This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
According to the latest line chart issued by the Boston University men’s hockey team, there are 12 players on the Terriers’ roster drafted by NHL teams. So it’s interesting that the team’s top scorer does not have the logo of a pro team printed underneath his No. 37. With eight points in his last six … Read more
The University of Wisconsin – River Falls made the headlines this weekend after their big tournament victory in the annual Cardinal/Panther Classic held this year in Plattsburgh, NY. There weren’t many games played by west teams this weekend, none holding a large amount of significance besides UWRF. Some teams played earlier this week on … Read more
Former North Dakota goaltender and 2011 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Ed Belfour got a chance last week to strap on the pads and don the colors of one of his old teams. And not for the first time. In 2017, Belfour participated in a “One Last Shift” pregame ceremony with the Chicago Blackhawks, the … Read more
It’s been a strange couple of years for Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley. On May 26, 2021, with no warning, RMU’s president and board announced that effective immediately, it was canceling their men’s and women’s hockey programs. Coaches, players, alumni, and fans were in shock. But quickly, Schooley helped lead a massive effort to restore … Read more
In what their head coach called a “gutsy” effort, Michigan Tech’s victory over St. Thomas on Saturday night was as satisfying as they come. “Gutsy effort by our guys. You like every win, but you like some more than others,” MTU coach Joe Shawhan said in his postgame comments after Tech survived for a 4-3 … Read more
A little under a decade ago, old friend and former colleague Dave Hendrickson created a list of 20 things that made him thankful about covering Hockey East. It was a departure from the usual format of how we do our weekly columns, but it struck a chord with me at a time when I was … Read more
By every possible measure, the past seven days have been extraordinary for Big Ten hockey. Minnesota swept Michigan at Yost Ice Arena. Michigan State – the team picked by coaches’ preseason to finish last – split a pair of road games against Penn State, and the Spartans sit in second place, one point behind the … Read more
Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate. Another week of D-III Women’s hockey has wrapped up on the eastern front and we’re moving into an exciting time of the season, holiday tournaments and NESCAC play finally beginning. We saw some teams get some big wins this week and reality is now showing itself more and … Read more
It’s a good bet UMass coach Greg Carvel will be avoiding gluten when his team travels to Northern Ireland for this weekend’s Friendship Four tournament. The last time the Minutemen participated, six years ago, Carvel’s allergic reaction to an iconic dry stout of the Emerald Isle was a minor irritation of an otherwise memorable trip. … Read more
Another week of D-III Women’s hockey out west is complete and we were met with a big #6 vs #8 matchup, along with some emerging teams stacking together some early wins. We also saw the current top west teams remain undefeated, handling their business as they have each and every week so far this season. … Read more
When the NCAA finally started letting Division I teams play against one another for in-season exhibition games last season, it was a big relief to coaches across the country. Now, no longer at the whims of whatever Canadian team was able to cross the border during the first few weeks of the season, coaches have … Read more
For a league where sweeps have historically been hard to come by and splits are the norm, so far this season it’s been feast or famine in conference series in Atlantic Hockey. There have been 15 conference series so far, with nine ending in sweeps. Another three series saw one team take five of six … Read more
This week was arguably the best week of D-III east women’s hockey yet. Featuring an upset of #11 Endicott at the hands of Western New England, more recently, #3 Plattsburgh holding off #9 Norwich 5-4 in OT on Tuesday 11/15, and Elmira got their fourth straight shutout in a weekend sweep of William Smith. We … Read more
Since Ralph Engelstad Arena opened in 2001, no North Dakota home series has ever been rescheduled due to weather. Late last week, there was a threat of that changing. Denver was originally scheduled to fly into Fargo, N.D., on Thursday afternoon, then take an 80-mile bus ride up to Grand Forks. Most of the state … Read more
Minnesota’s Bob Motzko has an idea about the 2022-23 Big Ten hockey season: “We’re just going to beat the snot out of each other this year.” Motzko’s Golden Gophers are in third place in B1G conference standings after splitting a home series against Penn State last weekend, losing 4-2 and winning 3-2. The three road … Read more
Merrimack coach Scott Borek has been around Hockey East long enough to remember when it was a top-heavy league. Traditionally dominated for the better part of its first two decades as a conference by the likes of Boston University, Boston College, New Hampshire and Maine, things have changed in the last decade — UMass Lowell … Read more
My most memorable college hockey game occurred when Brown hosted Princeton during the 2019 ECAC Hockey tournament’s first round. It was the second game of a best-of-three series, but it was the third consecutive game between the two teams after they played the last game of the season and managed to land in a playoff … Read more
Another week of excitement out west as we had a 100th career point earned, some previously overlooked programs on the rise continue to stack early wins. Other teams showing their success last season wasn’t a fluke, but serious improvements that are here to stay. There wasn’t much movement within the USCHO top-15 poll, but as … Read more
Three years and a bit into his collegiate career, there’s little about the way Western Michigan forward Jason Polin operates that surprises the Broncos’ coach. Pat Ferschweiler has been in Kalamazoo that whole time, starting in 2019 when he became Western’s associate head coach. Polin was fresh off a 35-goal campaign in his last of … Read more
The way Northern Michigan has played this season had, until this past weekend at least, baffled Grant Potulny. The Wildcats’ underlying numbers have looked good, even great. They have a top-10 power play, a top-15 offense, one of the best faceoff percentages in the country, a player in AJ Vanderbeck who is among the nation’s … Read more