Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. Some teams, such as No. 1 Wisconsin, certainly have reason to be thankful, as they continue to dominate, while others show signs of life. Last week, I went 8-6 .571). Honestly, I didn’t see Harvard sweeping Dartmouth, and I while I correctly called a split between BU and BC, I called … Read more
Mash the names “Amanda” and “Mazzotta” together, and you get one word. Amazing. Such was the weekend performance of second ranked Cornell’s junior goaltender, who put up a pair of whitewashes against ECAC foes Princeton and Qunnipiac. Jimmy Xi of the Cornell Daily Sun spins the tale. In recent seasons, Maine has taken its show … Read more
Dang you Vermont. OK, the Catamounts weren’t the only team to throw a wrench into my normally solid picks. Vermont has been a weird team. They don’t win, but they have an awful lot of ties, including two last weekend against Hockey East front-runner Boston University. I sure didn’t see Minnesota State sweeping Ohio State … Read more
There’s no limit to what can be accomplished when the whole heart is involved. Or as it played out at Ingalls Rink, over a thousand hearts. That was the big and good news coming out of Yale’s “White Out for Mandi” effort on Friday. Chelsea James of the Yale Daily News fills us in on … Read more
Well, the stats definitely went down last weekend. I knew I was going out on a limb to pick a Wisconsin sweep of Minnesota in Minnesota, but I figured Mercyhurst over Niagara was a sure thing, as was a sweep of Bemidji State by Minnesota-Duluth. Throw in a few ties, and the underdogs got the … Read more
The odd tidbit of the week is that No. 7 North Dakota has yet to win a shootout in the three years since the WCHA brought it into league play. The latest toe stub came this weekend against No. 9 Ohio State, in what was otherwise a fine weekend for the Sioux. Brad Elliott Schlossman … Read more
I didn’t do as well last week as I did the previous week, especially due to a few ties, finishing 7-2-3 (.708). On the season, I am now 29-7-4 (.775). Still pretty respectable numbers I think. Let’s take a look at the big games for the coming week. Friday-Saturday November 5-6 Minnesota-Duluth at Bemidji State: … Read more
Not much in the way of upsets during the weekend just past, as teams ranked in the top ten in last week’s USCHO poll went a combined 11-2-3. The two losses were suffered by No. 6 Minnesota in their Northward slog to Duluth. The No. 3 ranked Bulldogs took a pair of one-goal games from … Read more
In my second week of picks, I did even better, going 14-1-1 (.907). I only missed one of the North Dakota-Minnesota State games and the Boston College-Quinnipiac battle, which ended in a tie. For the season, I am 22-5-1 (.833) Let’s look at some of the big contests this week. Friday-Saturday, October 29-30 Minnesota State … Read more
Sweeps and splits. There were a few of each during the weekend past. While Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, and Wisconsin all handed their opponents a pair of trouncings, there was some bread sliced in half elsewhere. That may point to parity, or confirm that for the road team especially, half a loaf is better than a few … Read more
Well, in my first week of picks, I went 8-4 (.667). Not bad. Really, who would have picked North Dakota to sweep Minnesota in Minnesota? Who could imagine Bemidji would knock off top-ranked Merchyhurst? All in all, I think I did pretty well. Let’s take a look at what’s on tap for this week. Friday-Saturday, … Read more
If the rest of the season turns out to be anything like last weekend, with its plethora of unthinkable upsets (and on the road, no less), we will be in for a wild ride. Heading the list is the two-game sweep performed by North Dakota over Minnesota. As Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald … Read more
The game that stands out to me this weekend is tonight’s non-conf Providence College at Syracuse tilt. Both teams could challenge for their conference titles and could be there in March when the NCAA’s are set. It should be a heck of a lot of fun. Also, as an addendum to this week’s column, I … Read more
Like my fellow D-I columnists, I’ve decided to highlight picks for the big women’s games each week. I’ll track them too, to see how I do against the other writers. I’ll post my picks for the week every Friday morning. Here’s what we have on tap for the week. Friday-Saturday October 15-16 BC at Vermont: … Read more
UMD wins 4-0 over Wisconsin to claim its fourth women’s NCAA title in sports eight-year history. Here is a portion of Shannon Miller’s opening statement from the postgame press conference. You have to feel fortunate when you get into the final game because there are so many great teams across the country. I would like … Read more
The WCHA placed three teams in the final eight, both teams in the national championship game, and yet earned only three of 12 All-Americans. Is this “Eastern bias” in the voting? I would say there is bias only insofar as the system tends towards proportional representation. One simple reason for this is that if each … Read more
First-Team All-Americans G Kim Martin, So., UMD D Tessa Bonhomme, Sr., OSU D Caitlin Cahow, Sr., Harvard F Meghan Agosta, So., Mercyhurst F Melissa Boal, Jr., WSU F Sarah Vaillancourt, Jr., Harvard Second-Team All-Americans G Christina Kessler, So., Harvard D Martine Garland, Sr., UNH D Annie Guay, Sr., St. Lawrence F Gigi Marvin, Jr., Minnesota … Read more
UMD coach Shannon Miller said at Thursday’s pre-game press conference that No. 2 scorer Saara Tuominen was 50-50 for Thursday night’s game. She suffered a sprained MCL in the quarterfinal win against Mercyhurst.
In any NCAA championship event, handling the pressure of the big stage is a major factor in determining the outcome. So it comes as no surprise that experience was a common topic of conversation in Wednesday’s pre-game press conferences at the Women’s Frozen Four in Duluth. Harvard vs. Wisconsin In some sense, the first semifinal … Read more
It’ll be Wisconsin vs. Harvard and UNH vs. UMD in Duluth on Thursday. Harvard will play at 5 p.m. CT followed by UMD at 8 p.m. It was a familiar result for the Badgers, who won in overtime in the quarterfinals en route to each of their NCAA titles in the last two years. The … Read more