CCHA

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Some video from during and after the Big Chill at the Big House on Saturday: Michigan goaltender Shawn Hunwick, part 1: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGH-GhtvR3E Hunwick, part 2: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LI9X-TybDI Michigan coach Red Berenson, part 1: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DgQEMi717Q Berenson, part 2: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tsxILuPG-Y Michigan’s Carl Hagelin, part 1: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpY_DyVLcIY Michigan State coach Rick Comley: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vOKtPu-074 The crowd … Read more

For its 50th anniversary in 2004, Sports Illustrated named the fiercest sports rivalry in each of the 50 U.S. states. No one familiar with college hockey was surprised when Michael Farber wrote about the intensity of what happens on the ice when Michigan and Michigan State meet. Not football. Not basketball. Not croquet. Men’s Division-I … Read more

Welcome to the CCHA, a.k.a. Splitsville. Everyone split points this weekend in the CCHA, although not everyone did so evenly. In three series, teams split wins and losses. One series produced two tied games, and another a split and a tie. When the closest thing to a sweep in a given league weekend is the … Read more

Last week’s games brought us a week of notable firsts, and they make up the bulk of this week’s list of 15 things. Michigan State’s 5-2 win over Minnesota was the Spartans’ first in 10 games. In the last nine meetings, MSU had gone 0-4-5. The win was also the first on the road for … Read more

What did the Thanksgiving tournaments teach us about the CCHA? As feared, parity doesn’t mean equally good. The top three teams – three of the best in the country, arguably – took hits in semi-predictable ways. Two of the three played nonconference opponents, and that provided a good barometer of where the league stands in … Read more

You knew this was coming. You had to know, too, that I wouldn’t end that headline with a preposition. Carter Camper. I know I’ve been beating his drum all season, but the Miami senior has singlehandedly reminded us of how collegiate players used to play, how they used to score. Thirty points in 13 games … Read more

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

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

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

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