Before I get into the trivial stuff, condolences to everyone in the Miami hockey family after the loss of student assistant Brendan Burke. You had to be struck by Burke’s courage, which a lot of us came to realize in an ESPN.com article. He’s gone far too soon, but I’m guessing there are a lot … Read more
Some random (and not-so-random) thoughts after the 17th week of the season: * I keep telling myself that the PairWise means nothing at this time of the year. I don’t listen. * I’m very interested to see where North Dakota comes up in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll on Monday. For the last two … Read more
A few random (and not-so-random) thoughts after the 16th week of the season: * The lead of this blog really should be about how great a weekend of hockey we just saw, but I just feel compelled to repeat what I learned this weekend. Speaking after his team beat Lake Superior State 6-1 on Friday, … Read more
MADISON, Wis. — The term playoff atmosphere gets thrown around after weekends like these, but the reality is this type of game most often doesn’t get played in front of partisan crowds. You usually see college hockey at this level on neutral ice in a conference or NCAA tournament, not when there’s still almost two … Read more
Maybe you’ve seen this already. If you haven’t, it’s worth a look for the production value if nothing else. Like most schools with a video board, Alaska has an intro sequence that plays before the game. I’m not sure anything I’ve seen tops this in terms of graphics talent, but there are some head-scratching moments … Read more
Some random (and not-so-random) thoughts after the 15th week of the season: * You’ve got to think there’s at least a bit of panic at Quinnipiac. A team that finished November with a 12-1 record has fallen on hard times — big time. In December and so far in January, the Bobcats are 1-8-1. They … Read more
Some random (and not-so-random) thoughts after the 14th week of the season: * I think it’s time for a new No. 1. I just wish, for the sake of further believing in my poll ballot, that Denver had stepped up and emphatically taken that top spot instead of just moving up by not losing. Robert … Read more
You may have heard the criticism of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program at some point. In short, it goes like this: Too much money on too few players. I’m guessing you’d get a “bring it on” kind of look from a pro-NTDP person today if you tried to start the argument. The majority … Read more
A few thoughts in an abbreviated (and delayed … thanks, Sunday tournament games) edition: * Here’s a good read from Roy MacGregor of The Globe and Mail about the college-vs.-major junior issue, tied to the differences in the United States and Canadian World Junior Championship teams. In the end, the choice between the two routes … Read more
Here are some interesting numbers from the 21-year history of the Badger Hockey Showdown, which came to a close Sunday with Wisconsin beating Yale in a shootout for the title: 34 — Teams that have played in the tournament. Bowling Green and Yale were the most frequently invited guests, each appearing four times. 18 — … Read more
It seems like we hear about one travel-related nightmare around the holidays every year. This year, it was Yale having quite the adventure trying to get to Madison, Wis., for the Badger Hockey Showdown. The Bulldogs left New Haven on Thursday but then, according to coach Keith Allain, spent about 3 1/2 hours waiting on … Read more
A quick follow-up to the tournament rankings I posted the other day: A reader named John Cavanaugh e-mailed to let me know he crunched the numbers using KRACH and RPI rankings, and the results were fairly similar. Here are the rankings he came up with using KRACH: 1. Badger Hockey Showdown (15.75) 2. Wells Fargo … Read more
Here’s wishing a belated happy holidays to all of our faithful USCHO readers. This week’s edition is more of what I’ve crunched rather than what I think. For the past couple of seasons, I’ve ranked the holiday tournaments by combined winning percentage of the teams involved. I can’t exactly remember why — probably because, when … Read more
Some random thoughts this week, while I read up on the Torpedo system: * Bob Daniels for coach of the year? Sounds OK to me if we’re voting right now, which, of course, we’re not. All credit to Tom Serratore at Bemidji State and Rand Pecknold at Quinnipiac, but Daniels, the Ferris State coach, has … Read more
Another collection of random (and not-so-random) thoughts after the ninth week of the season: * Just when I start to question Miami’s fitness as the No. 1 team in the country, the RedHawks shut out Notre Dame for the weekend. Thanks for clearing that up. * Something Michigan Tech coach Jamie Russell said in the … Read more
Driving home through four states on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend? Not fun. But the trip that yielded that ride home also yielded some more insight on college hockey this season, so here goes with this week’s installment of some random (and not-so-random) thoughts: * Of the four teams in the College Hockey Showcase, the … Read more
Week 7 already? College hockey season is already a quarter done? And what do we know? Probably not as much as we think we know, but here goes anyway: * We have our first teams to 10 victories on the season, and if you had Quinnipiac and Bemidji State in that exacta box, pick up … Read more
Some random (and not-so-random) thoughts after the sixth week of the season: * Part of you has to feel bad for Niagara. As close as the Purple Eagles come to getting their first victory of the season, they just can’t get it done. Saturday at Robert Morris, they were up 3-1 midway through the game … Read more
Some random (and some not-so-random) thoughts after the fifth week of the season: * Defending national champion Boston University is 2-5 overall and 1-4 in Hockey East play. There’s not much more you can say to illustrate how much things can change from one season to the next. The Terriers had six overall losses and … Read more
Part of the draw was to see which Minnesota team would take the ice at the Kohl Center on Friday. (Part of the draw, of course, was the Wisconsin-Minnesota rivalry — something a college hockey fan should experience in either building at least once.) Would it be the Golden Gophers that were shut out in … Read more