2023-24 NCAA Division I Hockey Thread

[AUS Fan]

Rick Zombo, who helped lead the transition of Lindenwood from the ACHA to a Division I independent, will not return as head coach, the school said Thursday, Feb. 29.

In more Lindenwood news - James Lambert, former assistant coach, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child sex abuse.

 

[JMCx4]

Rick Zombo, who helped lead the transition of Lindenwood from the ACHA to a Division I independent, will not return as head coach, the school said Thursday, Feb. 29.

Has anyone told @EddieTheEagle?

ETA: The LU Athletics Dept. version of the story ... Lindenwood Announces Change In Leadership For Men's Ice Hockey

 

[JMCx4]

In a tale of 2 Good Periods are Better Than 1, Penn State defeated Mercyhurst 1-0 on Saturday afternoon to repeat as CHA playoff champions. The Lady Lakers turned the momentum on a proverbial dime in the 3rd period, but Nittany Lions sophomore goalie Katie DeSa stood strong to earn the shutout & the championship. Congrats to the PSU ladies on securing the autobid into the national tournament for their second year in a row.

 

[JMCx4]

In the ECAC DI women's conference championship tournament best-of-3 quarterfinals this weekend, all 4 higher seeds swept their opponents and now move on to next weekend's semifinal matches (with no reseeding required). Cornell Big Red vs. Colgate Raiders and St. Lawrence Saints vs. Clarkson Golden Knights (March 8th), and the ECAC women's championship game (March 9th), will all be played at Colgate University's Class of 1965 Arena.

 

[JMCx4]

The Hockey East women completed their conference tournament Quarterfinals this weekend. Here are the results, with Recaps linked ...
• Boston College Eagles 2 - Providence Friars 1 (1OT)
• UConn Huskies 4 - Holy Cross Crusaders 2
• New Hampshire Wildcats 3 - Vermont Catamounts 0
• Northeastern Huskies 4 - Merrimack Warriors 1

The Semifinal games will be played on Wednesday, March 6th: BC vs. CT, and UNH vs. NEU.

 

[JMCx4]

The Atlantic Hockey Association post-season tourney first round play-in games were played on Saturday, leading the men's DI field into competition for the autobids into the NCAA national tournament ...

• Mercyhurst 2 at Canisius 5 / Box Score
• Robert Morris 4 at Bentley 3 (OT) / / Box Score
• Army West Point 1 at Niagara 4 / Box Score

Game Notes can be found HERE.

The AHA Quarterfinal matches will be played next weekend, as best-of-3 series ...

• #11 Robert Morris vs. #1 RIT
• #5 American International vs. #4 Air Force
• #7 Niagara vs. #3 Sacred Heart
• #8 Canisius vs. #2 Holy Cross

 

[JMCx4]

Congratulations to the Boston College DI men's team on clinching the 2023-24 Hockey East regular season championship, with a rare Sunday evening game vs. the University of New Hampshire Wildcats in an even rarer low scoring effort for the Eagles this season. Final Score = BC 1 - UNH 0. BC senior defender & team captain Eamon Powell scored the GWG in the 3rd period, on a transition play that somehow paralyzed the otherwise mobile UNH defenders & goalie. The shutout goes to freshman goalie Jacob Fowler, his second blank while giving him a season record of 26-5-1.

 

[JMCx4]

From: USCHO.com (on a Green Theme) ...

Monday 10: Regular-season championships getting clinched as playoff pictures coming into focus across college hockey conferences

By Jack Hittinger-March 4, 2024

Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature. ...

1. Beavers batter Mavs to clinch MacNaughton
The last time a team other than Minnesota State had its hands on the MacNaughton Cup, the CCHA didn’t even exist. That was in 2017.

Since then, the Mavericks had won six in a row, straddling two leagues–the WCHA and the CCHA. And it just so happens that the last team to win the cup in 2017 is also the one to break Minnesota State’s six-season lock on the 111-year-old trophy. ...

2. Fighting Hawks capture Penrose
The Beavers weren’t the only team in green to capture a league title this weekend. The second to do so was North Dakota, who swept Western Michigan 5-3 and 3-0 over the weekend to capture their sixth Penrose Cup in 11 seasons.

UND’s sweep, coupled with Denver’s sweep of St. Cloud State over the weekend, meant the Fighting Hawks were able to clinch the league title with a week left in the regular season. ...

3. Sparty wins first-ever B1G title
But wait, there’s more!

There was a third green-clad team to clinch a league title this weekend. Michigan State beat Wisconsin 5-2 on Friday night in Madison to win its first-ever Big Ten championship. ...


Read more at: Monday 10: Regular-season championships getting clinched as playoff pictures coming into focus across college hockey conferences - College Hockey | USCHO.com

 

[JMCx4]

DI arena news from College Hockey News ...

February 29, 2024

Wisconsin's Arena Moving to NHL Size for Next Season​

CHN Staff Report

Wisconsin will become the latest school to shrink its rink size down. In this case, the Kohl Center will undergo renovations this summer to reduce the size to 200x85, which is NHL size.

Since opening, the Kohl Center has been 200x97, just slightly below Olympic-size of 200x100.

The renovations are part of a larger project involving facilities for many of Wisconson's athletic programs.

"The Kohl Center is moving into a new era as to what's available here," Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings said. "Our young men come to the University of Wisconsin to get a degree and progress themselves as people and this this is an unbelievable opportunity for us to continue to evolve. With our nutrition center, a new academic center and weight room, and now an NHL-sized ice sheet, this adds another layer to help them prepare for life and for one of their goals of playing professionally and in the NHL." ...


Read more at: Wisconsin's Arena Moving to NHL Size for Next Season

February 28, 2024

Robert Morris Working on Plans for $28 Million New Arena

CHN Staff Report

Robert Morris University is looking to build a $28 million on-campus hockey arena. It has submitted a bid to get a $10 million grant from the state of Pennsylvania, and would attempt to raise the other $18 million through donors, naming rights and other areas.

The plan is for the arena to hold 2,500 seats, plus premium seating. Robert Morris' current arena holds half of that.

According to TribLive, included in the plan are state-of-the-art training facilities and locker rooms. The project would take 18 months to complete, with construction finished in 2027, if all goes according to plan. ...


Read more at: Robert Morris Working on Plans for $28 Million New Arena

 

[JMCx4]

Here's this week's men's DI PairWise from USCHO.com, as the 2023-24 regular seasons for the remaining conferences are coming to an end ...

Rnk	Team	PWR	W-L-T	W%	W% Rnk	RPI	RPI Rnk
1	Boston College	63	27-5-1	0.8333	1	0.6252*	1
2	Boston University	62	22-8-2	0.7188	7	0.6048	2
3	North Dakota	60	24-8-2	0.7353	2	0.6042*	3
3	Denver	60	23-8-3	0.7206	6	0.5931	4
5	Michigan State	59	22-9-3	0.6912	8	0.5873*	5
6	Wisconsin	58	25-9-2	0.7222	4	0.5845*	6
7	Minnesota	57	20-9-5	0.6618	11	0.5763	7
8	Quinnipiac	56	24-8-2	0.7353	2	0.5737*	8
9	Maine	55	20-10-2	0.6562	12	0.5709	9
10	Providence	53	18-11-3	0.6094	16	0.5575*	11
11	Colorado College	52	19-10-3	0.6406	13	0.5582	10
11	Massachusetts	52	19-10-3	0.6406	13	0.5556	12
13	Michigan	51	18-13-3	0.5735	19	0.5550*	13
14	St. Cloud	50	15-12-5	0.5469	20	0.5502	15
15	Western Michigan	49	18-13-1	0.5781	18	0.5530	14
16	Cornell	48	17-6-6	0.6897	9	0.5442	16
16	Omaha	48	18-10-4	0.6250	15	0.5441	17
18	New Hampshire	46	17-14-1	0.5469	20	0.5379	18
18	Arizona State	46	23-7-6	0.7222	4	0.5340*	19
20	Northeastern	44	16-15-2	0.5152	29	0.5331*	20
21	Notre Dame	43	15-17-2	0.4706	36	0.5222	21
22	Penn State	42	15-16-3	0.4853	34	0.5188	22
23	RIT	41	22-10-2	0.6765	10	0.5188	23
24	Connecticut	40	13-18-2	0.4242	44	0.5106	24
25	Alaska	39	15-14-3	0.5156	28	0.5095*	25
26	Holy Cross	38	18-12-4	0.5882	17	0.5094	26
27	Vermont	37	13-16-3	0.4531	41	0.5050	27
28	Minnesota Duluth	36	10-18-5	0.3788	53	0.5048	28
29	Dartmouth	35	11-9-9	0.5345	23	0.5040	29
30	Colgate	33	16-14-4	0.5294	24	0.5022	30
30	Merrimack	33	13-19-1	0.4091	48	0.5015*	31
32	AIC	32	16-14-4	0.5294	24	0.4973	32
33	Bemidji State	31	17-15-2	0.5294	24	0.4965	33
34	Ohio State	30	12-18-4	0.4118	46	0.4964	34
35	Clarkson	29	18-15-1	0.5441	22	0.4942*	35
36	Minnesota State	28	16-14-4	0.5294	24	0.4925	36
37	UMass Lowell	27	8-21-4	0.3030	61	0.4864	37
38	Union	26	15-16-3	0.4853	34	0.4856*	38
39	Michigan Tech	25	15-14-6	0.5143	30	0.4855	39
40	Alaska Anchorage	24	14-16-2	0.4688	37	0.4836*	40
40	Augustana	24	12-18-4	0.4118	46	0.4805	41
42	Air Force	22	18-17-1	0.5139	31	0.4799	42
43	St. Thomas	21	14-18-2	0.4412	43	0.4760	43
44	Bentley	20	16-17-2	0.4857	33	0.4748*	44
45	Niagara	19	16-16-3	0.5000	32	0.4736	45
46	Miami	18	7-22-3	0.2656	63	0.4671	46
47	Northern Michigan	16	12-14-6	0.4688	37	0.4661	48
48	Lake Superior	15	15-18-1	0.4559	39	0.4618	49
48	Yale	15	10-17-2	0.3793	52	0.4615	50
50	Sacred Heart	14	14-17-3	0.4559	39	0.4662	47
51	St. Lawrence	13	10-18-6	0.3824	51	0.4581	51
52	Harvard	12	6-17-6	0.3103	60	0.4580	52
52	LIU	12	15-19-1	0.4429	42	0.4558	53
54	Princeton	11	10-15-4	0.4138	45	0.4520	54
55	Rensselaer	9	9-21-4	0.3235	56	0.4473	55
56	Bowling Green	8	13-20-1	0.3971	50	0.4465	56
57	Canisius	7	12-19-4	0.4000	49	0.4449	57
57	Army	7	10-23-2	0.3143	58	0.4441	58
59	Robert Morris	5	11-23-3	0.3378	54	0.4348	59
60	Brown	4	8-18-3	0.3276	55	0.4342	60
61	Mercyhurst	3	9-22-4	0.3143	58	0.4317	61
62	Lindenwood	2	6-18-4	0.2857	62	0.4237	62
63	Ferris State	1	10-22-2	0.3235	56	0.4197	63
64	Stonehill	0	1-31-0	0.0312	64	0.3410	64

*Team's RPI has been adjusted to remove negative effect from defeating weak opponent.

A team is eligible for an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament if they have a traditional winning percentage at or above 50% and play at least 20 games against division I opponents. ...

 

[JMCx4]

And the USCHO.com PairWise rankings for the DI women's field ...

Rnk	Team	PWR	W-L-T	W%	W% Rnk	NPI	NPI Rnk
1	Ohio State	43	31-3-0	91.176	1	69.731*	1
2	Wisconsin	42	31-5-0	86.111	3	65.984*	2
3	Clarkson	41	31-3-2	88.889	2	64.752*	3
4	Colgate	40	29-6-1	81.944	4	64.256*	4
5	Minnesota	39	27-8-2	75.676	6	62.767*	5
6	Cornell	38	24-6-1	79.032	5	61.184*	6
7	St. Lawrence	37	27-9-0	75.000	8	60.466*	7
8	Minnesota Duluth	36	20-12-4	61.111	13	58.981	8
9	Quinnipiac	35	25-11-1	68.919	10	58.461*	9
10	Connecticut	34	23-7-5	72.857	9	56.739	10
11	St. Cloud State	33	17-17-2	50.000	22	55.999	11
12	Princeton	31	14-12-6	53.125	19	54.939	12
12	Northeastern	31	24-10-3	68.919	10	54.643	13
14	Penn State	30	22-12-3	63.514	12	54.569	14
14	Yale	30	16-15-1	51.562	21	54.082	15
16	Mercyhurst	28	20-17-1	53.947	18	52.906	16
17	Boston College	26	15-13-7	52.857	20	52.404	18
18	New Hampshire	25	18-15-2	54.286	17	52.894*	17
18	LIU	25	28-9-0	75.676	6	52.045*	19
18	Brown	25	12-17-3	42.188	29	51.868	20
21	Minnesota State	23	13-25-0	34.211	34	51.674#	21
21	Providence	23	13-17-5	44.286	24	51.005	22
23	Rensselaer	20	13-18-4	42.857	28	49.831	24
24	Vermont	19	13-17-5	44.286	24	50.543	23
24	Maine	19	15-18-2	45.714	23	49.676	25
26	St. Thomas	18	10-26-1	28.378	36	49.667#	26
26	Boston University	18	14-18-3	44.286	24	49.169	27
28	Robert Morris	16	15-19-1	44.286	24	48.365#	28
28	Merrimack	16	11-22-3	34.722	33	48.353#	29
30	Saint Anselm	13	20-16-1	55.405	15	47.943	30
30	Stonehill	13	20-15-2	56.757	14	47.730	32
32	Franklin Pierce	12	18-15-1	54.412	16	47.829	31
33	RIT	11	13-19-3	41.429	31	47.374	33
34	Dartmouth	10	6-21-3	25.000	39	46.918#	34
34	Lindenwood	10	11-19-2	37.500	32	46.552#	35
36	Harvard	8	5-23-2	20.000	42	46.054#	36
37	Union	7	8-25-2	25.714	38	46.007#	37
38	Holy Cross	6	8-24-3	27.143	37	45.509	38
39	Bemidji State	5	4-30-2	13.889	43	45.471	39
40	Syracuse	4	7-24-3	25.000	39	45.357#	40
41	Sacred Heart	3	15-21-2	42.105	30	44.944	41
42	Assumption	2	10-22-4	33.333	35	42.493	42
43	Post	1	8-28-1	22.973	41	40.428#	43
44	St. Michael's	0	0-35-1	1.389	44	34.500#	44

*Team's NPI has been adjusted to remove negative effect from defeating weak opponent.

#Team's NPI has been adjusted to remove positive effects from losing to strong opponent. ...

 

[JMCx4]

FloHockey.tv's Jacob Messing gets us back to conference tournament DI hockey talk ... 2024 Atlantic Hockey Postseason: Quarterfinal Preview

 

[JMCx4]

The Hockey East women's tournament resumes today (Wed. Mar. 6th). Here's a rundown of the Semifinal matchups ...

WOMEN'S WEEKLY RELEASE: BC, UCONN, UNH, NORTHEASTERN SET FOR SEMIFINAL BATTLES

22nd Hockey East Women's Tournament Concludes Saturday

Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 ...

#4 Boston College visits #1 UConn on Wednesday at 7pm (ET) in the Hockey East Women’s Tournament semifinals on NESN. The Eagles and Huskies have clashed 10 times prior in the post season, including three semifinal match ups. BC holds a 6-4 overall record with a 2-1 mark in the semifinals. Boston College seeks to return to the title game for the first time since 2019 while UConn has advanced to the final game of the season three times in the past six years.

#3 New Hampshire returns to the semifinals for the first time since 2020, traveling to #2 Northeastern at 4:30pm (ET) on NESN. The Wildcats downed the Huskies in the 2004 semifinals and hold a 2-5 overall record against Northeastern in the postseason. UNH has not appeared in a final contest since 2009, the Wildcats capped a four-year run as tournament champions. Northeastern looks to capture a record seve(n)th consecutive Bertagna Trophy. ...

Read more at: Women's Weekly Release: BC, UConn, UNH, Northeastern Set for Semifinal Battles - Hockey East Association | HEA

 

[JMCx4]

FloHockey's Chris Peters goes the podcast route to preview the CCHA conference playoffs. which start on Friday, March 8th with the best-of-3 Quarterfinal series.

 

[JMCx4]

The HEA women's conference championship game will be an All-Huskies affair, with Northeastern University facing off against University of Connecticut @ UConn starting 12 Noon ET on Saturday 3/9. The victors will earn the autobid to the 2024 NCAA DI women's national tournament. Oh, and the Bertagna Trophy, too.

#2 seed Northeastern eliminated #3 seed UNH on Wednesday night in their Semifinal matchup, with all scoring registered in the final period of regulation. The Wildcats tied the game 1-1 with under 7 minutes left in the 3rd period. But the referee wrote the rest of the script when the Wildcats were penalized on a ticky tacky call with under 4 minutes left on the clock, and NeU's sophomore forward Lilly Shannon netted the GWG with just one second left in the advantage. Northeastern added two ENGs to make the score look more lopsided than the play was. Final Score = Northeastern 4 - New Hampshire 1. The Game Recap can be found HERE.

In the second Semifinal game, #1 seed UConn took a 1-0 lead over #4 seed Boston College early in the 1st period. The Huskies held BC scoreless until the first shift of the 3rd brought on a penalty call against Connecticut, and the Eagles capitalized to tie the game. OT was required to break that tie, when the GWG was scored by the Huskies' senior forward Kathryn Stockdale in the tenth minute of the extra session. Final Score = UConn 2 - BC 1. Official Game Recap to follow posted HERE. .

 

[Dakota Sioux]

New USCHO Bracketology is out:

BRACKETOLOGY: Getting closer to season's end, the UMass conundrum is solved, but other issues lie ahead in seeding the NCAA field - College Hockey | USCHO.com

Welcome back to Bracketology. If you're ever heard the term of going down a rabbit's hole, that's what I am facing this week. I began putting my brackets

www.uscho.com

UMass moving up to a #3 seed solves the issue of swapping #1 seeds around to place them in their host spot.

Providence Regional
1. Boston College
2. Quinnipiac
3. Maine
4. Bemidji State (or CCHA champion)

Springfield, Mass. Regional
1. Boston University
2. Minnesota
3. Massachusetts (regional host)
4. St. Cloud State

Sioux Falls, S.D. Regional
1. North Dakota
2. Michigan State
3. Colorado College
4. RIT (or AHA champion)

Maryland Heights, Mo. Regional
1. Denver
2. Wisconsin
3. Providence
4. Michigan

I

 

[JMCx4]

This "Bracketology" guy sure is prone to flights of fancy. To wit, he's clearly trippin' with such proclamations as: "First, I’d love to get Wisconsin to Maryland Heights, which is a community known for its love of the Badgers." That notion didn't come from any dark corner of reality, unless the one gentleman who looks like Santa Claus & regularly attends college hockey games @ Centene Ice wearing his Badgers jersey (and shorts) has about 1,500 head of crazed sports-fan reindeer grazing out back in the Missouri River flood plain.

 

[JMCx4]

In the ECAC women's championship semifinals on Friday ...

• Clarkson advances to ECAC Championship Game with 3-1 win over SLU

• Colgate Punches Ticket To ECAC Final

The Colgate Raiders will host the Clarkson Golden Knights in the Championship Final on Saturday 3/9, streaming on ESPN+ starting at 5 PM ET.

 

[JMCx4]

Also Back East, the Hockey East women's championship competitors will face off (literally & figuratively) @ High Noon Eastern Time on Saturday (ESPNU, ESPN+, etc.) ...

• Boston Globe/MSN: Dave Flint’s NU team is confident heading into women’s Hockey East final, and why not?

• UConn Athletics: NO. 1 SEED HUSKIES FACE NO. 2 SEED NORTHEASTERN IN HOCKEY EAST CHAMPIONSHIP

 

[JMCx4]

Friday's WCHA Frozen Faceoff pairs determined the matchup for Saturday's women's conference championship game (2 PM Central on B1G+) ...

• Ohio State defeats Minnesota Duluth in Final Faceoff opener, 5-0

• Wisconsin headed to title game of Final Faceoff after overtime thriller

 

[JMCx4]

Catching up on the NEWHA conference post-season, the #3 seed Stonehill Skyhawks will host the #5 seed Franklin Pierce Ravens on Saturday (that's today) for the conference championship. The champion will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA National Collegiate Tournament. Here's how each team prevailed in their semifinal match ...

• Schuck's Hat Trick and Casey’s OT Winner Sends Ravens to NEWHA Championship
• Women's Hockey Takes Down Saint Anselm, 3-2, in Overtime to Cement Spot in NEWHA Finals

And here's a Finals preview, in the words of the competitors ... Inside the NEWHA - Championship Preview

 

[JMCx4]

Congratulations to the UConn women's DI team on winning their first Hockey East post-season championship, defeating their namesake opponent from Northeastern University. Game summary from The Boston Globe/MSN ... UConn defeats Northeastern in overtime to win Hockey East women’s tournament title

The Connecticut-based Huskies now await their seeding & bracketing for the national tournament, which will be announced on Sunday March 10th @ noon Eastern Time on ESPNews (and maybe ESPN+ ?).

 

[JMCx4]

And equal congrats to the nationally ranked #4 Colgate Raiders women's team, who have now four-peated as ECAC post-season champions by defeating the #3 Clarkson Golden Knights by a final score of 3-0 in regulation. Two of those ENG goals scored in the final 2 minutes as the Knights valiantly battled to catch up.

Both teams will play in the NCAA national tournament, but the Raiders have secured the ECAC autobid & its advantageous seeding.

 

[Bondurant]

Waiting for the Wings game. Killing time watching UMASS v MAINE. The barn in Maine is electric. When they scored the roof popped off the building. I need to take better advantage of ESPN+ and watch more NCAA hockey.

 

[JMCx4]

Stick taps to the Stonehill College Skyhawks ... Women's Hockey Crowned NEWHA Champions After Overtime Thriller Against Franklin Pierce

Their next stop: Round 1 of the 2024 NCAA DI women's tournament, someday & sometime (both TDB & TBA).