This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
The doubters have been proven wrong. Massachusetts was not a one-year wonder that last year rode Cale Makar’s coattails to the national championship game only to predictably settle back this year into their accustomed position in the lower half of the Hockey East standings. The clock hasn’t struck midnight, turning them back into pumpkins. UMass is for real (photo: Rich Gagnon).
Last season was always going to be magic at American International. The Yellow Jackets, armed with their black and yellow-colored glass slipper, captured college hockey’s hearts by winning the Atlantic Hockey regular-season and postseason tournament (photo: Omar Phillips).
A goaltender named after one of the all-time greats was always going to have a lot of pressure piled upon him, but maybe that’s why Dryden McKay is, as his Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings described him, “not too excitable” (photo: Minnesota State Athletics).
The field for the inaugural Connecticut Ice Festival has suddenly gotten a little more competitive (photo: Nina Lindberg/Yale Athletics).
Here is a rundown of how the top 20 teams in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll of Jan. 13 fared in games over the Jan. 17-18 weekend (photo: Minnesota State Athletics).
How does Michigan get to follow up its first road sweep of the season, an upset of No. 14 Notre Dame? “We’re at Penn State,” said Wolverines coach Mel Pearson. “So it just gets easier.” Pearson then laughed (photo: Michigan Athletics).
Certainly, you don’t have to be a Hockey East superfan to know the name Tyce Thompson. But if you we asked who he was, say, on Oct. 1, what would you know about him? (photo: Rich Gagnon).
A logjam in the middle of the NCHC standings promises to make for stressful situations as the season progresses, but it also gives several teams big opportunities. Miami is getting its fair share of those chances, but not everything is going the RedHawks’ way. They’re only two points out of a home-ice playoff spot, but they missed a chance last weekend to put added pressure on fourth-place Western Michigan (photo: Bradley K. Olson).
Depending on who you ask, Northern Michigan winger Griffin Loughran stands either 5-foot-6 or 5-foot-7. The sophomore has been told at every level that he is too small and all he has done is find a way to be effective (photo: Northern Michigan Athletics).
This past weekend, the Atlantic Hockey shootout format enjoyed arguably its best moment during a raucous series between Army West Point and Air Force (photo: Army West Point Athletics).
A graduate student who played three seasons at Robert Morris, Marotte is one of the main reasons Clarkson is in first place in the ECAC, a point ahead of Cornell, and No. 7 in the national polls heading into games at Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend (photo: Clarkson Athletics).
Teams believed to be among the best in the nation seem to be rising to the top and playing great hockey whether in big nonconference games or important league rivalries. Trinity, Norwich, Utica, Geneseo and Hobart all had big wins while teams on the rise like Babson, New England College and the University of New … Read more
With six points separating first-place Penn State from fourth-place Notre Dame and both Ohio State and Michigan State tied a point ahead of the Fighting Irish, the Big Ten may be in for a big finish in the coming months (photo: Jim Rosvold).
The career of New Hampshire forward Patrick Grasso is one that resembles a roller coaster (photo: UNH Athletics).
Going into last weekend, Denver fans might have had cause for concern. The Pioneers had struggled mightily in November and early December, and while a sweep of arch-rival Colorado College to close the first half was a bright spot, it was unclear if Denver had righted the ship (photo: Candace Horgan).
A high-octane offense hasn’t traditionally been Bemidji State’s calling card (photo: BSU Photo Services).
Teams return from the semester/holiday break with a chance to either use a successful first half as a springboard to more success, or put the past behind them and hope that the break marks a fresh start (photo: tomwolf.smugmug.com).
Dartmouth forward Drew O’Connor brought Friday’s game against Princeton to a quick end with a goal 61 seconds into overtime. While it’s been a little longer journey for Big Green coach Bob Gaudet, at times it’s felt just as fast as O’Connor’s game-winning goal. Friday was the 1,000th career game for Gaudet, who is in his 23rd season at Dartmouth after spending nine seasons at Brown (photo: Shelley M. Szwast).
Holiday tournaments are usually filled with upsets to start the New Year and this past weekend was no exception with tournament wins by Elmira, Cortland, Hobart, Wesleyan and St. Mary’s at the Oswego tournament. Other teams like Trinity, Utica and Geneseo showed that they were ready for all comers in their return from the holiday … Read more
Ohio State will participate in its second in-season tournament of this year’s campaign when the Buckeyes head to Las Vegas for the Fortress Invitational this weekend (photo: Jim Rosvold).