It stands to reason that the new Penn State men’s and women’s hockey programs will be affected in at least some way by the sex abuse scandal that has enveloped the school and athletic department. The school’s president, Graham Spanier, who appeared at the introductory press conference for the program last September, is out. Athletic … Read more
Here’s your latest look at what the Division I men’s college hockey conferences will look like in 2013-14, when realignment comes around. Bowling Green has committed to the WCHA and Notre Dame has said it’s going to Hockey East, which gives everyone from the current CCHA a new home. ATLANTIC HOCKEY (12 teams, unchanged) Air … Read more
Following up on an earlier post on how the conferences will look in 2013-14, when the Big Ten and National Collegiate Hockey Conference form, here’s the breakdown after the NCHC’s addition of St. Cloud State and Western Michigan: ATLANTIC HOCKEY (12 teams, unchanged) Air Force * American International # Army * Bentley # Canisius * … Read more
In November, Rochester Institute of Technology launched a fundraising effort designed to secure $15 million needed to fund a new hockey arena for its men’s and women’s teams. So when school president William W. Destler got to the part of his annual President’s Address about building projects on campus, naturally, the potential for a new … Read more
We got a request via email the other day to publish what the conference structure will look like in 2013-14, when the Big Ten and National Collegiate Hockey Conference begin play. The situation is still fluid, of course, but let’s take a look at what we have at the moment. One caveat: I left the … Read more
It might be time for us to get out some asterisks or some other notation for our list of college hockey-related players selected in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. That’s because in the give and take that is the often tenuous relationship between college hockey and major juniors, there has been an awful lot of … Read more
Here’s an email that came to us recently that the writer, Brian Patterson of Minneapolis, agreed to let us publish: As a big college hockey fan, I have been following the recent developments closely and my concern, like many, is that the new conferences are completely ignoring the great history of college hockey. Consider this … Read more
While we try to catch our breath during this relatively quiet couple of days in the great offseason shakeup of 2011, here are a few videos that got posted in the madness of the last week: Here’s the news conference at which the National Collegiate Hockey Conference was launched: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T1srgi4t10 Here’s a video produced by … Read more
One gets the sense that there are some hard feelings growing around college hockey, and it might get worse before it gets better. Sources say that Colorado College, Denver, Miami, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota will strike out on their own in a newly formed conference beginning with the 2013-14 season. It’s hard to do, … Read more
It’s the time of the year when we turn our attention to Florida and the American Hockey Coaches Association convention in Naples. Things start Wednesday afternoon with some committee meetings before the real deal gets going on Thursday. The conferences add their own annual meetings either before or after the convention, and this year there’s … Read more
The firing of George Roll at Clarkson on Monday makes it four current Division I men’s schools in need of a head coach, but there are signs that the number will be shrinking this week. I’m still not sure whether that will be thanks to Michigan Tech, however. Longtime Michigan assistant and Michigan Tech alum … Read more
Maybe you’ve seen this YouTube video already this week, but if you haven’t, it’s worth eight minutes of your time, even amid the NCAA tournament madness we’re about to enjoy. Even if you don’t cheer for Western Michigan, even if you don’t have a stake in the Broncos’ stay in the NCAA tournament, it’s good … Read more
Part of this is for my own sanity. Great timing of the Big Ten Conference to announce it’s going to start men’s hockey in 2013-14, right during the busiest time of the college hockey season. Although, to its benefit, at least the league didn’t announce it during the conference tournaments. And, in its defense, I … Read more
We knew it wouldn’t take long for the Penn State program to take shape, and we’re starting to see a little bit of that emerge, on multiple levels. This week, we learned the names of two Nittany Lions recruits thanks to recruiting guru Chris Heisenberg: forward Jake Friedman of the Eastern Junior Hockey League’s South … Read more
No matter the teams or the heat of the rivalries between them, it always seems like you can pair two equipment managers and find a pretty close bond. It’s not that hard to figure out why: On the list of not-thanked-enough people in hockey, the equipment manager has to be pretty close to the top. … Read more
UPDATE: FSN Rocky Mountain has released its 12-game schedule, which is reflected in the list below. UPDATED AGAIN: FSN North has released its schedule for Minnesota games, and those are in the list. We’ll find a more permanent home for this soon, but with the first entry on Sunday, I wanted to get our working … Read more
The WCHA preseason polls were released the other day, and, to my mind, there weren’t many surprises near the top. North Dakota is a solid favorite for the MacNaughton Cup, Minnesota-Duluth and St. Cloud State should be in the mix and Denver could be hanging around the top, even without a number of the players … Read more
Since we posted the original group of statements reacting to Penn State’s announcement Friday that it’s adding men’s and women’s varsity hockey programs, a few more have come in from interested CCHA parties. Here’s one obtained by USCHO’s J. Justin Boggs. Mark Osiecki, Ohio State coach: “We’re excited Penn State is starting Division I hockey … Read more
Penn State has issued a lengthy list of statements from hockey dignitaries regarding its announcement that it is starting varsity programs for men and women in 2012. Here’s what they’re saying: Gary Bettman, NHL commissioner: “The National Hockey League would like to congratulate Penn State University on its entry into NCAA hockey’s Division I. Given … Read more
The WCHA and CCHA were quick to issue statements after Penn State’s news conference Friday. Here’s WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod: “Any time we receive news like this we are all excited, and on behalf of the entire membership of the WCHA, we welcome Penn State to the world of college hockey and wish them all … Read more