It is hard to know where to begin. On Saturday morning, I listened to then-CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos discuss the ways in which he and the CCHA would deal with the impending Big Ten league. On Monday morning, the Big Ten made its Big Announcement. On Wednesday afternoon, Michigan State announced that now-former CCHA commissioner … Read more
According to several Lansing media outlets, including WLNS TV, current CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos will be the new Michigan State head coach. An announcement is supposed to come today at 4:00 p.m. Now you know as much as I do. Until this story started making its way around the internet, the name most talked about … Read more
Stealing Miami’s thunder Leave it to the Big Ten to steal the attention away from the Miami RedHawks and their first CCHA playoff championship. Well, I’m not going to talk about that today. That can wait until midweek. There’s hockey being played now. There was hockey in Detroit just two days ago. There are four … Read more
It’s a sunny, warm day in downtown Detroit – gorgeous day, in fact. Fans seem to be very pleased with the Fan Fest that the CCHA has put together this year – complete with a ceremonial slap shot yesterday with Detroit mayor Dave Bing – and fans from two teams are very pleased, indeed, about … Read more
Congratulations to all the individual CCHA award winners for the 2010-11 season! • Player of the Year: Andy Miele, Miami • Coach of the Year: Jeff Jackson, Notre Dame • Rookie of the Year: T.J. Tynan, Notre Dame • Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Carter Camper, Miami • Terry Flanagan Award: Kevin Petovello, Alaska • Ilitch … Read more
Goodbye, a little early In retrospect, I’m not surprised that Michigan State’s Derek Grant is the first CCHA player this season to leave college hockey before his proverbial time. Grant, a forward from Abbotsford, B.C., had 20 goals and 43 assists in his two seasons as a Spartan. With the uncertainty of the MSU coaching … Read more
Congratulations to the Wolverines, Fighting Irish, RedHawks and Broncos for their CCHA quarterfinal series wins! This marks the first time since the 2005-06 season that the top four seeds in the league advanced together to the championship tournament at Joe Louis Arena. It’s also the first time since 1994 that Western Michigan has a chance … Read more
“It’s do or die. It happens at every level. Once you get to the playoffs, guys get to a new gear, and it’s just a lot more intense and a lot more physical. The speed’s faster. It’s more fun to play in the playoffs, just because of all those factors.” That is how Notre Dame … Read more
In honor of USCHO’s 15th year of NCAA hockey coverage , Tuesday’s blog each week during the 2010-11 regular season was a notebook of 15 things about the CCHA – anything that struck my fancy. As games decrease and interesting quasi-related notes become fewer in postseason, though, I’m re-purposing Tuesday’s blog to do what Monday’s … Read more
Sometimes, all I can say is, “Wow.” Congratulations to the Nanooks, Lakers and Falcons for advancing to the second round of the CCHA playoffs. Congratulations, too, to the teams on the losing end. The Spartans did not go gently into that good night, the Buckeyes showed some life before it was over and it took … Read more
It’s playoff hockey time, and this weekend the CCHA begins its first round of best-of-three series with the bottom six teams in the league competing to advance to next week’s quarterfinal round. Frankly, I think the top eight teams should be in with the bottom three sitting it out, but I’m old-fashioned that way. Remember, … Read more
“We’re rooting for certain teams we normally don’t root for.” Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels on how the end of the season makes for strange bedfellows, following the Bulldogs’ tie and win over Ohio State on the road Feb. 25. “You can spin that any way you want it. At some point, you have … Read more
Congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines, the 2010-11 CCHA regular-season champions! Hear them sing the fastest version of “Hail to the Victors!” ever. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XejrStE8z0 As UM head coach Red Berenson says, “That’s hockey.” Entering the weekend one point behind first-place Notre Dame, the Wolverines took care of what they needed to by sweeping Northern Michigan on … Read more
The last weekend of regular-season play – how strange it seems to be writing that, because it feels as though October was just a week ago. There is so much at stake this weekend and so much can change with just a point that the drama quotient for every game is exceptionally high. When it’s … Read more
There’s hockey played tonight – so it’s a good time for a supplemental blog to write up what I didn’t have time to write for this week’s column in addition to giving you my picks for the Ferris State-Ohio State series. I was lucky enough last week to see the Friday Western Michigan-Michigan game in … Read more
As the regular season draws to a close, here are 15 seniors whose contributions made the CCHA a more interesting place during the last four years. Most of these are guys who won’t show up on any end-of-season league awards radar, but who will be missed nonetheless. Nanooks defenseman Bryant Molle (Penticton, B.C.) and forward … Read more
The landscape in the CCHA changed only a little over the weekend and with one weekend to go, the regular-season title and last two first-round byes are up for grabs. Ferris State-Notre Dame. For the 10th time in program history, the Fighting Irish have reached 20 wins with a sweep over the Bulldogs, 3-2 and … Read more
First, a thanks and an apology Thank you to my friends and colleagues, Bob Miller and Jeff Svoboda. Bob is USCHO’s arena reporter at Yost, and Jeff covers Buckeye hockey for the Buckeye Sports Bulletin. In yesterday’s column, I used quotes from OSU head coach Mark Osiecki that Bob forwarded to me by email and … Read more
As Valentine’s Day hit us yesterday, I got to thinking about the guys in the CCHA who wear No. 14 and how they may have fared on the ice this past weekend. Alaska sophomore forward Adam Henderson did not play Feb. 11-12. His only goal this season was the third in a 4-1 win over … Read more
Happy Valentine’s Day, CCHA fans! The Universe delivered a Valentine to me with some increasingly rare prescience for this past weekend’s picks. Last week: 8-2-2 (.750) Season to date: 95-62-23 (.592) The Fighting Irish and Wolverines showed themselves a little love, too, with sweeps of visiting opponents, while the two points the RedHawks lost at … Read more