Season previews for leagues
Last year’s champion Massachusetts-Boston defeated regular season champion Norwich 2-0 to win the NEHC Tournament. Favorites Norwich gets the nod to repeat as champions. They are currently ranked no. 6 in the USCHO poll. Holy Cross has a strong defense as well as scoring from the blue line. Dark horse St. Anselm has a potent … Read more
With two ranked teams, the NCHA looks to be a race to the NCAA tournament. Adrian and St. Scholastica are early favorites, but other teams like St. Norbert could have something to say about that. Last year’s champion Adrian was the regular season and conference tournament champions. They lost to Elmira in the first round … Read more
Though it’s a small conference, the WIAC boasts some of the country’s top teams, including Wisconsin-River Falls. Last year’s champion Wisconsin-River Falls won the regular season crown with 18 points and a 9-3 conference record. They defeated Wis.-Stevens Point to win the O’Brien Cup and the WIAC Tournament championship. The Falcons would go on to … Read more
With multiple NCAA tournament teams, including the national champion from last year, the ECAC West might be the toughest conference in the country. It will be changing after this year however, as Elmira, Utica, Neumann, and William Smith have all announced they’ll be joining the new United Collegiate Hockey Conference for the 2017-18 season. Last … Read more
The rest of the MASCAC conference watched a two-team battle unfold last year between Salem State and Plymouth State in determining the conference championship. This year, the battle looks to be again waged between the two rivals with a question around who else is going to emerge as a worthy challenger for the crown. The … Read more
The conference championship game was canceled last season due to a campus outbreak amongst hockey players at St. Anselm, and the title by conference edict was given to the top-seed Stonehill Skyhawks. This year, all of the teams hope the ultimate conference champion will be decided on the ice, and it is no surprise that … Read more
The conference is going through some upheaval off the ice, what with the departure of the University of New England to the CCC, school solvency issues with the Daniel Webster College program, and, most recently, the decision to not renew St. Anselm and St. Michael’s conference participation for the 2017-18 season, making the conference an … Read more
What better way to look at a conference preview than through the eyes of the coach of the defending champions, who just so happens to be the same guy whose team has the bullseye on them, according to the other coaches in the conference. Geneseo’s Chris Schultz understands why his team was the coaches’ pick, … Read more
For Hobart coach Mark Taylor, the philosophy is pretty simple: “Go out and win as many hockey games as you can and respect all but fear none.” With new conference configurations and new teams entering next season, this final year of play in the current ECAC West brings a new entrant from Stevenson College in … Read more
Last year’s champion Stevenson was the inaugural regular season and CHC tournament champion. Favorites Endicott topped Stevenson in the conference preseason poll by just two points. The Gulls return most of their roster, while Stevenson graduated 13 players. Dark horse If anyone will unseat the top two, it’s Morrisville State College. They made a great … Read more
Last year’s champion Adrian and St. Norbert tied for the regular-season championship, sharing the Peter’s Cup for most points (35) in the regular season. Adrian won the Harris Cup, but it was St Norbert that made the deepest run in the NCAA tournament, advancing to the final, where it lost 5-1 to Wis.-Stevens Point. Adrian … Read more
Last year’s champion Wis.-River Falls and Wis.-Eau Claire shared the regular-season league championship. It was the 18th time in program history the Falcons have won a title. The Blugolds won their second league crown. Wis.-Stevens Point won the WIAC tourney, though, and enjoyed a memorable postseason run, winning its fifth NCAA championship with a 5-1 … Read more
Last year’s champion Augsburg won the regular season and conference tournament titles last year. The Auggies topped St. John’s 5-4 in a triple-overtime thriller in the MIAC title game and went on to play in the NCAA tournament, where they fell to St. Norbert 6-1 in the quarterfinal round. Favorites Augsburg, St. John’s, and St. … Read more
With the 2016-17 season here, how do the teams stack up in Hockey East? Our columnists make valid points and make bold predictions. Boston College If Boston College were any other program, you might resign to the fact that 2016-17 will be a rebuilding season. It looked like after last season’s run to the Frozen … Read more
Times are changing for Hockey East and a quick look at the league’s coaches poll proves that not only is this no longer your father’s Hockey East, it might not even be your older sibling’s Hockey East. It has been five years since Boston College ripped off four straight postseason titles. And in that time … Read more
What can we expect in ECAC Hockey during the 2016-17 season? Our columnists have the rundown of all the teams, in alphabetical order: Brown Brown had a rough go of it last season. The Bears’ five wins marked the third straight year the program’s win total had dropped since appearing in the conference championship game … Read more
Departures are inevitable in college hockey, but the top ECAC Hockey teams seemed to have been hit especially hard last offseason. Most notable were Harvard’s Jimmy Vesey, who ended his four-year career in Cambridge by winning the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s top player, and Yale goalie Alex Lyon, who signed a professional contract … Read more
As the Big Ten teams enter the 2016-17 campaign, each club has strong assets returning, but question marks as well. Here are the six team capsules, in alphabetical order: Michigan Last season 25-8-5, 12-5-3-2 Big Ten (second) Lost to North Dakota in the deciding game of the 2016 Midwest Regional. Names to know One of … Read more
Going into year four of the Big Ten, Minnesota is once again picked to be atop of the standings, but that’s about the only thing that has been consistent over the four seasons the conference has been in existence. Well, kind of. Aside from the inaugural season where the Gophers and Wisconsin made the NCAA … Read more
It’s only early October, but the Atlantic Hockey schools are already planning to still be playing meaningful games next spring. Here are the AHC team capsules in predicted order of finish: 1. Rochester Institute of Technology Last Season 18-15-6, 14-9-5 (fifth) in the Atlantic Hockey. Won playoff title and lost to Quinnipiac in the first … Read more