
Off the Top of My Head • There is a stunning resemblance between last year’s Wisconsin team and this year’s Minnesota squad as we head into what I’m dubbing WCHA men’s hockey “Bracket-Buster Weekend.” Same Story, Different Team? The Minnesota Gophers are starting to look a lot like the Wisconsin Badgers of the 2005-06 season. … Read more