A lot has been said by fans over the years about the job done by now-former Minnesota State coach Troy Jutting.

Some have been supportive. Some have been critical. Some have been ridiculously critical. Ask Shane Frederick of the Mankato Free Press. Moderating his live blog on game nights has become a bigger and bigger chore for him over the years.

Calling for a coach’s job is nothing new. Since the advent of talk radio and message boards on the internet, it’s become almost customary. Heck, as a sophomore at Minnesota State, I once wrote an editorial calling for Jutting’s job. I even named guys I would replace him with.

(more…)

The offseason is not even a week old for some, barely two weeks for others and the WCHA has already been hit exceedingly hard by early departures.

At this rate, there won’t be many top players left by the time the new season kicks off seven months from now.

Your early departures so far: Colorado College’s Jaden Schwartz, Nebraska-Omaha’s Terry Broadhurst, St. Cloud State’s David Eddy and Denver’s Drew Shore and Jason Zucker.

(more…)

For the second straight year it came down to Air Force vs. RIT. And for the second straight year the Falcons emerged victorious with a shutout. It’s the Falcons fifth title in six years. Unlike last year’s final, this one had little drama. The Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 in the first period and never looked back.

(more…)

On Saturday night Boston College will take on the University of Maine Black Bears in the Hockey East Championship game. Boston College will be looking for their third consecutive Lamoriello trophy while Maine will be looking for their first title since 2004.

Boston College defeated Providence College 4-2 on Friday night in the first semifinal led by depth scoring and four different goal scorers. Johnny Gaudreau scored the game winning goal for the Eagles and Paul Carey had a goal and an assist in the game. Boston College enters the championship game on a 14 game winning streak.

Maine enters the Championship game off a win against Boston University on Friday night in the second semifinal.  Maine got solid goaltending from Dan Sullivan late in the game to seal the victory. Will O Neill had his game of the year as he scored two goals and assisted on another. Maine also received two goals from Joey Diamond on the night. (more…)

The matchup of Maine and Boston University in tonight’s semifinal game proved to be as gritty and hard fought as thought, as the Black Bears and Terriers battled goal by goal for a chance to play in the Hockey East Championship.

Although BU struck early in the first period with a goal from Alex Chiasson at 2:46 when Chris Connolly set Chiasson up and the junior forward was able to throw Maine sophomore goaltender Dan Sullivan off, creating space to slide it past him, an early lead would not prove to be enough for the Terriers as they were knocked off by Maine, 5-3.

“I can’t describe how disappointed I was in our team’s effort tonight,” BU head coach Jack Parker said. “We gave up opportunity after opportunity… we looked like we were afraid to lose. We looked like we were trying not to lose instead of trying to win.”

Maine’s second line, namely Matt Mangene, created early scoring opportunities for the Black Bears, but they were unable to capitalize leaving BU with the lead coming out of the first. Kieran Millan’s goaltending for BU kept Maine down, stopping a wrister from Brian Flynn after covering a backhander from Mangene in the first.

After allowing Chiasson’s goal, the goaltending on the other end of the ice matched Millan’s, as Sullivan recovered well, stopping the next five BU shots and only allowing three of BU’s total 31 shots.

Early on, frustrations mounted as Joey Diamond and Evan Rodrigues were sent to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct, but Maine’s frustrations came to an end just 46 seconds into the second when a BU player fell on the loose puck in front of the goal, bringing it into the net with him to tie it up, 1-1.

(more…)

BOSTON — It was not the semifinal matchup most expected at the outset of the Hockey East playoffs. But Providence upset UMass Lowell and earned the right to face Boston College, which had made quick work of Massachusetts in the quarterfinals.

However, the Providence defense, which was key in the victories over Lowell, was no match for the BC offense. The Friars fell, 4-2, despite a pair of first-period goals. BC will face the winner of Boston University and Maine in Friday’s second semifinal.

As much as the Eagles generated offense and kept puck possession, Friday’s win was far from the dominant performance that BC typically delivers this time of year. Many expected the game to be a replay of a pair of 3-0 and 7-0 victories for the team over the Friars about one month ago.

“We’re in that mode where we just try to win and advance,” BC coach Jerry York said. “Providence played us hard — there was certainly a lot of action to start the game with four goals.”

(more…)

The CCHA championship weekend is finally here, with Miami and Western Michigan set to kick things off in Friday’s matinee. They’ll be followed by Michigan and Bowling Green in the nightcap. Check out the full preview of the weekend here but for now, here are predictions for the entire weekend.

Of note, last weekend I correctly predicted three of the four series. And you really can’t fault anyone for picking Ferris State to be in Detroit this weekend instead of Bowling Green. But the Falcons pulled off an upset for the ages and look to keep their momentum rolling against the Wolverines.

No. 2 Western Michigan vs. No. 3 Miami 

Though the RedHawks have been offensively dominant in their recent games, outscoring opponents 32-5 in their current eight-game winning streak, I expect this game to be much more low-scoring. Miami will rely on senior goaltender Connor Knapp, who will be matched up against Western Michigan’s freshman goaltender Frank Slubowski.

“Our forwards and our defenseman are doing a really good job at playing hard in front of [Knapp] and blocking shots,” said Miami coach Enrico Blasi on Tuesday. “Connor seems to be seeing the puck well and making the saves he needs to make.”

This is a rematch of last year’s CCHA championship game, and much like a year ago, it’ll be tough to slow Miami’s momentum — at least on Friday.

Prediction: Miami wins 3-1

No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 4 Bowling Green

The Falcons’ historic run to the CCHA championship weekend has been well-chronicled all week, as has the recent regular season series between Bowling Green and Michigan, which the two teams split. Michigan coach Red Berenson has no misconceptions regarding which team has the most momentum entering Friday night.

“They’ve got the momentum,” said Berenson. “They’ve played six games the past two weekends, they’ve got a lot of emotion, a lot of confidence, and this is going to be a good challenge for us as well.”

Nevertheless, as impressive as rookie forward Dan DeSalvo — 10 goals in six playoff games — and his teammates have been for the Bowling Green, the run may come to an end on Friday night against a Michigan team that may just be the best team in the country. On Thursday, Shawn Hunwick was named one of the 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, and now he’ll have a chance to affirm that selection.

Prediction: Michigan wins 5-2

CCHA Championship Game Prediction: Michigan 3 Miami 2 (OT)

After missing much of the Final Five last season because of a family vacation, I am exceedingly happy to be back for its entirety this year. Afterall, there is only one of these left after this season before we can expect major changes — not only in the teams, but in the look and feel as well as the locale of this tournament starting in 2014.

If you are not in town and want to follow along, please follow me on Twitter @MyersHockey. I will be providing updates from here all weekend long.

If you’re interested and haven’t yet found my WCHA Final Five preview, please check it out here.

(more…)

It’s all come down to this. One weekend to decide to who will go to the NCAA Tournament and who will go home. Niagara, Mercyhurst, RIT and Air Force will battle it out in Rochester, N.Y. this weekend. All four teams finished just two points apart at the end of the regular season. Here’s how the teams got here last weekend.

Meryhurst –  The Lakers are going back to Rochester for the first time since 2009. But it wasn’t easy getting there. The Lakers were forced to go three games  against Holy Cross. In the Lakers two wins against Holy Cross, they surrendered two goals. In their loss they gave up three. Daniel Bahntage and Matthew Zay each scored twice in the three games. Daniel O’Donoghue added three assists. In all three games, the Lakers were outshot in every game, including 42-27 in game 3, but Max Strang stood strong. (more…)

With the conclusion of the Denver-Wisconsin series tonight in the Mile High City, next weekend’s WCHA Final Five is officially set: Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, Denver, North Dakota, St. Cloud State and Michigan Tech.

First, a few thoughts on this weekend: The number of series that lasted only two games was very surprising to me, especially considering how competitive these games were.

– Alaska-Anchorage had Minnesota on the ropes Saturday night, leading 3-1 in the second period. But a series of penalties allowed Minnesota to gain momentum and eventually the dam broke, as the Gophers rallied with six straight goals. That sweep wasn’t a surprise.

(more…)