Yes, we are in the midst of yet another great D-III men’s ice hockey national championship tournament with this year’s Frozen Four in Minnesota next weekend. The action all year has been great, and unfortunately for some teams and their fans, the season ended prematurely at the end of the conference tournaments last week. Just … Read more
With the rat-tat-tat of a three-goal second period Saturday, Adrian gunned its way past Elmira to earn its first-ever trip to the NCAA D-III Final Four. Seniors Sam Kuzyk, Brad Houston and Shawn Skelly scored three unanswered goals within an eight-minute span as the host Bulldogs knocked off the Soaring Eagles, 5-3, before a sold-out … Read more
We’ve turned to some of our D-III columnists to give their picks for the winner. Larry O’Connor – MIAC, MCHA, and NCHA columnist Hamline’s stunning 3-2 overtime win over Wisconsin-Superior Wednesday set the stage for an enthralling quarterfinal weekend for the remaining D-III West teams. The quarterfinal field is stacked with excellent teams, each one … Read more
Curry Last Meeting: January 1, 2010 (Norwich, 4-0) League: ECAC Northeast Record: 16-8-3 (10-2-2 ECAC NE) NCAA History: Fourth Appearance Scoring Offense: 3.92 goals per game Scoring Defense: 3.09 goals per game Power Play: 21.6 percent Penalty Kill: 80.6 percent Team Leaders Goals: Payden Benning,16 Assists: Ryan Warsofsky,18 Points: Warsofky,27 Power play Goals: Benning,7 … Read more
Welcome to the final edition of Division III Bracketology for 2011. You can see the bracket here. Surprises: UWS over Castleton – A major surprise as I had Castleton in for sure. UWS had 12 losses, but it looks like the Western Committee did a stellar job of selling the Yellowjackets’ tough schedule. Plattsburgh and … Read more
Hail to the Norwich Cadets and Bowdoin Polar Bears winners of the ECAC East and NESCAC conference tournaments over this past weekend. Both teams enter NCAA play this upcoming Wednesday when the Cadets host ECAC Northeast champion Curry and the Polar Bears entertain Neumann in first round action. But that is this week and stuff … Read more
Congrats to all the conference champions – and to those yet unnamed teams that get a second chance. Here’s the pre-NCAA announcement edition of Division III Bracketology. To recap: eleven teams will get their tickets punched: seven Pool A teams, one Pool B Team, and three Pool C teams. Pool A consists of the seven … Read more
In collecting its fourth-straight Harris Cup, Adrian made a statement about the next step in its journey as an NCAA tournament-bound team. The fifth-ranked Bulldogs skated to a 5-0 victory over Marian on Sunday in the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association title game at Arrington Ice Arena. Seniors Shawn Skelly and Zach Graham led the Bulldogs … Read more
Two championships. Two overtimes. This is the last year before the MASCAC receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, but that hasn’t led to any letdowns in its first two championship games. For the second year in a row, Fitchburg State and Salem State went to overtime. And for a second year in a … Read more
The Plattsburgh Cardinals are the 2010-11 SUNYAC champions, beating Fredonia, 4-1. Plattsburgh never allowed the Blue Devils a glimmer of hope for another playoff upset. Plattsburgh outshot Fredonia in the first, 13-4, and the second, 12-6. Only in the third period, when Plattsburgh was preserving the lead and Fredonia was getting desperate, did the Blue … Read more
After more than 600 games across the three respective conferences, it comes down to this: the championship finals. In addition to a conference trophy, winners of the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association, Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Northern Collegiate Hockey Association titles advance to the NCAA Tournament’s first round, which starts March 9. So, without further … Read more
Here it is – the BIG weekend in conference play. Conference championships and NCAA automatic bids are on the line starting this afternoon so here are my predictions for who hoists the hardware come the end of the weekend. Winners in bold. Friday, March 4, 2011 Southern Maine at Norwich – The first game in … Read more
The NCAA has released its final set of rankings before Selection Sunday, so it’s time for an updated Bracketology. As was the case for the past few year, we know the criteria used by the NCAA Division III Men’s Committee to select and seed the teams, but not the weighting used in their evaluation. This … Read more
The top two teams are left standing in the ECAC Northeast. No. 1 seeded Curry opened the game with three unanswered goals and held off No.4 Becker 5-1 Wednesday night. Check out Melissa Wade’s photo gallery from the game here. The game acted as senior night for the Colonels, after their original senior night game had … Read more
A frenzied closing minutes ensured the first round of the playoffs in ECAC Northeast and MASCAC wouldn’t be devoid of any upsets. Sixth seeded Westfield State scored three goals in the final 6:03 to snap a 1-1 tie and knock third seeded Plymouth State out of the playoffs. Pat Nelson’s goal broke the deadlock, while Jeff … Read more
Overtime Frenzy in the SUNYAC There is nothing in sports like overtime playoff hockey. Nothing. This SUNYAC semifinal round graced us with not one, but both, games going into overtime. “We could have made this place erupt two or three times in overtime,” Geneseo coach Chris Schultz said. However, both results left the home crowd … Read more
And then there were two. The top two seeds were victorious in the semifinal round of the ECAC West playoffs and have moved on to the championship game on Saturday night in Elmira. Elmira defeated Hobart in rather convincing fashion, 5-2, on Saturday. Soaring Eagles coach Aaron Saul left the team midweek to be with … Read more
An upset-free weekend will see the top four seeds in the ECAC Northeast meet in the semifinals on Wednesday night. Fourth-seeded Becker used three unanswered goals following a 2-2 first period to down visiting Nichols, 5-2, Sunday. Branden Parkhouse had two goals and an assist for the Hawks, while Korby Anderson added two assists. Western … Read more
The quarterfinals are in the books, and as expected, there were some locks, some mild upsets and a couple of shockers. It comes as no surprise with all of the ups and downs of the regular season that the first round of the conference tournaments did anything but hold to form, so my 4-4 (.500) percentage … Read more
With little surprise, two favored teams – Milwaukee School of Engineering and Lawrence — advanced to the Harris Cup Four by sweeping their respective Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association quarterfinal series during the weekend. MSOE (21-5-1) meets Marian (18-7), which received a first-round by finishing on top of the Northern Division, in the second semifinal at … Read more