This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
Giving Thanks I was all set to do the typical “What teams have to be thankful for” column this week when I was alerted to a couple of stories that transcend college hockey. Thanks to Eric Melanson, Athletic Communications Assistant at Army, and Greg Royce, Sports Information Director at AIC, for their assistance with this … Read more
Dave Hendrickson is not available this week because he is facing off against international competitive eating champions Takero Kobayashi and Sonya Thomas (“The Black Widow”) to see who can consume the most turkey in the course of one period of hockey. Gobble, gobble, Dave! Catamounts On The Climb Back on November 4, Vermont had a … Read more
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody; here’s hoping it’s the tryptophan that’s putting you to sleep, and not the hockey. Or the hockey coverage. Home %&#@ Home… Let me know when you begin to see a pattern emerging here. Last weekend, the host teams went 3-5-0 in league play for the second consecutive week. The visitors, as a … Read more
Grab a Cup of Coffee … … because I’m chatty this week. Long-suffering fans know what this means: even more rambling than usual, some musing, a few anecdotes, and a reference to at least one cat. It’s Thanksgiving Day as I put the finishing touches on this column, in between catching glimpses of the all-day … Read more
Off the Top of My Head • What a weekend for Alaska-Anchorage. Not only did the Seawolves sweep a top-five team, but the two wins gave them six on the year — matching the number they put up all of last year. • Michigan Tech has to be pleased that it won’t have to make … Read more
After an impressive opening weekend against the MIAC, the NCHA followed up with an even more dominating performance last weekend. Refusing to take the boot off the throat of the MIAC, NCHA teams went a combined 13-3 on the weekend, running their overall Interlock record to 25-6-1. On the tails of the dominant weekend, seven … Read more
Deja Vu Is it last season all over again? For five of the six teams, it just might be. Every team except for Neumann has the exact same league record now as it did at this point of the season last year. Manhattanville and Utica are off to 2-0 starts — just like last year … Read more
As the line from Wayne’s World goes — Game On! It’s opening night on Friday for the last two leagues to start the 2006-2007 season and the action should be exciting from the first games forward in the interlocking schedule between the two conferences. At this point after about two weeks of practices, coaches have … Read more
Meltdown Plattsburgh has never finished below .500 in the SUNYAC. Not once. The closest they have come was two years ago when they ended up 7-7. Many of the Cardinals’ faithful must be wondering if this is the year a non-winning conference record finally occurs. Recently, they don’t seem to be skating on solid ice. … Read more
Second go-round not much better for the MIAC The annual MIAC/NCHA battle wasn’t much of a battle this year. In the first weekend of play, the NCHA went 12-5-1 against the MIAC, outscoring its Minnesota foes 72-48 in the process. The second weekend was just as bad for the MIAC as the NCHA went 13-3-0, … Read more
Rob Sirianni was born on Halloween 23 years ago, but throughout his minor, junior and college careers, the Bemidji State senior has never had to mask his offensive talent. Though he only has one goal through eight games, no one is worried. Not Sirianni. Not BSU head coach Tom Serratore. “When we need a goal, … Read more
I think I might just start deciding my weekly predictions with coin flips. That quarter can’t be any worse at it than I am. Once more, the home teams did me in. The host schools again failed to hold serve last weekend in what is traditionally a very home-friendly league. The visitors, as a collective, … Read more
Downtime The Mercyhurst Lakers had last weekend off, and coach Rick Gotkin can’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. His team is off to a 2-6 start, and has had almost two weeks to dwell on an epic collapse at Sacred Heart, where the Lakers surrendered four goals in the … Read more
Off the Top of My Head • Two games, 16 goals and two ties? I thought that was crazy enough for the series between Minnesota and St. Cloud State, but a quick look at the box scores shows 15 different scorers! Congratulations to Minnesota’s Jay Barriball, the only one to find the back of the … Read more
The Sky Isn’t Falling Based on some reactions to Boston College’s 6-3 start, you’d think the Eagles are on the brink of disaster. While it’s true that there have been some surprising losses, most notably the lopsided scores in Notre Dame’s 7-1 win and Harvard’s 4-0 shutout, there isn’t a team in college hockey that … Read more
Sure, They Can Beat the U.S. Armed Forces, but Can They Take the Spartans? It’s hard to avoid the cliché about smiling Irish eyes this season, since Notre Dame hockey has emerged from a Van Winkle-like slumber and found itself starting faster than it has since 1998-99, with an 8-1-1 record and No. 5 ranking. … Read more
With every NCHA team finally hitting the ice last weekend some of the preseason questions surrounding the league are slowly beginning to be answered. The first of which is: Is the league really as deep as many are making it out to be? As mentioned last week, the NCHA has dominated the MIAC for the … Read more
Glass Palace After years of fans and players freezing from the cold wind blowing off of Seneca Lake, the enclosure of the Geneva Recreation Center, home of the Hobart Statesmen, is actually going to happen. The final piece of funding fell in to place on Nov. 1 when a $350,000 grant from the New York … Read more
Revolving Door Hockey officials are clamping down again. It was quite evident in the first full weekend of conference play. In eight games, only six times did teams not go into double digits with penalties. Its effect was also evident on the scoreboard. Out of the 55 goals scored, 24 of those were scored on … Read more
Tough opening weekend In the first weekend of play, the MIAC went 5-12-1 and was out-scored 72-48 by its NCHA foes. Granted, the NCHA had a few games experience under its belt, plus the advantage of playing 15 of those games at home. The biggest thing to notice from the games however was the number … Read more