This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
Midway Madness It’s the holiday season once again and the teams in the West have wrapped up an exciting first half of hockey. After a bumpy start to the season, things have started to smooth out and the perennial powers are sitting on their lofty perch atop the NCHA, MIAC and MCHA. But none of … Read more
Even though Alabama-Huntsville defenseman Mike Salekin had his career-best four-game point-scoring streak snapped Saturday, all that means is Salekin is looking to start a new streak the next time UAH steps onto the ice. Salekin is seeing an upgraded role on the Chargers this season after a 10-point campaign a year ago. That was after … Read more
Let It Snow It’s raining here in Columbus. Apparently, the local weather — like the local college hockey team — cannot decide what it is supposed to be. I was going to put together a midseason report card for each team in the league, but after grading 60 final exams and 60 essays, I didn’t … Read more
When January is drawing to a close, a good barometer for the standings in the ECACHL could include a quick look at the results from New Hampshire. Currently the No. 12 team in the nation, the Wildcats will face four ECACHL teams before January ends and the failure or success of some of the league’s … Read more
Vermont And The Hockey East Schedule All but the newest Hockey East fans can recall the scheduling problems the league faced in past years with an odd number of teams. Down the stretch, one school was inevitably the odd man out, sitting out a weekend or playing at most one game at a time when … Read more
The Western Jinx Only one thing is relatively certain in Division III West Region hockey; if I write about a team in one of my columns, odds are they are going to have a terrible weekend. This theory does not apply to the conference previews, but to my first two columns. In the first column, … Read more
A Tale of Two Teams There are 118 road miles and eight points separating the first-place Miami RedHawks and the second-place Ohio State Buckeyes on this, the last weekend of play before each team arrives in Columbus for the Ohio Hockey Classic later this month. There are six points separating the Buckeyes from the last-place … Read more
First things first: • After Wisconsin’s road sweep of Minnesota last weekend, you start to wonder how long the Badgers’ unbeaten streak could go. It’s at 14 now, and they’ll be heavy favorites to make it 16 this weekend with Michigan Tech in town. • Ten players from the WCHA will play for the United … Read more
365 Days of Hell When Saturday arrives, those who follow Canisius hockey may want to light a candle, do some sort of chant. Anything that might move the black cloud from over the school’s head. Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the firing of coach Brian Cavanaugh. Since that day, the Griffs program has been … Read more
Having a player come home to play college hockey is becoming commonplace in the game these days, and it’s on display twice as much in Detroit as Adam and Matt Krug are teammates on Wayne State. Adam, a sophomore forward, and Matt, a freshman defenseman, haven’t been teammates since the 1999-2000 school year when both … Read more
Break Up The Bengals! It is extremely difficult for any team–no matter how good they are–to take the trip all the way up to the North Country, walk into always tough Stafford Arena and difficult Maxcy Hall and beat both Plattsburgh and Potsdam in the same weekend, no matter how good or bad those teams’ … Read more
Tossing Teddys Utica head coach Gary Heenan believes that an essential ingredient to a successful hockey program is building ties with its surrounding community. Last season, while on the road recruiting, he watched as local fans threw teddy bears and other stuffed animals onto the ice following the team’s first goal, all meant to benefit a … Read more
The Unwanted Shootout Three SUNYAC teams participated in two tournaments over the holidays, and it was Brockport that came away with the best result. Though technically the Golden Eagles “lost” in the PAL Cup championship game in a shootout, their official record shows they didn’t lose a game. “Mixed feelings,” Brockport coach James Eccles said … Read more
Castleton State 3 St. Anselm’s 3 Wesleyan 6 Trinity 3 Fitchburg State 5 UMass-Dartmouth 4 Castleton State 2 Plymouth State 1 Colby 5 Nichols 4 Plymouth State 5 St. Anselm’s 4 Salem State 1 Norwich 1 Curry 4 Fitchburg State 3 For many scoreboard watchers, the beginning of the season has provided some major WOWs … Read more
For ECACHL fans, this weekend and early next week represent a great opportunity to assess four of the league’s teams from the warmth and comfort of your own living rooms. There’ll be no need for traveling, and no need for tickets because starting Saturday, December 3, three ECACHL games will be broadcast by local and … Read more
One week after proudly announcing his daughter’s engagement, Dave Hendrickson is taking the week off. After researching the cost of weddings these days, Dave is now being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. We wish him a speedy — and inexpensive — recovery. Catamount Climbers The big story in Hockey East right now has to be … Read more
Now in its seventh season, the CHA has a not-too shabby 214-297-44 record against nonconference teams, (.425 winning percentage), including this season’s 15-26-2 mark. Not bad at all for a league that has its share of critics who continually say the CHA is a pseudo-league and the sixth-best of the six Division I leagues. League … Read more
Hats Galore There is something special about a hat trick in college hockey. First of all, they aren’t all that common in Division III, unless the game is a blowout where one team puts up a double digit score. Second, the diffusion of talent across all of Division III has also resulted in scoring being … Read more
The Reason for the Season The weather has finally turned nippy, the Thanksgiving turkey is a carcass, the days shorten, and several local radio stations are playing Christmas music round the clock. This can only signal one thing: it’s time to shop. While the day after Thanksgiving, a.k.a. “Black Friday,” is touted as the single … Read more
Winning the Recruiting Battle Ask any college hockey coach. The biggest day-to-day worry generally isn’t how their team is playing on the ice. Nope, the top concern of most teams is building for the future. College hockey recruiting at the Division I level has become a business for most programs. Assistant coaches spend weeks, if … Read more