This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
Dave Hendrickson is taking the week off to polish up his resume in light of the sudden vacancy of the Red Sox general manager position. It takes a good week to cut and paste all those “And Finally, Not That It Has Anything To Do With Anything, But…” excerpts into one semi-coherent cover letter. Debut … Read more
An Object Lesson in Five Minutes Last weekend, Michigan State traveled to Ithaca, New York, to open Cornell’s D-I season in front of the Lynah faithful. By all accounts, this was a terrific, emotionally-charged series that provided up-and-down action, great goaltending, fierce competition. The series also gave more than what was reported, and less perhaps … Read more
Blame, Burden Or Opportunity We’ve all heard by now that the CHA is running into problems in replacing Air Force, which next season will head to Atlantic Hockey as the league’s 10th member. Kennesaw State, which was a potential sixth member for the CHA, doesn’t appear ready to move to the Division I level. That … Read more
First things first: • Yes, Colorado College is the deserving No. 1 team in this week’s USCHO.com/CSTV poll. And if they survive this home weekend against St. Cloud State, next week’s trip to Wisconsin should tell us a lot about the Tigers. • The WCHA announced an extension to its deal to play the Final … Read more
One of the biggest surprises in the ECACHL last weekend was the success that the Princeton Tigers enjoyed, winning their season opener on the road in South Bend against the Fighting Irish. The Tigers were outshot 17-2 in the first period of Friday night’s 5-3 win over the Irish, largely due to the amount of … Read more
Looks like the Serratore brothers get to divide bragging rights at the family table this Thanksgiving. Last weekend, Air Force, coached by Frank Serratore, upset then-No. 15-ranked Bemidji State and brother Tom, 4-3, on Friday night in Colorado Springs. The following evening, the Beavers rebounded for a 2-1 win. Even with the loss, the Beavers … Read more
The set of games likely drawing the most attention from hockey fans around the ECACHL this weekend is the matchup in Ithaca between the Spartans of Michigan State and the Big Red of Cornell. This year’s matchup at Lynah Rink is a rematch of last season, when the Big Red traveled to East Lansing for … Read more
Perhaps it’s taken longer than he expected, but Kurt Wright is finally a senior and on schedule to graduate in May. Wright’s travels have been well documented. He started with New Hampshire in 2001, but redshirted and left after that year to transfer to Findlay. The Oilers then folded amidst budget concerns, and Wright latched … Read more
But Ann Arbor Is Miles from Punxsutawney Does Harold Ramis get royalties every time the Wolverines and Spartans meet? For the third consecutive game going back to February of last season, the famed archrivals have met on the ice and departed tied, with those pesky Spartans coming from behind in each contest to force OT. … Read more
First Impressions One new team and three new coaches. Look at their results and you’ve got four really good first impressions. Vermont, Hockey East’s new member, is now the only undefeated team in the league and has shot to 11th in the USCHO.com/CSTV poll. Last weekend, Providence, led by new coach Tim Army, stunned Massachusetts-Lowell, … Read more
First things first: • Welcome to the ranks of college hockey goal-scorers, Phil Kessel. And how’s a penalty shot for a way to score your first collegiate goal? • After some starts and stops over the last few years, instant replay is scheduled to be active at all five arenas that are hosting WCHA series … Read more
The Never-Ending Question Connecticut coach Bruce Marshall, when asked if Atlantic Hockey teams are beginning to close the gap between themselves and clubs in Hockey East, had a quick comeback. “You guys [the media] love to ask that question, don’t you?” he quipped. Truth is, the media and a lot of fans in Atlantic Hockey … Read more
While certain College Hockey America teams are making a big splash on the ice during this young season, it’s what’s happening off the ice that has many raising an eyebrow or two. With Air Force jetting (pun intended) for Atlantic Hockey next season, the CHA is in need of a replacement school to keep the … Read more
Falcons’ Fire If there were any question whether or not Bentley will be a good hockey team this year, last Friday’s game versus Air Force in the Q-Cup tournament may have been an answer. The potential trouble spot for the Falcons was goaltending entering this season. Friday, though, Ray Jean, a transfer from Maine playing … Read more
You’re The GM It never happens in college sports, of course, but is a staple of the professional scene. There’s an expansion draft to provide talent to a newly formed team. A general manager must protect those players most important to the team in terms of salary, age, position and contribution. Forgetting about salary, let’s … Read more
It’s Early, but It’s Nice Once upon a time, the CCHA was a league to be feared. As recently as the 1990s, the teams around these parts were considered among the toughest in the country, with savvy goaltending, fearsome defense, and physicality second to none. During the last five years or so, however, changes have … Read more
After two weeks of games against non-conference opponents, many of which were on the road, the ECACHL has fared well against the more-closely located competition from Atlantic Hockey or Hockey East, but has struggled against teams from the geographically distant CCHA and WCHA. “Home ice is a huge advantage in college hockey, especially in some … Read more
First things first: • Weekends like the last one, when WCHA teams combined to go 5-10-1 in non-conference games, are just payback for the Frozen Four last season. • Minnesota’s stunning opening weekend against Alaska-Fairbanks drew memories of the 2003 opening weekend, when the then-No. 1 Gophers were flat in the Maverick Stampede, losing to … Read more
Editor’s note: a previous version of this article reported on an altercation during Northern Michigan’s intrasquad scrimmage, information which has subsequently been determined to be unreliable. USCHO.com apologizes for the error. Like I Never Really Left It’s a brand-new season, but I felt as though the last one never ended, thanks to the email I … Read more
Half of the teams in the ECAC Hockey League began their season a week ago while the other half — the six ECACHL schools that are also Ivy League institutions — won’t officially take the ice for their first regular-season games until a full three weeks later. While not every conference in the country has … Read more