This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
As though it weren’t enough that only half of the league has commenced the regular season, this past week only four of those six active teams played NCAA games. Time to stretch for material and lean heavy on the quotes! Oh, wait, that was supposed to be strictly internal monologue. Mile High in the Rear … Read more
A couple things stand out about Taylor Donohoe. First, at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, his size immediately makes you notice him. Secondly, he’s a western Canada native playing college hockey. The latter isn’t exactly a hot commodity in NCAA circles. But after some research several years ago, the senior Wayne State defenseman decided to go … Read more
Allow me to introduce myself. Those of you who came here expecting to see Todd Milewski’s usual weekly WCHA column, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but he has passed the baton. If you are an avid reader of the site, you may remember me as the arena reporter for Wisconsin for the past few seasons. … Read more
One More Time! Welcome back, my friends, to the column that never ends. A year ago, the season’s first missive celebrated USCHO’s 10-year anniversary with a top 10 list of reasons why the year promised to be a good one. We’ll reprise that theme to open this season, but decline to move to a Top … Read more
Welcome Back With the first two weeks of the season in the books, we’ve had just two conference tilts so far, featuring the majority of teams in non-league contests against teams from the “Big Four” conferences. Unfortunately, AHA teams are just 1-15-2 so far in nonconference games. One of the new kids on the block, … Read more
Hi, everybody. But enough about me, there’s hockey afoot! The State Of The League Two weeks into the season, the usual suspects are off and running. The non-foliage-affilated sextet of Clarkson, Colgate, Quinnipiac, RPI, St. Lawrence and Union tumbled — and in some cases stumbled — out of the gate to a collective 10-6-3 record. … Read more
On Your Mark, Get Set… …speculate! Lake Superior State and Western Michigan share first place with Michigan State and Ohio State, Alaska is converting power plays at a 44.4 percent clip, and Bowling Green’s penalty kill is 100 percent. I love this time of year. One of the best ways to while away a minute … Read more
Though only a couple hundred fans saw it in person, Bemidji State won the CHA tournament championship for the second season in a row last weekend in Detroit over a very game Niagara squad. In doing so, the Beavers became the first team to qualify for the NCAA tournament by virtue of the CHA champion’s … Read more
Could You Imagine? Want to see the college hockey world turn upside down? Well, if Bentley beats Holy Cross for the Atlantic Hockey championship this Saturday night, you may just see that. Though the fourth-seeded Falcons are a bit of an underdog, a title win over the Crusaders could stop a lot of hearts as … Read more
Bye, Bye Season When viewed in a certain light, the new format for the CCHA playoffs is a complete success. All four teams with first-round byes advanced, although each had to work to get to Joe Louis Arena this weekend. “We know these four teams worked very hard during the season to get that bye,” … Read more
A Fantastic Finale The Hockey East season looks like it’ll go out with a bang. The league’s four perennial powerhouses — Boston University, Maine, Boston College and New Hampshire — will be squaring off for all the marbles. “It’s the usual suspects,” BU coach Jack Parker says. “All of us were fortunate to get [to … Read more
The ECACHL tournament is down to its final four teams, and unsurprisingly the survivors were the four teams which secured first-round byes. That fact speaks to the importance of getting the bye, according to Colgate coach Don Vaughan. Two of the remaining teams, Dartmouth and Cornell, swept their opponents last week — although Cornell’s pair … Read more
First things first: • We’ve had time to digest that two-time defending champion Denver isn’t going to be around when the NCAA tournament field of 16 is announced on Sunday. But what of Matt Carle’s candidacy for the Hobey Baker Award? For the record, two players from teams that didn’t make the NCAA tournament have … Read more
It’s tournament time in the Motor City! This weekend, Wayne State will host the seventh annual CHA tournament at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum. As the venue is also hosting the women’s portion of the tournament, it’s the first time in college hockey history that the men’s and women’s tournament titles will be decided at … Read more
Too Close for Comfort Several leagues had close races to the finish this season. None, though, could touch Atlantic Hockey. It took the final minutes of the final games of the regular season this past Saturday night in order for the league champion to be crowned. It was a Pierre Napert-Frenette goal with 1:03 remaining … Read more
A wild weekend full of intense overtime action and surprising upsets marked the start of the ECACHL Tournament; in only one series did the higher seed sweep its opponents, and the series that is usually judged to be the least competitive — the No. 5 versus No. 12 series — turned out to be the … Read more
First things first: • In the 25 WCHA first-round playoff series over the last five years, the home team has advanced 23 times. This may be a time of increasing parity in the league in the regular season, but that hasn’t carried over to the playoffs. • Even more stunning than both Minnesota-Duluth and Michigan … Read more
Dave Hendrickson is not available this week because he is recovering from stomach-stapling surgery. This procedure was paid for by Hockey East and the NCAA, which conducted a cost-benefit analysis and determined that the cost of the surgery would be more than offset by the savings accrued during the impending media buffets during the Hockey … Read more
Two and Out, and Two to Go Who knew that we’d all have last Sunday night off? Apparently, the Bulldogs, Broncos, Nanooks, and Mavericks knew. There were two official upsets in the first round of the CCHA playoffs, but only one of them was a genuine surprise. The Western Michigan Broncos beat the Lake Superior … Read more
Who’s King Of The Hill? It’s that time of year when ballots start circulating so here’s a look at the major awards from this writer’s point of view. Player Of The Year Can there be any doubt that the landslide winner of this award is Chris Collins? The senior is tied for second in the … Read more