This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
For the seniors at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, their college career has seen an incredible turnaround, from winning just five games as freshmen to an NCAA tournament as seniors.
Considering that they don’t have a single player averaging a point a game or higher, Minnesota Duluth’s 14-goal explosion for a road sweep of Western Michigan, by 8-0 and 6-1 scores, could be looked at as an oddity, but Duluth coach Scott Sandelin feels it’s how his team is built (photo: Candace Horgan).
The regular season is over. Minnesota State, thanks to an 11-game unbeaten streak to end the season, clinched its third MacNaughton Cup in four years (photo: Jim Rosvold).
For Jake McCann and his fellow seniors at Gustavus Adolphus, a first shot at a MIAC title after three years of not making the playoffs is something to savor.
For Clarkson, the first-round bye in the ECAC Hockey playoffs couldn’t come soon enough as the Golden Knights finished the regular season on a 1-5-2 skid (photo: Shelley M. Szwast).
The Hockey East regular season is complete and the playoffs are upon us (photo: Melissa Wade).
The selection process for the women’s D-III NCAA tournament is Byzantine. Columnist Nicole Haase breaks down how it works and who is likely to benefit.
At American International College, a strong character team has always been built on sportsmanship and academic progress (photo: Omar Phillips).
It’s Big Ten playoff hockey time, and while top-seed Notre Dame watches to see who advances from the first weekend of play, everyone else will try to survive a best-of-three series to face off in single-elimination semifinal action next weekend (photo: Jim Rosvold/USCHO.com).
Like every team in Atlantic Hockey, it’s been an up-and-down season for the Rochester Institute of Technology (photo: Omar Phillips).
There always seems to be some sort of drama in the final week of the WCHA’s regular season. This year is no different (photo: Candace Horgan).
Balanced scoring and a refocused effort in the defensive zone have paid dividends for Geneseo in the second half of the season.
Multiple Big Ten teams have enjoyed winning or unbeaten streaks this season, but since the calendar has turned to February, stringing victories together has become a rare occurrence (photo: Rachel Lewis).
The results might not be there, but Rensselaer coach Dave Smith has been impressed with the work his team has put in as the regular season draws to a close this weekend (photo: Bradley K. Olson).
Three teams are in contention for the CHA regular season crown in the final weekend of the season, and all three are looking to play it one game at a time. In the WCHA, Ohio State is looking to find consistency to go with the highs of beating Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Much of the attention has gone to the race for the Hockey East regular season title, and deservedly so, but there’s also the race for one of the top five spots in the standings and its attendant first-round bye. Connecticut has put itself firmly in that race (photo: Melissa Wade).
Near the middle of January, defending national champion Denver was in a rut, having gone 2-3-2. Since then, Denver has gone 6-1-2 (photo: Bradley K. Olson).
Tanner Froese’s consistency is a big part of his improved stats this year, and he and the St. Norbert Green Knights are gunning for success in the NCHA league tournament and beyond.
The expectations for Princeton were high coming into the 2017-18 season after a respectable seventh-place finish in 2016-17 (photo: Shelley M. Szwast).
Other teams might have found last weekend agonizing. Bowling Green, sitting in third place in the WCHA standings, had to sit and watch as both teams ahead of them in the race for the MacNaughton Cup title were in action (photo: BGSU Athletics).