I jumped into the comments of a recent post on Western College Hockey taking some to task for not wanting to help teams like Bemidji State for the wrong reasons. Good to see Chris and The Rink Rat on the same side as well.

Bottom line for me is, worrying about conference strength especially in terms of PWR and KRACH when making scheduling decisions or who should be in is a recipe for disaster in college hockey. This is currently forced upon teams and creates a huge gap of the haves and have-nots. Sooner or later, someone will have to step up and begin to bring all of NCAA Hockey into balance, or will risk having the same sort of situation as college football, where to give any “second tier” team a chance, they’ll need a special provision. I think there’s an opportunity to fix this somewhere and raise the level of hockey across the board.

It’s time to band behind the schools that want to stay in college hockey, and those who want to join the ranks and bring up the game as a whole. I only wish there were more schools that wanted to pour time, money and effort into being successful college squads.

Speaking of the PWR. Lots of interesting things to look at. Who would’ve thought RIT was going to play such a role this season. The Tigers are tip-toeing the 25 spot on the RPI despite, and despite being ineligible for the post-season, these last few games could flip some comparisons for teams above them. RIT is also hunting for its first banner at the Division I level as they try to capture the Atlantic Hockey regular season title. All eyes are also on the Western Michigan / LSSU series. Western sits in 24th in the RPI and LSSU is in 27th. The cliff could make a big difference this year.

Teams 12 through 20 on the PWR. It’s do or die time. It’s already the playoffs for these teams, a loss this weekend makes every game in the playoffs a must win. The Vermont / BU and Wisconsin / Michigan Tech series are looking pretty threatening for all involved. BU can take a couple of bullets, but the other three it’s go time. This group includes St. Lawrence who with a win will seal the ECACHL conference championship. Regardless of that accomplishment, they still need help in the playoffs to get that bid.

While everyone is looking at the bubble, there’s a phenomenal matchup at the top of the heap with Minnesota and St. Cloud going at it. SCSU is coming off a rough 1-2-2 stretch, but is still in the hunt for that #1 seed. If they can take three points from the Gophers, they’ll be well on their way. A huge test for both teams just a couple of weeks before the playoffs.

Both North Dakota and Denver want to come away with no less than a split this weekend. Both are middle of the PWR pack, and a sweep would definitely put extra pressure on the loser heading into the end of the season.

We’ve been oddly silent lately. Perhaps it’s the numerous beerfests in the Northeast. Maybe a hundred inches of snow in Upstate NY, or the two inch sheet of ice I removed from my car this morning. Yet, despite all of this wintery goodness, all of us in hockey land know that this is the calm before the storm.

For those keeping a close eye on the various indicators that lead to the NCAA tournament, none seem more volatile this year than the esteemed Pairwise Rankings, and with nearly every game flipping rankings below sixth place, I firmly believe that we’re going to have some spectacular controversies that will either lead to a move to the KRACH, or yet another “tweaking” of the PWR that will “fix” the problems from the previous year, but probably open up a new array of issues for the following season.

With just two weeks to go in the regular season, the NCAA field is WIDE open. While the top four teams in the PWR can be pretty confident that they’re in the tourney when it’s all set and done, none of them are assured of a #1 seed yet. Ties every weekend for the last month aren’t helping anyone stand out either. Once we get outside of this group, things get even more wild. You find a group of “second tier” PWR teams hitting their stride, and regardless of how many wins they rifle off you don’t see them going to a #1 seed. Teams like Clarkson, Boston University and North Dakota are looking particularly dangerous right now.

Then things get REALLY interesting because PWR spots 12-18 are filled with teams separated by only four comparisons. We’ve got a 20 game winner already in Miami, in this group and a 12 game winner in Cornell. We’ve got a team with a losing record in the 13-14-5 Michigan Tech Huskies. Traditional power Boston College is sitting on the bubble tied for 14th with their new Hockey East breathren Vermont, although this evening’s victory over Maine certainly helps their cause. On the outside looking in? 13-15-2 Wisconsin?! And lets not even get me going on the insanity that will occur if Wisconsin takes 3 or 4 points from St. Cloud this weekend.

If a .500 team (or near .500) makes the tournament on an at-large bid, the world will just implode. Second, it’s not often powerhouse teams like Boston College or Wisconsin are on the short-end of the tournament selection process. Their fans will not be happy. With all of the juggling near the bubble, Niagara still has a chance to be an at-large.

It’s time to do some PWR watching, and it’s time for fans all over the country to start biting their nails. Very few teams are safe as we head into the post-season tournament. Just some random thoughts on the good ole PWR.

What an incredible Cinderella story, this unknown comes outta no where to lead the pack, at Augusta. He’s on his final hole, he’s about 455 yards away – he’s gonna hit about a two-iron I think. Oh he got all of that one! The crowd is standing on its feet here, the normally reserved Augusta crowd – going wild – for this young Cinderella, he’s come outta no where, he’s got about 350 yards left, he’s gonna hit about a five-iron, don’t you think? He’s got a beautiful backswing – that’s – Oh he got all of that one! He’s gotta be pleased with that, the crowd is just on its feet here, uh – He’s the Cinderella boy, uh – tears in his eyes I guess as he lines up this last shot, he’s got about 195 yards left, he’s got about a – its looks like he’s got about an eight-iron. This crowd has gone deathly silent, the Cinderella story, outta no where, a former greenskeeper now – about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac – It’s in the Hole!

In a call that I have never seen, and may never seen again, RPI defenseman Reid Kipp was hit with a triple minor in tonight’s contest between RPI and Colgate. Kipp and Colgate forward Dustin Gillanders were assessed matching minor penalties when Kipp was given additional time for the extra curricular activity.  To add insult to penalty, RPI surrendered it’s second multiple goal lead of the weekend and lost to the Raiders 3-2.  The box score can be seen here. Just another night in the new ECACHL.

Yep. You heard right. They called the Boston College / Boston University game due to fog after about nine minutes of play at Conte Forum this evening. The combination of the temperature being near 70 degrees in Boston ahead of the big storm, the air saturated with moisture, and the A/C failing being non-existent at Conte, it didn’t take long for rink to fill with fog once the players hit the ice. No word yet on rescheduling this one and if it’ll start from scratch or midway through the game. No the picture is not from the game, but you could understand why you might not want to play in the fog.

Clarkson, Boston College, Vermont… not Notre Dame.. but still, three out of four ain’t bad. We’re getting pretty certain over here that the TOTW is generally the kiss of death for the next weekend. My bet is on Denver for being next. I actually have no clue who the next TOTW is but sweeping Wisconsin who is a darling in the polls, seems to be the obvious choice. They’ll face Michigan Tech. Based on the past few weeks, I’m calling it: Michigan Tech 14, Denver 1 and Michigan Tech 2, Denver 1 (ot.) Sorry Damien and Pioneer fans, this isn’t about the team, this is about the curse (and me trying to jinx the curse that jinxes teams, lest you want Mr. Wodon to continue to shoot lasers out of his eyes at your squads.)

(edit: Denver IS CHN’s Team of the Week)

We’ve added a few more worthy college hockey blogs to our “BlogRoll” over on the right hand side recently.

Writer for Eagle Tribune out of Lawrence, MA and newly added staff writer Mike McMahon’s Warrior Rink Rat Blog is one of the most in-depth team blogs out there, and is worth a look especially if your team is facing Merrimack on any given night.

The UNH Hockey Blog is up and rolling. TheTempGuy is doing a fine job there, but he’s looking for some extra help, so if any of you Wildcat die-hards are interested, be sure to drop him a line.

We’ve linked up the Northern Wildcats blog of Mining Journal writer Matt Wellens.

We’d also like to welcome aboard Damien “dggoddard” Goddard of LetsGoDU! (one of the inspirations for Brett and I starting to blog our respective team) to the College Hockey News staff. He’s been weighing in on a wasted Ivy League scandal and long distance romances in the WCHA in his new column the Penalty Box, which we’re sure will be awesome.

If I was Boston College coach Jerry York, and I was creating a schedule for next year, aside from the Beanpot, I would avoid scheduling games on weekdays. For the second consecutive week, the Eagles have fallen, and fallen big, this time to Harvard at a sold out Bright Hockey Center 4-0 on Tuesday. I suspect a couple of the players tried to hop on the #86 and transfer over the Green Line instead of taking the team bus back to campus.

Freshman goalie Kyle Richter stood on his head in the victory stopping all 36 of BC’s shots in front of a sell-out crowd. Richter was initiated in his first collegiate game by Clarkson on Friday, but Coach Donato called his number on Tuesday and he obviously came through for the Crimson, helped along by a balanced scoring effort from the Harvard offense.

This opens up the Pandora’s Box once again. BC, where’s the consistency? Sweep Wisconsin, lose to Providence, shutout Vermont, lose to Harvard? And Harvard! Were you guys asleep at the wheel the first three games of the season? Can you make up the ground and still be a force in the ECAC? Three in the loss column is a lot to make up.

What are the Cornell fans thinking about this upcoming weekend now that Harvard has a notch in their belt? I suspect most were licking their chops, but suddenly it’s not so simple anymore.

It’s just a month into the season, and already we’ve seen a lot of interesting and unusual things.

Take Providence, for instance. Despite faltering down the stretch last season, the Friars certainly seemed much improved under first-year coach and fan-favorite alum Tim Army.

PC was slated to open with five straight at home this year, against Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Bowling Green, Notre Dame and Merrimack. Five quite winnable games.

You wouldn’t have blamed any Friar fan for thinking a 5-0 start was in the cards, but instead, the faithful were left confused and confounded when PC managed only one win in those five games, 4-2 over SLU. Even Merrimack, which won only three of 27 league games a year ago — including a season-ending win in Providence — tacked another loss onto the home club’s record.

Fast forward to last night, with No. 3 Boston College in town — fresh off an impressive sweep of defending NCAA champion Wisconsin. But a 2-0 Eagle lead after one didn’t hold up. PC outshot BC, 33-19, over the last two periods (42-29 on the night), buried four of the next five goals, and iced it with the empty-netter for a 5-3 win over Cory Schneider and the Eagles.

So suddenly, all is right in Providence, and it’s the Eagles who are back to shaking their heads — not for the first time this season either, with that terrific performance in Madison contrasted by confounding defeats to Notre Dame and PC.

It may be no consolation to fans of these teams, but early on this season, there seems to be more parity — if you want to call it that — than I can ever remember. We’re just a few games in and already only one non-Ivy remains undefeated (Maine, 6-0-0), with only two still seeking their first win (AIC, 0-5-0; Bemidji State, 0-3-1). There have been more upsets in a few weeks than we had in almost all of last season.

It’s going to be very interesting to see if this continues.

It’s Halloween, and our colleagues over at Inside College Hockey give us this amusing look at some reasons that might explain why RPI is de-emphasizing its beloved “Puckman” mascot character.

Hopefully, Puckman isn’t headed the way of the Swarm, an oversized bee which was the RPI mascot in the 1980s and very entertaining.

With Lake Superior in town for the annual RPI Tournament one season, the Lakers brought their pelican mascot to do battle with the Swarm. I have no idea if the pelican had a name too. But during the tournament championship game, the two mascots went at it, each trying to rile up their team’s fans. The Swarm did its customary routine where it raises its arms to one section, which yells as loud as it can, then to another section, and back and forth to see which one is the loudest.

Meanwhile, the pelican sneaked up behind the Swarm, waited for the bee to turn around in surprise, and raised its arms right in the face of the RPI mascot, in perfect imitation. The crowd howled in laughter.

This led to the two chasing each other around the rink — if you’re trying to picture this, play is still going on throughout the whole thing, it’s not an intermission show. The dueling mascots disappeared underneath the stands, then the chase picked up again with the Swarm wearing the pelican head and the pelican topped off with the bee head.

Not only was the crowd laughing hysterically, the players on the ice were looking back into the stands to watch what was happening.

I realize it wasn’t a Puckman story, but the point is that things like this in college athletics, especially college hockey, are a big part of what makes it fun and entertaining. It’s too bad that so much of that has fallen by the wayside as the game has grown and expanded. Traditions like Puckman and the Swarm are part of what make the game great, and RPI is one of those schools where tradition is very revered by the students and alumni. Maybe it’s time for a “Save Puckman” movement, which would be a pretty appropriate name given how many of the mascot’s vulcanized relatives have been “saved” by RPI goalies over the years.