We’re underway with the 2009-2010 season (at least most of the teams are by now). It’s going to be tough to top last season. Neumann College, the last team into the NCAA tournament, a team that finished fourth in the ECAC West and had to play a play-in game to get into its conference playoffs, … Read more
I’ve been covering Division III hockey before any of the guys on your national champion Neumann Knights were born. And I have never seen anything like what transpired this post season. Starting with the ECAC East playoffs, it was a wild an unpredictable ride that saw two unheralded teams playing in the national title game. … Read more
The picks and pairings have been announced. My thoughts: Looks like they went strictly by seedings: E1. Plattsburgh E2. Amherst E3. Hobart E4. Elmira E5. Neumann E6. Nichols E7. Babson W1. UW-Superior W2. UW-Stout W3. St. Scholastica W4. Gustavus Adolphus It looks like St. Norbert was 4.3 seconds away from being about to defend its … Read more
…and the NCAA selection committee is meeting as I write this final version of Bracketlology. We’ll be doing an analysis of the picks once they are announced, but for now the waiting game is on. If you’re just joining us, we know the criteria used by the NCAA Division III Men’s Committee to select and … Read more
The Crystal Ball got as little clearer thanks to last week’s results. The ECAC East was, ahem, interesting, with three of the top four seeds going down. That means someone other than Norwich (that would be New England College) will host the semifinals and final for the first time ever. The ECAC West also saw … Read more
It’s that most wonderful time of the year again. The end of the regular season and the conference tournament scramble to qualify for the Big Dance. It’s time to play Bracketology. As was the case last year, we know the criteria used by the NCAA Division III Men’s Committee to select and seed the teams, … Read more
The NCAA revealed its first public edition of its Regional Rankings today. These will be issued every Tuesday leading up to the announcement of the NCAA field on March 8. The criteria used to rank the teams are: • Win-loss percentage against regional opponents; • Strength-of-schedule (only contests versus regional competition) to include: Opponents’ Average … Read more
It seems like I just took my Christmas tree down and yet there’s only a few weeks left in the regular season. The NCHA and MCHA regular seasons conclude next weekend, with the rest of the leagues following shortly after. We’ll crown a national champion 40 days from today. Here’s a breakdown of where we … Read more
Voters are going to have an interesting choice to make today when they set about picking the Number One Division III team in the nation. Plattsburgh, which has been on top of the poll for the past six weeks, lost to Skimore in its only action last week. Number Two UW-Superior also lost its only … Read more
It’s the New Years portion of the Holiday Tournament season, with several intriguing matchups in store: Salem State Ice Hockey Classic (Salem, Mass.) When: December 27 & 28 Who: Salem State (host), Salve Regina, Penn State, Bowdoin Outlook: Club powerhouse Penn State will take on the host Vikings in the first round. Bowdoin won this … Read more
The thing I remember most about former Oswego and Neumann goalie Bret Leonhardt was his size. At 6-7 he took up a lot of the net. Leonhardt, who played college hockey from 2003-2007 is now the webmaster for the Washington Capitals, and, due to a temporary goalie shortage, had to suit up as a backup … Read more
One of the many cool things about D-III hockey is the large number of holiday tournaments taking place (Division I has just two measly tourneys this weekend). Here’s a rundown of the action. Pack the Turkey sandwiches and catch some if you can: Primelink Great Northern Shootout When: November 28 & 29 Who: Middlebury (host), … Read more
The former St. John’s coach and Miracle-on-Icer is head coach of Ambri-Piotta in the Nationalliga A. (Swiss Premier League). Check out the fans with the Che flag, etc. Plenty of shots of Harrington on the bench. And yes, it’s in Italian. They speak Italian in this part of Switzerland. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQehVGGE1ig
Like all defending national champions, St. Norbert is looking to repeat. It’s easier said than done, unless you’re Middlebury, of course. Besides the Panthers’ incredible runs of three and five national titles, you have to go back to UW-Stevens Point in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s to find a team able to successfully defend … Read more
To St. Norbert, which finally broke through after so many close calls. Just a dominating defensive performance by the Green Knights, who never lost their poise. What can you say about Kyle Jones? Never before has a goalie not been scored on in a D-III Frozen Four. St. Norbert allowed just 43 goals this season … Read more
Lots more later. A well-earned victory by Tim Coghlin’s squad. Kyle Jones becomes the first goalie in D-III Frozen Four history to allow zero goals, posting his 24th and 25 career shutouts.
…on Plattsburgh. We’re midway through the third period and the Cards are having trouble getting to the net. St. Norbert is 25-0-3 this season when leading after two periods. Of course, when you only lose one game all season, ya gotta figure…
St. Norbert leads 2-0 after two periods, with Marc Belanger getting the second SNC goal off a power-play rush with a nice wrist shot that beat Bryan Hince cleanly. The Green Knights weathered a five-minute hitting from behind major to Pete Fylling and will have 1:15 of 5×3 to start the third period. Plattsburgh came … Read more
It took 148 minutes and 51 seconds of championship hockey, but the Green Knights finally broke through with a deflection by Ryan Peterson to make it 1-0 SNC. We’re now midway through the contest.
And we’re still scoreless. Plattsburgh will start the period with 44 seconds of power play to work with. Both goaltenders came up big at times, including a big glove save from Bryan Hince on Marc Belanger with about 2:45 to go in the period.