This Week in … columns; weekly columns on a league, region or gender-division
There are different levels of dominating your opponents. You can win handily. You can win handily while sweeping them. And then you can win handily, sweep them, and shut them out in the process. That’s precisely what Notre Dame did to Alaska in a New Year’s Eve-New Year’s Day twin whitewashing. And what’s got to … Read more
After recording his first collegiate hat trick in Minnesota’s 5-1 win over Mercyhurst in the Mariucci Classic last Friday, Brent Gates, Jr., said, “I feel like if you’re trying to work hard and do the right things, bounces happen from time to time.” Maybe the sophomore forward wasn’t intending to be philosophical, but what a … Read more
One might think that after finishing the first half at 10-1-0, being ranked number one nationally, having a team goals-against average below two, and excelling on both the power play and penalty kill, the Oswego Lakers would be a pretty content bunch entering the break. Not so, says coach Ed Gosek, who clearly sees so … Read more
Less the midpoint and more just the beginning, we’re partway through the Division III season and ready to head into the holiday break. While students finish up finals and you all finish your holiday preparation, here are the things I’m asking Santa for in women’s DIII hockey: More parity. It’s an old refrain, but with … Read more
It’s the midway point of the season, and all but a few teams are done with their schedule until after the new year. As the students prepare for finals and we all head into the holidays, I’ve prepared a letter to Santa to let him know what I wish for each of the Division I … Read more
Since the season started, we’ve seen WCHA teams score 499 goals, earn 2,758 penalty minutes, and win 77 games. And being the holiday season, we’re thankful for all of those goals, infractions, and victories. But we’re feeling a bit greedy, and we want to see a bit more as the holidays come around and hopefully, … Read more
Fresh off a road split in this season’s second national No. 1 versus No. 2 matchup, top-ranked Minnesota-Duluth is in a good place, but knows there is still plenty of work to be done. The Bulldogs enjoyed a successful trip to second-ranked Denver last weekend and ended it Saturday with a 3-1 win that snapped … Read more
Christmas break has arrived and the it’s only fitting that we take a little time to mention some of the items on teams’ wish lists for the second half of the season. Not sure what Santa will actually be able to deliver for the teams out west, but we can give it a shot and … Read more
Well it is that time of year again. Season’s greetings to all!! The semester break is upon us and the first half has closed out for virtually every team this weekend. There is still much to be done on the final weekend that may determine whether Santa puts your team on the naughty or nice … Read more
With all but a few non-conference games separating Hockey East teams from the mid-season holiday break, now is a good of a time as ever to take a look up and down the league, make some observations and hand out some mid-year superlatives. Let’s start with the most important element come season’s end: the PairWise. … Read more
The Big Ten’s hockey conference and Penn State will forever be linked. Of course, when the Nittany Lions elevated their hockey program to the Division I level it gave the conference enough teams be a hockey conference. So it should come as no surprise that the Big Ten’s combined 42-23-10 record against nonconference opponents has … Read more
Last weekend marked the final set of conference games in ECAC Hockey prior to the semester break. Various scheduling factors, including the Ivy League’s late start, means that the league’s twelve teams have an unbalanced number of conference games thus far. Still, here is a look at each team to date, with some thoughts on … Read more
While not quite at the halfway point of the season (42.2 percent, to be exact), the holiday break is a time to look forward to some tournaments as well as look back on the 2016 portion of the 2016-2017 season. We’ve had a few surprises, but that’s par for the course in Atlantic Hockey. Who’s … Read more
For all but a few programs, sustained success in college hockey is difficult. Just ask Damon Whitten. The third-year Lake Superior State head coach inherited a program that hadn’t made an NCAA tournament in 18 years when he took over in 2014 – a program that has won three Division I national titles and used … Read more
It’s the second straight season that Connecticut College has opened its schedule with four games against Amherst and Middlebury, but the results this year were completely different. It was difficult for the Camels to build momentum after their 0-3-1 start last season. But when they matched up with the top two conference finishers earlier this … Read more
As the first half of the regular season nears the finish line, reigning national champion Wisconsin-Stevens Point finds itself in a pretty good position. The Pointers are 8-2-1 overall and 2-0 in the WIAC and are currently riding a two-game winning streak. Wis.-Stevens Point is actually a little better off than it was a year … Read more
Following last weekend’s back-to-back wins over conference rivals Massachusetts-Boston and Babson, the Norwich Cadets are sitting in a familiar perch atop the NEHC standings at 7-1-0. With an overall record of 9-1-1, the Cadets are ahead of last year’s 8-4-0 mark and playing with an edge that coach Mike McShane is liking up and down … Read more
Maybe it’s that the CHA has just six teams and their tournament autobid status is just a year old. Maybe it’s that Mercyhurst has had such a stranglehold on the CHA that it seems impossible to imagine another team taking over. Maybe it’s just that we don’t give the CHA enough credit. Whatever the reason, … Read more
Every week seems to bring another Atlantic Hockey story of a team rising through the ranks, breaking out. The conversations discuss the hot teams who seemingly can’t be beat, and the talk is always about the logjam of programs who are already jostling for playoff position – even though it’s barely December. Discussion of standings … Read more
It’s been an up and down season so far for Yale as the Bulldogs carry a 3-4-2 record heading into this weekend’s games against Rensselaer and Union. The season has been a season about streaks with the Bulldogs. They have had a three-game losing streak with losses to Colgate and Cornell on Nov. 11 and … Read more