I had to laugh when I read USCHO’s front page after Friday night’s games. “Freaky Friday,” the headline proclaimed, because there were upsets all over the place in College Hockeyland. Except for in the CCHA. Friday was, in fact, the least freakiest night of the CCHA season, I thought, as the top teams beat the … Read more
Thank goodness there were no tied games this week. Why, you ask? Because I’ve been calculating my win percentage wrong … and I knew that I had to have been doing so all season. I am surprised that no one wrote to correct me until this week. Frankly, I’m just as surprised that someone claiming … Read more
After Notre Dame lost to Michigan, 5-3, Saturday night, ND head coach Jeff Jackson said, “They scored three goals that must have bounced off 15 things.” That got me thinking about all the little things that make a difference — or don’t — in college hockey. Keep in mind that small is a relative term. … Read more
I’ve checked the planets and can’t find anything to explain this. All I can do is believe Rick Comley, who told me Saturday that there is parity in the CCHA. Who knew? Going into last weekend’s play, the top five CCHA teams were as follows, points totals in parentheses: Notre Dame (14) Michigan (13) Miami … Read more
I knew last weekend’s play — and my picks — would kill me. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. Last week’s picks: 6-3-1 Season: 32-11-7 Straight wins, that’s .640 so far for the season. Factoring in ties, it’s .710 and not completely honest, as I haven’t called any. This weekend, there’s a full slate … Read more
The games of this past weekend were very interesting, in many ways. Not surprisingly, the quotes that came in the aftermath were, too. I find the distinction between expectations of winning and overlooking one’s opponent to be very interesting — and a theme common to some recent series. “We were focused and intense, but last … Read more
What’s the bigger story, that Miami left Big Rapids with one point to its credit — or that the Bulldogs took five from the No. 1 team in the country? Michigan State left Kalamazoo empty-handed, or the unranked (and formerly lowly) Broncos swept a ranked (and formerly undefeated) team? Notre Dame emerges at the top … Read more
No preamble, just picks. I will say this, though: I can’t believe it’s November already. Last week’s picks: 7-1-4 Season: 26-8-6 Straight wins, that’s .583. Factoring in ties (and I’d love to), it’s .750. Any way I look at it, I see a better start to the season than I’ve had in years — and, … Read more
This week, I noticed two players who contributed noteworthy performances in losing efforts. That got me thinking about other such performances this season. Here’s what I found. Chase Balisy, Oct. 30 vs. Notre Dame. Balisy, a freshman forward, scored the only two goals in regulation in WMU’s 2-2 tie to cap a one-point weekend for … Read more
The Runaway RedHawks? There’s some chatter around the league that Miami is poised to run away with the regular-season championship again this year as the RedHawks did last season, and it sure looked that way Friday night when Miami beat Lake Superior State 6-2. That was the RedHawks’ third consecutive CCHA win to begin league … Read more
It’s a quick and dirty picks blog this week. I do have to gloat one more time, however, for having picked Notre Dame to beat Boston College. Last week’s picks: 11-3-1 Season: 19-7-2 I’m lousy with the math but adding ties in as draws, I believe that’s a .750 success rate. Being honest and just … Read more
It’s still early and numbers can mislead or outright lie, but here are 15 things that strike me as pretty scary about the CCHA this week, in no particular order. 1. Ladies and Gentlemen, one of the hottest teams in the country, the Western Michigan Broncos! After losing to Canisius to open the season Oct. … Read more
Three CCHA series, and a clearer picture of the league emerges already. Perhaps the single thing to take away from it? Miami really is that good. Thriving The RedHawks didn’t just sweep the visiting Wildcats; Miami crushed Northern, 13-1. As you probably know by now, junior defenseman Will Weber was injured in Saturday’s 9-1 game … Read more
Congratulations, Chris Bergeron, on your first collegiate win. Couldn’t you have done that on Friday rather than Saturday? Last week, I picked the Falcons to split on the road against Clarkson, and BGSU gifted me with my first wrong-way split of the season. I also picked Western Michigan to sweep, so woot woot for me. … Read more
In case you didn’t read last week’s “15 things,” here’s the deal. My midweek blog will pick 15 things that strike me in a given week. Why 15? This is USCHO’s 15th season. What will strike me? I dunno. Given the interesting things we’re seeing in the early going, I will state the obvious about … Read more
Rick Comley, Michigan State’s ever-quotable head coach, gives us a good summation of the CCHA weekend: “I leave this weekend saying, ‘You know what? We can play with really good teams.’” Sure, he was talking about how his team performed against visiting Maine, but the line can stand for just about the whole league this … Read more
As part of USCHO’s redesign, I’ll be posting my picks for upcoming games on Friday mornings and this season I want to start where I left off, with last year’s CCHA tournament. Why? Because I was right. I so rarely get to say that. In the 2010 CCHA tourney at JLA, I picked Northern over … Read more
As USCHO enters its 15th season, you’ll notice a few changes around the site. This blog is one of them. I’ll be blogging three times regularly, every week: once on Sundays or Mondays to chat about the doings of the previous weekend; once late Tuesday or early Wednesday to chat about something else; once on … Read more