This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
WCHA Playoffs: Final Five by Steve Page When the Western Collegiate Hockey Association expanded from nine to 10 teams in 1992-93, league officials decided to invite everybody to their tournament. Nice gesture, but now five teams reach the conference’s Final Four (which is, consequently, the Final Five instead). To solve the dilemma of having an … Read more
Hockey East Preview: "Ice Wars" by Dave Hendrickson "Ice Wars," Hockey East’s title for this weekend’s semifinal and championship games, will see two surprise entrants. Everyone expected regular-season co-champions Boston University and New Hampshire to advance, but Boston College and UMass-Lowell became the first two schools to not only upset a higher seed, but to … Read more
ECAC Playoffs: Final Four by Jayson Moy In the voice of the one and only Jim McKay … "It’s time to go to the Adirondack Mountains, and the cozy town of Lake Placid. Here we will see an intense drama unfold when four teams do battle for the little cup known as the Scotty M. … Read more
ECAC Playoffs: Quarterfinals by Jayson Moy We’re down to eight teams left in the hunt for the Whitelaw Trophy, three of which have never won it — Princeton, Union and Yale. In fact, of the three, only sixth-seeded Princeton has made it as far as the championship game (a 5-1 loss in 1995 to RPI). … Read more
Hockey East Playoffs: Quarterfinals by Dave Hendrickson The second season begins with New Hampshire and Boston University the heavy favorites, based on their regular-season dominance. Providence, however, could be poised for some serious playoff deja vu and Merrimack is playing as well as anyone in the tournament. Darkhorses Boston College, UMass-Lowell, UMass-Amherst and Northeastern will … Read more
CCHA Playoffs: Quarterfinals CCHA Playoffs: Quarterfinals by Paula C. Weston You’ve heard the cliches: It’s all even in the playoffs. Everyone’s at zero-zero. Anything can happen. Equality? A level playing field? If you’re a fan of the CCHA, you know these phrases mean nothing — and everything. Two of the four CCHA playoff series are … Read more
WCHA Playoffs: First Round by Steve Page Every coach in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association is in agreement on this: gaining home-ice advantage for the first round of the conference playoffs was their primary goal all season. So this weekend, it’s the have-nots traveling to the haves. Final WCHA Standings The victors in the best-of-three … Read more
ECAC Preview: Preliminary Round by Jayson Moy "Let’s get ready to rummmmmmmbleeeeeeeeeeee…….." — noted ring announcer Michael Buffer The ECAC regular season is over, and it’s time to hit the playoffs with both feet running (or if you prefer, both blades skating). It all starts on Tuesday night in Hamilton, N.Y., and Cambridge, Mass. The … Read more
ECAC Preview: Feb. 28-Mar. 1, 1997 by Jayson Moy It’s a two-horse race as the finish line nears for the ECAC title. Clarkson and Cornell have emerged as the only teams left that can take the regular-season title, and the resulting automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Those two teams battle this Friday for the … Read more
CCHA PREVIEW: Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 1997 CCHA Preview: Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 1997 by Paula C. Weston For weeks, the top four teams in the CCHA have known that they’ll be hosting the first round of playoffs. Last week decided which teams among the bottom four would advance to post-season play. All that remains to be … Read more
WCHA Preview: Feb. 28-Mar. 1, 1997 by Steve Page North Dakota has come all the way back. A weekend sweep of visiting Alaska-Anchorage gave the Fighting Sioux a share of the WCHA regular-season title, their first since 1987. UND also gained the number-one seed for the WCHA playoffs by virtue of the tiebreaker it holds … Read more
Hockey East Preview: Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 1997 by Dave Hendrickson Maine’s five-day, three-game sweep of UNH and BU (twice) proved that postseason or no postseason, they are now back among the Hockey East and national elite. Providence College also ended the weekend smiling, its sweep of UMass-Lowell clinching a home-ice berth in the playoffs. Since … Read more
Hockey East Preview: Feb. 21-22, 1997 by Dave Hendrickson Boston University and New Hampshire made Hockey East a two-team race for the regular-season crown so long ago that fans might easily ignore two other teams that are playing very well down the stretch. In fact, since the Christmas break, Maine and Merrimack have supplanted the … Read more
ECAC Preview: Feb. 21-22, 1997 by Jayson Moy Twelve little Indians. One by one they fall. until now two are left. When the ECAC weekend started, four teams were tied for first place. After all was said and done, only two remained — Clarkson and Cornell. The Big Red and the Golden Knights swept their … Read more
WCHA Preview: Feb. 21-22, 1997 by Scott Brown Despite a split against Northern Michigan, the North Dakota Fighting Sioux edged ever closer to the MacNaughton Cup last weekend. Although the Sioux managed only two points on the road, their competitors fared no better: Minnesota split a home series with Minnesota-Duluth, and Denver and Colorado College … Read more
CCHA PREVIEW: Feb. 21-23, 1997 CCHA Preview: Feb. 21-23, 1997 by Paula C. Weston With just two weeks of regular-season hockey left in the CCHA, several teams are scrambling to make the playoffs. Others are working for NCAA recognition. The No. 1 Michigan Wolverines held firm to first place last week, beating the Notre Dame … Read more
ECAC Preview: Feb. 14-15, 1997 by Jayson Moy "Every win this time of year is critical." — Cornell head coach Mike Schafer. "It’s been a crazy year." — Clarkson head coach Mark Morris. "It just gets a lot tighter in league play." — Colgate head coach Don Vaughn. "The team you played the first time … Read more
CCHA PREVIEW: Feb. 13-16, 1997 CCHA Preview: Feb. 13-16, 1997 by Paula C. Weston With just a few weeks left in the CCHA regular season, the question of which team will finish eighth is as interesting as which will finish first. "With only four games to go," says Michigan State head coach Ron Mason, "every … Read more
WCHA Preview: Feb. 14-15, 1997 by Scott Brown North Dakota refused to yield ground to its pursuers over the weekend. The first-place Fighting Sioux, edging ever closer to the MacNaughton Cup, swept last-place Michigan Tech to maintain a three-point lead in the standings over Minnesota. The Gophers, for their part, took four points against ninth-place … Read more
Hockey East Preview: Feb. 14-18, 1997 by Dave Hendrickson After a scintillating Beanpot championship game, the return to league play this week will be hard-pressed to maintain either the excitement level or the quality of play shown at the FleetCenter. The jockeying for third to sixth place continues, with Providence potentially starting yet another late-season … Read more