This Week

This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division

This Week in Hockey East: Providence freshman Chmelar making noise in first year with Friars, even if name pronunciation is debatable

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Chem-el-ar. That’s the way pronunciations seemingly make sense if you’re an American, even if it’s incorrect. Hem-el-ash. Em-el-ash. Ell-ash. Il-ash. All of those pronunciations seem to have been used over the last few weeks for Jaroslav Chmelar (answer: the correct pronunciation is him-ELL-ahsh), a 6-foot-4 rookie at Providence who was one of the best players … Read more

This Week in ECAC Hockey: With Pecknold back behind Quinnipiac bench, wins keep coming for nation’s top-ranked team

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In 1994, Quinnipiac hired Rand Pecknold to replace Jim Armstrong as the head coach of its Division II hockey program. The assistant coach at Connecticut College, Pecknold won the 1990 ECAC South championship as part of a career spent skating as both a forward and a defenseman. He had never been a head coach, but … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: No satisfaction for Omaha with Mavericks aiming for higher goals in second half of ’22-23 campaign

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It’s been a mixed bag of a season so far for Omaha, but entering the second half, coach Mike Gabinet is taking a glass-half-full approach. Half the NCHC had last week off, including Omaha (9-9-2), and that might’ve been a good thing for the Mavs following a tough home series Dec. 30-31 against nonconference foe … Read more

This Week in CCHA Hockey: Speed, willingness to adjust to change big part of Ferris State’s MacLaren succeeding on Bulldogs’ back end

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The knot in his stomach when Brenden MacLaren initially took the ice as a defenseman in a real college game is something that he won’t easily forget. “I remember my first couple games there were a couple times where I’m like, ‘Holy crap, there’s a forward on Mankato ripping full speed down the ice at … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Dawning on retirement as conference commissioner, DeGregorio reflects on accomplishments over years

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Last April, Atlantic Hockey commissioner Bob DeGregorio announced that this season, his 20th, would be his last at the helm. He will also retire as commissioner of the College Hockey America women’s conference, which he has led for 13 years. At age 76, and after 40 years in college athletics, DeGregorio said that it was … Read more

D-III Women’s West Week 10 Recap: A new member of the 100-point club & a weekly recap of the west!

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The first full weekend of women’s hockey out west since the long winter break was a success, a player joined the 100-point club and there were no upsets occurring this weekend. Some teams were eased back into their playing groove as they opened up the second half with some statistically easier games compared to others … Read more

This Week in Hockey East: Playing recent game at Walter Brown Arena brings back fond memories for first-year Boston University coach Pandolfo

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Boston University coach Jay Pandolfo has a vivid memory of his playing days for the Terriers. The former All-American, Hockey East Player of the Year and member of BU’s 1995 national champion team was what by today’s standards would be considered a rarity in college hockey, choosing to stay all four years at BU and … Read more

This Week in Big Ten Hockey: With second half kicking off, conference teams starting to scoreboard watch with PairWise on collective minds

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As Jimmy Connelly and I lamented in the last TMQ of the first half of the season, once upon a time in the college hockey world, there were many significant and highly anticipated holiday tournaments. While the number of these tourneys has dwindled, the impact that any interleague play has on those who participate remains … Read more

This Week in ECAC Hockey: Princeton’s Hobey Baker Rink celebrating 100 years this weekend with Tigers men’s, women’s teams joining in recognition

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Walking into any arena in college hockey produces a certain number of expectations. A sport built around its emotion and drama now has buildings capable of manufacturing the dopamine levels required for delirious fans wanting to cheer their teams to victory, and the climate of a building is often artificially produced through lights or video … Read more

This Week in CCHA Hockey: Bemidji State looking to keep improving after getting ‘a pretty high grade’ over first half of ’22-23 season

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Tom Serratore had a bit of a sly smile on his face on Tuesday afternoon as he compared his team to another well-known Minnesota team. “Our team exceeded our expectations,” Bemidji State’s head coach said in his weekly Zoom press conference. “We’re still trying to figure out a lot about our team. We were 9-5-4 … Read more

This Week in NCHC Hockey: For Western Michigan’s Wendt, capturing GLI championship on Grand Rapids ice has special meaning

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The Great Lakes Invitational, a Michigan college hockey institution since 1965, had always been associated before this season with Detroit. Whether the tournament was held at Olympia Stadium, Joe Louis Arena, Comerica Park or Little Caesars Arena, the Motor City was perennially the four participating teams’ destination. However, when Michigan Tech announced that this year’s … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Handing out midterm awards, plus asking key questions as second half of 2022-23 season gets underway

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In the last Atlantic Hockey column, we handed out midterm grades for each Atlantic Hockey team. As we head into the second semester, what players are in the running to make the dean’s list? Here are my midterm awards. Will things change before the league names the actual winners in March? They sure will. But … Read more

This Week in CCHA Hockey: Dissecting conference’s contenders, pretenders with ’22-23 second half approaching

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It’s that time of year again. I’m not talking about the holidays. I’m talking about the end of the first half of the college hockey season, when my editors generously let me write a thousand or so words where I get to pretend like I’m Nostradamus. And, if you’ve been following the CCHA at all … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: Handing out mid-term grades to all 10 conference teams at 2022 holiday break

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With the first half of the Atlantic Hockey season in the books, let’s hand out some mid-term grades: Air Force (6-10-2, 2-7-1 AHA) Atlantic Hockey Standings: Ninth Points Per Game: 0.70 (Ninth) PairWise Ranking: 55 The Lowdown: The Falcons have some quality wins, including over Colorado College and RIT. But they’ve dropped five in a … Read more

This Week in Hockey East: Conference commish Metcalf says preconceived notions about league ‘are gone’

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We’ve reached the unofficial halfway point in the Hockey East season. Unfortunately, your usual scribe, John Doyle, is under the weather so you’re stuck with yours truly filling in to give some thoughts – with the assistance of Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf – on some of the topics around the league and college hockey. … Read more

This Week in Atlantic Hockey: After lethargic start, Army West Point making point to be team that’s ‘hard to play against’

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The first half of Army West Point’s 2022-23 season came in two parts, according to coach Brian Riley. And his team needed to go through some rough times in Part One to get to Part Two. “I saw somewhere that we have the second-youngest team in college hockey,” said Riley, in his 19th year behind … Read more

This Week in CCHA Hockey: Minnesota State, Bemidji State weekend rivalry games have implications on conference standings

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It’s a holiday tradition unlike any other: Minnesota State versus Bemidji State in mid-December for a chance at first place in the conference at the break. If this scenario sounds familiar, it’s because it’s happened before. It’s unclear if it’s some kind of grand design or just how the schedule has happened to play out, … Read more