ECAC Men's Hockey Resumes Play to Close Out 2020

ECAC Hockey finally began play today on the men's side when 12th-ranked Quinnipiac skated to a 2-2 tie at St. Lawrence in Canton. N.Y. 

It was the first game of the season for the host Saints, who got 33 saves in net from Emil Zetterquist. The visiting Bobcats, who played their first eight contests this fall out of conference, improved to 6-2-1 as Odeen Tufto scored one goal and set up the other.

Only Clarkson, Colgate, Quinnipiac and SLU are playing out of ECAC Hockey this season. The other eight members, including the six Ivy League schools, opted out of playing in 2020-21 due to COVID-19 concerns.

SLU and Quinnipiac will renew their series on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Hamden, Conn.

U.S. Blanks Czechs, 7-0, in WJC Action

Trevor Zegras (Boston University) scored two goals and set up three others as the U.S. National Junior Team blanked the Czech Republic, 7-0, in 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship action in Edmonton, Alberta this afternoon. The win also clinched a quarterfinal round berth for Team USA, in a game to be played on Jan. 2 against an as-yet undecided opponent.

Bobby Brink (Denver) scored twice for Team USA in the rout, including the game-winner that opened the scoring in a three-goal U.S. second period, while Cam York (Michigan) tallied three assists on the day. Cole Caufield (Wisconsin) scored one goal and assisted on another for the Americans, while Matthew Boldy (Boston College) notched his fourth goal in two games. Three of the U.S goals came on power plays.

The victory (and shutout) was the second straight for the United States in this year's WJC, following a tournament-opening loss to Russia on Christmas Day. Spencer Knight (Boston College), who took the loss in net in that contest, earned the win today by stopping all 22 Czech shots. The U.S. had blanked Austria, 11-0, in its second game of the tournament.

Team USA will close out the round-robin portion of Group B play at the WJC against Sweden on Thursday night (9:30 p.m. ET, NHL Network).

USA Blanks Austria at WJC for First Win

Following a 5-3 opening game loss to Russia on Christmas, the United States rebounded tonight for a 11-0 victory over Austria in Group B play at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton. 

Matthew Boldy (Boston College) paced the U.S. with three goals, while Alex Turcotte (Wisconsin) set up three goals and Trevor Zegras (Boston University) had two goals and two assists as Team USA outshot Austria, 73-10. Spencer Knight (Boston College) sat out Sunday's game in net, after absorbing the loss against Russia by surrendering four goals on 12 shots against that night.

The U.S. will return to EJC action on Tuesday against the Czech Republic, a 2-0 winner over Russia tonight.

Hockey Christmas 2020

 

NCHC Concludes Bubble Experiment in Omaha

The bubble experiment in Nebraska for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference came to an end this week, with North Dakota emerging on top when all was said and done. 

The league's eight schools played 10 games apiece in a pod-style format at Baxter Arena in Omaha beginning at the start of December, as a guard against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, similar to what the NHL did in Canada in August and September.

Fourth-ranked North Dakota finished first with 20 points on the strength of five regulation wins (three points apiece,) two overtime wins (two points each), and an overtime loss (one point). The Fighting Hawks, who were ranked atop the national polls prior to the beginning of this season, finished a point ahead of host Nebraska Omaha, and two points ahead of St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth. Rounding out the bottom four were Denver, Colorado College, Miami (Ohio) and Western Michigan.

Shane Pinto (North Dakota) and teammate Jordan Kawaguchi lead all NCHC scorers to date with 13 points apiece, while Carter Savoie (Denver) has scored a league-high seven goals. Adam Scheel (North Dakota) is pacing all league netminders with six wins, including overtime victories, while Ludvig Persson (Miami) is atop the NCHC statistical scroll for goaltenders with a 1.19 goals-against average and a .962 save percentage.

The NCHC, which is slated to return to playing on campus sites next month, has won the last four NCAA men's Division I hockey national titles, beginning with UND in 2016. Denver then won it all in 2017, followed by UMD in both 2018 and 2019. The 2020 NCAA tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.

USA Edges Finland in WJC Tune-Up

Cole Caufield (Wisconsin) scored two goals in the second period as the U.S. overcame an early deficit to top Finland, 3-2, in an exhibition warm-up at the 2021 World Junior Championships in Edmonton. For his efforts, Caufield was named player of the game for the American side.

Team USA, which finished in sixth place in the Czech Republic in last year's tournament, opens this year's Pool A round-robin schedule against Russia on Christmas night.

Alaska (Fairbanks) Cancels 2020-21 Hockey Season

The college hockey season is over in Alaska, before it even began.

The administration at the University of Alaska Fairbanks cancelled the men's hockey campaign on Friday due to COVID-19 concerns, along with the UAF men's and women's basketball seasons. The University of Alaska Anchorage, which has been soliciting funds to keep several of its athletics programs alive, including hockey, had opted out of playing hockey earlier this fall. UAF was supposed to start play next month.

A proposal to have UAF play its 2020-21 hockey season in Marquette, Mich. for at least part of this season did not come to fruition. Nanooks head coach Eric Largen, who seemingly did not agree with the decision to cancel the season, has pointed supporters of the hockey program towards an online petition to have the team play this year.

The Nanooks and UAA Seawolves are both now sitting out the last season of the WCHA, after which they will likely revert to NCAA Division I independents along with fellow conference member Alabama-Huntsville. The other seven WCHA schools are leaving the conference after this season to re-form the CCHA.

Wisconsin-MSU Hockey Series Postponed

The Big Ten hockey conference has suffered its first COVID-19 cancellation of the 2020-21 campaign.

Wisconsin's two-game series on Nov. 8-9 against Michigan State at MSU's Munn Arena has been postponed and is expected to be be rescheduled for a later date.

Wisconsin is 5-5-0 overall (5-3-0 Big Ten) to date, having last played in a split at Ohio State on Dec. 3-4. The Badgers have no further games, NCAA or otherwise, scheduled for the remainder of the calendar year. MSU is 2-3-1 (1-3-0), having suffered a two-step sweep to visiting Minnesota in its last action on Dec. 3-4. The Spartans will next skate at Notre Dame on Dec. 19-20 to close out the first semester.

The spring portion of the 2020-21 Big Ten hockey schedule is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

BC Men Beat UMass in Return to Play

Boston College men's hockey finally got to play a real game again.

The host Eagles, in front of a sparse Conte Forum crowd in Chestnut Hill, Mass. due to COVID-19, opened their 2020-21 campaign tonight with a 4-3 win over Massachusetts in non-conference Hockey East play. Matt Boldy's goal just over a minute into the third period broke a three-all deadlock and ultimately stood up as the game-winner.

Jack McBain scored twice for second-ranked BC (1-0-0 overall), which built a 3-1 lead after just under 33 minutes of play. Josh Lopina then scored two goals 73 seconds apart late in the second stanza to knot matters for seventh-ranked UMass (1-1-1).

Logan Hutsko had two assists for the Eagles, who had last played in March before both the 2020 Hockey East and NCAA tournaments were canceled by COVID-19. Eamon Powell also had two assists on Friday in his collegiate debut for the Eagles, while Boldy notched an assist to go along with his goal.

Spencer Knight made 30 saves for BC, while Matt Murray stopped 28 shots for the Minutemen, who outshot the Eagles by a 33-32 margin on the evening. UMass also went 1-for-5 on the power play, while blanking BC’s four man-advantage opportunities.

The two schools will meet again on Saturday at the Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass.

ADDENDUM: BC won the rematch, 6-3, on Saturday afternoon at UMass. Marc McLaughlin scored twice for the Eagles, while Boldy registered two assists and Knight had 30 stops and an assist. BC's women's team fell to 2-2-0 on the year after dropping pair of 3-2 counts against Providence this weekend, one week after a two-step sweep of New Hampshire.

Hockey Thanksgiving 2020

To you and yours, stay safe this year, and may pucks and sticks return full-time before too much longer 🏒

Minnesota, Wisconsin Earn Big Ten Sweeps

While the rest of the country is basically just beginning the 2020-21 NCAA hockey season, at least among Division I schools who have not opted out due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Big Ten conference is already going full steam ahead.

Minnesota improved to 4-0-0 overall this season with 4-1 and 2-0 victories over Ohio State on Monday and Tuesday in Minneapolis. Those wins followed a two-step sweep of visiting Penn State on Nov. 19-20 to open the campaign. 

Senior forward Brandon McManus leads the Golden Gophers this year with a goal and four assists through four games, while senior goaltender Jack LaFontaine has played every minute in net so far this season for Minnesota. The and former Michigan transfer stopped 38 of 39 shots against OSU.

Wisconsin is now 4-2-0 overall this fall after sweeping Penn State, 6-3 and 7-3, in Madison, Wis. on Monday and Tuesday. Cole Caufield paced the Badgers with four goals and two assists over the two games, including two power-play goals, and had three goals in all in the second contest alone. 

For his scoring prowess, Caufield earned Big Ten First Star accolades for the week. Graduate transfer Robbie Beydoun, who played the last three years at Michigan Tech (WCHA), stopped 84 of 90 shots against the Nittany Lions, including 49 saves in the opener.

Upcoming Big Ten action on Nov. 27-29 will feature Notre Dame visiting sixth-ranked Michigan, Michigan State traveling to No. 9 OSU, and Big Ten affiliate Arizona State dropping in No. 14 Wisconsin.

Michigan State, Arizona State Skate to 1-1 Tie

Michigan State opened its 2020-21 Big Ten hockey campaign with a 1-1 tie with visiting Arizona State last night at Munn Arena.

Christian Krygier's early second-period goal stood up as the potential game-winner until Boston College transfer Chris Grando connected with less than five minutes remaining in regulation to knot matters. Neither team then scored in the five-minute overtime, played at 3-on-3.

Cole Brady made 25 saves for the visiting Sun Devils (0-2-1), who are playing as a Big Ten affiliate for this COVID-influenced season. Drew DeRidder had 22 stops for the Spartans, who will host ASU again tonight at 6 p.m. ET

In other Big Ten action on Thursday, sixth-ranked Michigan won, 5-2, at No. 14 Wisconsin, while No. 11 Minnesota dropped No. 10 Penn State, 4-1, in Minneapolis. Also in NCAA Division I men's hockey, Long Island University won it's first-ever game, edging host Holy Cross, 3-2, in overtime in Worcester, Mass.

ADDENDUM: MSU closed out the series on Friday with a 2-0 win over the Sun Devils, behind DeRidder's 30 saves.

2020-21 NCAA Hockey Season Begins

The 2020-21 men's college hockey season has begun, albeit sparingly due to the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

Wisconsin won the first game of the nascent campaign by blanking host Notre Dame, 2-0, on Friday in Big Ten play before completing the two-step sweep with a 5-3 victory on Saturday in South Bend, Ind. Also on Friday, Bowling Green began its schedule with a 6-2 triumph over NCAA Division III opponent Adrian (Mich.). 

No. 12 Michigan proved inhospitable to No. 15 Arizona State, which began a three-week road trip with 8-1 and 3-0 losses to the host Wolverines on Friday and Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich. The NCAA Division I independent Sun Devils, who are playing as part of the Big Ten this season, will skate at Michigan State this weekend.

LIU's game at Army on Saturday, its first scheduled appearance as an NCAA program, was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns. It is not known if that contest will be rescheduled.

The women's NCAA game is expected to get underway this weekend, in both Hockey East and the WCHA. The Ivy League has canceled all 2020-21 winter sports due to COVID-19, including men's and women's ice hockey. RIT has also opted out of playing this winter, as has Rensselaer, alongside Alaska Anchorage on the men's hockey side in what might be the swan song for the Seawolves program after 40 years.

Ivy League Cancels 2020-21 Ice Hockey Seasons

There will be no Ivy League winter sports contested for the 2020-21 season, including men's and women's ice hockey, as announced today by the NCAA Division I conference.

Spring sports for the eight Ivy League institutions—Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Pennsylvania and Yale—are also postponed through Feb. 2021 due to the ongoing and now increasing COVID-19 pandemic, which had originally canceled the end of the 2019-20 NCAA hockey season(s) and also the various NCAA hockey tournaments in March and April.

Six Ivy League schools—Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Yale—are members of the ECAC Hockey conference, for both men's and women's hockey. Cornell won both last season's Ivy League men's and women's hockey regular-season titles, and was also in first place in ECAC Hockey in both divisions before their respective campaigns were terminated by COVID-19.

Hockey Halloween 2020

No NCAA hockey (yet), no NHL hockey (yet) at this time of year when both would have regularly been underway, but enjoy Halloween, anyway.

Travis Roy (1975-2020)

Travis Roy (Boston University), who was rendered a quadriplegic just 11 seconds into his NCAA debut after hitting the boards head first at Walter Brown Arena in October 1995, has passed away at age 45. 

Roy spent the last quarter-century as an advocate for other individuals with spinal cord injuries, despite being in a wheelchair, and raised national awareness and funds to combat paralysis through his Travis Roy Foundation and as a much in-demand motivational speaker. His number 24 jersey was also retired by BU.

May he rest in peace.

NCHC, Atlantic Hockey Preparing to Start Seasons

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference announced over the weekend that it will play the first half of its 2020-21 season in a bubble environment at Baxter Arena in Omaha, Neb. beginning on Dec. 1. 

The second half of the season is expected to be contested on campus sites, according to USCHO.com. The conference will be split into East and West divisions, with the East featuring Miami, Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State and Western Michigan, and the West containing Colorado College, Denver, North Dakota and Omaha. Each school is scheduled to play its divisional opponents six times apiece, and the teams in the other division twice each.

Atlantic Hockey also recently announced that it will begin its 2020-21 campaign on Nov. 13, with 24 games being played per school this season, according to collegehockeynews.com. That slate will include two games per team against NCAA Division I newcomer Long Island University, which will skate as an Atlantic Hockey affiliate member this season, similar to how Arizona State will play as a part of the Big Ten this winter. 

Atlantic Hockey will be split into two regional scheduling pods, with the east consisting of AIC, Army, Bentley, Holy Cross, and Sacred Heart, while the western pod will employ Canisius, Mercyhurst, Niagara, RIT, and Robert Morris, with schools facing pod opponents five games apiece, presumably at campus sites. Air Force will play the other 10 teams twice, and will face off against LIU four times.

In other men's college hockey news, both Yale and Boston University have suffered COVID-19 spikes lately. It is not known how that might affect scheduling in ECAC Hockey and Hockey East, respectively. 

ADDENDUM: Soon after, the WCHA announced it plans to play an 18-game regular season.

New CCHA Unveils Inaugural Logo

College hockey's newest NCAA Division I men's hockey conference has its new logo.

The new Central Collegiate Hockey Association introduced its insignia this week, in blue, red and white colors, and it also incorporates a hockey stick. The nascent league, which borrows its name from the original CCHA (1971-2013), will begin play in the fall of 2021. 

Its members will include Bemidji State, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State and Northern Michigan, which will all be leaving the current WCHA, along with incoming NCAA Division I hockey member St. Thomas (Minn.). The new CCHA logo will also be available in the various school colors of its eight member institutions.

The inaugural commissioner of the new CCHA is former longtime college head coach Don Lucia, who won 736 career games with Alaska Fairbanks, Colorado College and Minnesota from 1987 to 2018. He also guided Minnesota to back-to-back NCAA Division I national championships in 2002 and 2003.

NCAA Men's Frozen Four Sites Through 2026 Revealed

The next six sites for the NCAA Division I men's ice hockey Frozen Four have been announced.

The 2021 semifinals and final will be held in Pittsburgh, followed in successive years by: Boston; Tampa, St. Paul; St. Louis, and; Las Vegas, which will host the Frozen Four for the first time ever.

Detroit, which was supposed to host the 2020 version at its new Little Caesars Arena in April, until COVID-19 became widespread, was not included in the mix this time out. The 2019 Frozen Four was held in Buffalo and won by Minnesota-Duluth, its second consecutive NCAA title.

NCAA regional sites from 2021 to 2026 were also revealed. They will include: Albany, N.Y. (2021, 2026); Allentown, Pa. (2022, 2023, 2025); Bridgeport, Conn. (2021, 2023); Fargo, N.D. (2021, 2023, 2025); Loveland, Colo. (2021, 2022, 2026); Manchester, N.H. (2021, 2023, 2025); Maryland Heights, Mo. (2024); Sioux Falls, S.D. (2024, 2026); Springfield, Mass. (2024); Toledo, Ohio (2025), and; Worcester, Mass. (2022, 2026). 

NCAA Players Picked as Alumni Shift NHL Teams

Several former NCAA players have changed NHL teams recently, as free agents or in trades. 

Kevin Shattenkirk (Boston University), who just won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning last month, has signed with the Ananheim Ducks. Torey Krug (Michigan State), who has spent his entire NHL career with the Boston Bruins, inked a seven-year deal with the St. Louis Blues. Ryan Donato (Harvard) was dealt from the Minnesota Wild to the San Jose Sharks.

The NHL also held its virtual entry draft last week, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 70 incoming or current NCAA skaters selected.

The first player chosen out of that crop was defenseman Jake Sanderson (North Dakota), who played last season with the U.S. NTDP and was drafted fifth overall by the Ottawa Senators. The top current college skater tabbed was forward Dylan Holloway (Wisconsin), who had 17 points in 35 games with the Badgers last season, and went 14th overall to the Edmonton Oilers.

Arizona State Hockey to Play with Big Ten This Season

The Big Ten Conference has announced its men's ice hockey scheduling agreement for 2020-21.

Each of the seven schools will play the other six members four times apiece, for a total of 24 conference games per school. Each team will also play four nonconference home games against NCAA Division I independent Arizona State University, for this season only, similar to how Notre Dame football is a de facto member of the Atlantic Coast Conference for the 2020 season.

The full Big Ten hockey schedule is expected to be released in the near future, although schools are expected to being play in mid-November while adhering to prescribed conference COVID-19 guidelines. The conference postseason tournament is slated for March 18-20, 2021. ASU will not participate in the Big Ten tournament, but will eligible for the NCAA tournament provided it meets the criteria for that championship.

Miami's Coleman, Tampa Bay Lightning Win Stanley Cup

 

A Texas boy helped make it Tampa Bay's night on Monday in Edmonton.

Blake Coleman (Miami), a forward from Plano, TX scored a second-period insurance goal and the Tampa Bay Lightning went on to defeat the Dallas Stars, 2-0, in Game 6 of the best-of-seven series and claim the 2020 Stanley Cup. It was the Lightning's second Cup in three Final appearances all-time, and its first NHL playoff title since 2004.

Drafted 75th overall by New Jersey in 2011, Coleman, who grew up as a Stars fan, played parts of four NHL seasons with the Devils before being traded to Tampa Bay in February. After tallying one assist in nine regular-season outings, he finished with five goals and eight assists for 13 points in 25 Stanley Cup playoff contests over the last two months in the postseason bubbles of Toronto and Edmonton. Those sites were made necessary by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that canceled the remainder of the NHL regular season in March.

Coleman, 28, prepped with Tri-City and Indiana in the USHL before skating for Miami from 2011 to 2015, where he notched 60 goals and 107 points in 143 NCAA games. He also led the Red Hawks to the 2013 CCHA regular-season title, the 2015 NCHC postseason crown, and the 2015 NCAA tournament. A bronze medal winner with the U.S. at the 2018 World Championship in Denmark, he has already registered 57-38—95 points in 246 NHL regular-season games.

Also on Tampa Bay's roster this season from the NCAA ranks were Alexander Killorn (Harvard), Kevin Shattenkirk (Boston University), Ryan McDonagh (Wisconsin), Luke Witkowski (Western Michigan), Cory Conacher (Canisius) and Curtis McElhinney (Colorado College).

Stars Stay Alive in Stanley Cup Final

Joe Pavelski (Wisconsin) scored the tying goal late in the third period, and the Dallas Stars pulled out a 3-2 victory in double overtime in Game Five on Saturday night to stay alive in the Stanley Cup Final. The Tampa Bay Lightning now lead the best-of-seven NHL championship series, three games to two.

Jamie Oleksiak (Northeastern) assisted on the game-opening goal for Dallas in the first period, but Tampa Bay battled back to take a 2-1 lead with just over 16 minutes remaining in regulation. Pavelski, a 2006 NCAA champion with Wisconsin, then knotted matters off a rebound with just under seven minutes left, setting a new record for American-born players with his 61st career NHL playoff goal.

The Stars then won it midway through the second extra session, despite being outshot, 41-33, on the night. Game Six is Monday night in Edmonton.

Shattenkirk Stakes Lightning to 3-1 Stanley Cup Final Lead

Kevin Shattenkirk connected from the right side on a power play less than seven minutes into overtime, and the Tampa Bay Lightning moved to within one victory of claiming the Stanley Cup with a 5-4 win over the Dallas Stars on Friday night in Edmonton.

Dallas, which fell by a 5-2 count in Game 3, took a lead of 2-0 in the first period before Tampa Bay fought back to tie matters at three goals apiece. After the Lightning went up, 4-3, in the third period on a goal from Alex Killorn (Harvard), the Stars forged a 4-4 tie on the second goal of the game from Joe Pavelski (Wisconsin), who now leads Dallas with 12 goals this postseason. 

Shattenkirk then scored in the extra session to put Tampa Bay up, three games to one. He and Killorn also collected assists on the night for the Lightning, who have now won three straight games in the best-of-seven series.

Shattenkirk helped BU to an NCAA title in 2009. Pavelski did the same with Wisconsin three years earlier, while Killorn helped Harvard to an ECAC Hockey runner-up finish in 2012.

Game 5 and the potential end of the 2020 NHL season is slated for Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET (NBC TV). A win by Dallas would force a Game 6 on Monday night.

MSU's Petry Re-Signs with Montreal

Jeff Petry (Michigan State) will remain a Montreal Canadien for the next four seasons. According to the Canadiens web site, the former Spartan defenseman recently signed a deal worth an average annual value of $6.25 million that will extend his contract with the Habs through the 2024-25 NHL campaign.

Petry, 32, has played in 680 career NHL regular-season games with Edmonton and Montreal, and has registered 69 goals and 184 assists for 253 points to go with 269 penalty minutes. Drafted 45th overall by Edmonton in 2006, he skated with the Oilers from 2010 to 2014 before being traded to the Canadiens on March 2, 2015.

Petry, from Ann Arbor, Mich., played two years of junior "A" hockey with Des Moines (USHL), winning the league's Clark Cup championship in 2006, before suiting up for three seasons at MSU from 2007 to 2010. In 118 career NCAA outings as a Spartan, he notched 9-58—67 points to go along with 86 PIM. He was also named a Second-Team All-America selection following his third and final season in East Lansing.

The 6-foot-3 rearguard has also played in 51 career AHL regular-season contests with Springfield and Oklahoma City (now Bakersfield). He has also appeared in three World Championships with the U.S., and won a bronze medal in 2013.

Shattenkirk Scores, Tampa Ties Stanley Cup Series

Kevin Shattenkirk (Boston University) scored the third goal of the first period on Monday for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and it stood up as the game-winner in a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars that tied the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final at one contest apiece.

Shattenkirk, who captained BU to the 2009 NCAA title, wristed in a shot from the right point late in the first period to put the Lightning up, 3-0. The goal, his second of these playoffs, made him the third player (and defenseman) with Hockey East ties to score a goal this series, following both Joel Hanley (Massachusetts) and Jamie Oleksiak (Northeastern) for the Stars in Game One.

Joe Pavelski (Wisconsin), who won the 2006 NCAA championship with the Badgers, deflected home a puck late in the second period to put Dallas on the board. It was his team-leading 10th goal this postseason. 

Game Three of the NHL championship is Wednesday night (8 p.m. ET, NBC) in Edmonton.

Hanley, Oleksiak Put Stars Ahead in Cup Final

Joel Hanley (Massachusetts) opened the scoring and Jamie Oleksiak (Northeastern) tallied what turned out to be the game-winning goal as the Dallas Stars opened the 2020 Stanley Cup Final with a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Edmonton. 

Hanley took a pass in the slot and wristed the puck home just 5:40 into regulation for his first career NHL goal. After Tampa Bay forged a 1-1 tie before the end of the first period, on a goal set up by Blake Coleman (Miami), Oleksiak picked up his own rebound and then fired the puck into the top of the net with 12:30 elapsed in the second period to put the Stars back ahead for good.

Tampa Bay outshot Dallas, 36-20, overall while both teams combined to go 0-for-5 on the power play. Game Two is Monday night in Edmonton (NBC TV). 

Hanley played at UMass from 2010 to 2014, where he registered 17 goals and 75 points to go with 127 penalty minutes in 131 career games with the Minutemen. He formerly played in the NHL with Montreal and Arizona, and spent the majority of the past two seasons with Texas (AHL).

Oleksiak, who was drafted 14th overall by Dallas in 2011, has spent his entire NHL career with the Stars, except for parts of two seasons in Pittsburgh. He posted four goals and nine assists for 13 points along with 57 PIM in his lone season at Northeastern (2010-11), and in 313 career NHL regular-season outings has collected 18-40—58 points and 255 PIM.

Coleman, a Texas native who played his first 3 1/2 NHL seasons with New Jersey, skated at Miami (Ohio) from 2011 to 2015 where he recorded 60-47—107 points and 276 PIM in 143 NCAA appearances. He has also notched 57-38—95 points and 204 PIM in 246 NHL regular-season contests with New Jersey and Tampa Bay.

Four Named to U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

Jerry York (Boston College), Dean Blais (Minnesota), Tony Granato (Wisconsin) and Jenny Potter (Minnesota-Duluth) will all be inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame this fall.

York, a 1967 BC graduate who has led the Eagles to four NCAA titles since taking over as head coach in 1995, has notched a record 1,067 career wins overall with BC, Bowling Green and Clarkson since 1972, including 600 wins and 11 Hockey East regular season championships at his alma mater. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto last year.

Blais, who played at Minnesota between 1969 and 1973, and later played three years professionally with Dalls (CHL), became an assistant coach at North Dakota in 1980. He became head coach in 1994 and subsequently led UND to national titles in 1997 and 2000, and also guided Nebraska-Omaha to the 2015 NCAA Frozen Four before retiring two years later. In his long career, he also served as head coach with Roseau High School and International Falls High School in Minnesota, as an assistant/development coach with the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, and as GM/Head Coach of Fargo (USHL). He also guided the U.S. at four different World Junior Championships, winning the gold medal in 2010.

Granato skated for Wisconsin from 1983 to 1987, where he tallied 100 goals and 220 points for the Badgers. He went on to play 13 seasons in the NHL from 1988 to 2001 with the New York Rangers, Los Angeles and San Jose, recording 248 goals and 244 for 292 points in 774 regular-season outings, and also played for the U.S. at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary. A long-time NHL assistant coach with Colorado, Pittsburgh and Detroit, he twice served as head coach with Colorado, and has been head coach at Wisconsin since 2018.

Potter began her NCAA career with Minnesota in 1998-99 before transferring to UMD for her final three college campaigns. She registered 141-186—327 points in all, and also helped the Bulldogs to the 2003 NCAA title.  A four-time Olympian, she earned two silver medals, a gold medal and a bronze medal while playing for the U.S., and also won a CWHL title with Boston in 2015. A former pro player with the Minnesota Whitecaps, she has served as an assistant high school hockey coach in Minnesota, and as head coach with the women's programs at both Trinity College and Ohio State University.

In other news, the 2020-21 NCAA hockey season is not expected to begin until just before Thanksgiving. 

Stars Off to Final for First Time in 20 Years

The Dallas Stars are returning to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20 years. The Stars ousted Vegas on Tuesday night, 3-2, in overtime of the fifth game of their best-of-seven NHL Western Conference Final series in Edmonton.

It will be the first trip to the league final for the Stars since 2000, when they lost to the New Jersey Devils in six games, one year after winning the Cup for the only time in franchise history. The organization, which was born as the Minnesota North Stars in 1967, played in two Stanley Cup finals (1981, 1991) in that incarnation before moving their operations to Texas in 1993.

Leading the Stars from the collegiate ranks is forward Joe Pavelski (Wisconsin), who has a team-leading  nine goals so far this postseason. Pavelski helped Wisconsin to the 2006 NCAA title, and first made the Stanley Cup final in 2016 with San Jose.

Other former collegians who have played for Dallas this season include Ben Bishop (Maine), Andrew Cogliano (Michigan), Taylor Fedun (Princeton), Rhett Garner (North Dakota), Joel Hanley (Massachusetts), Stephen Johns (Notre Dame) and Jamie Oleksiak (Northeastern). Bishop backstopped Tampa Bay to the 2015 Stanley Cup Final.

Remember the 11th of September

 He would have turned 50 this year. Rest in peace, Mark #NineEleven

BC's Demko Saves Canucks' Campaign

Thatcher Demko (Boston College) certainly made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut a memorable one. Demko, 24, stopped 42 shots on Tuesday night to backstop the Vancouver Canucks to a season-saving 2-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights at Rogers Place in Edmonton. The best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series now stands at three games to two for Vegas, with Game 6 scheduled for Thursday.

Starting in place of injured regular netminder Jacob Markstrom, Demko stopped 38 of 39 shots at even strength, and all four attempts he faced while Vancouver was shorthanded, as the Canucks were outshot, 43-17, overall on the evening. The only goal Demko surrendered came late in the second period, although Vancouver tied the game just 24 seconds later on a goal by Brock Boeser (North Dakota), who then assisted on the game-winning goal in the third period.

A fourth-year pro out of San Diego and the U.S. National Team Development Program in Michigan, the 6-foot-4 Demko played in an NHL career-high 27 games during a COVID-19 abbreviated regular season for the Canucks, going 13-10-2 with a 3.06 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage. He appeared in nine games for Vancouver during the 2018-19 season, after making his league debut in 2017-18 and posting a victory in his first-ever start, his only appearance at the NHL level that year. In 39 career NHL regular season games, he has registered a 18-13-3 mark (2.96, .909). He spent the bulk of his pro career with Utica (AHL) from 2016 to 2019, fashioning a 55-36-5 record (2.56, .915) with three shutouts in 107 regular-season appearances with the Comets.

Selected by Vancouver in the second round (36th overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft following his freshman campaign at BC, when he was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team, Demko backstopped the Eagles to Beanpot Tournament titles and NCAA Frozen Four berths in both 2014 and 2016. He went 62-26-10 (2.08, .928) with 13 shutouts in 98 career appearances at the Heights, including 10 shutouts as a junior as he earned Hockey East first team accolades and second team All-America status that winter. He also won the Mike Richter Award as the nation's top goaltender that season, and was also tabbed as the Hockey East Player of the Year before turning pro shortly afterwards. 

ADDENDUM: Demko made 48 saves in a 4-0 shutout in Game 6, but the Vancouver bubble finally burst in Game 7 , a 3-0 Vegas win. He stopped 33 of 34 shots in the finale, but the Canucks surrendered two late empty-net goals after Demko was pulled for an extra attacker.

BGSU's Reirden Out as Capitals Head Coach

Todd Reirden (Bowling Green) is looking for a new job. The head coach of the Washington Capitals the last two years, the former NCAA and NHL defenseman was relieved of those duties on Sunday by the Capitals’ organization following another first-round postseason loss.

Reirden, 49, led Washington to an 89-46-16 overall regular-season record and two Metropolitan Division titles over the last two winters. The Capitals, however, were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each year, including a five-game loss to the New York islanders in Toronto this month, as the league restarted playing operations during the COVID-19 pandemic that had originally suspended the season back in March.

Reirden won the Stanley Cup with the Capitals in 2018, in his second season with the team as associate coach, after two years as an assistant coach, and was named head coach after the Capitals won their first NHL championship. Prior to Washington, he served four seasons as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins, after spending one year as an assistant and one-and-a-half-years as head coach with Pittsburgh’s top minor-league affiliate, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).

Reirden, a 6-foot-5 native of Deerfield, Ill., skated on defense for Bowling Green from 1990 to 1994, after prepping with both Deerfield Academy and Tabor Academy in New England. In four NCAA seasons with the Falcons, he collected 24 goals and 52 assists for 76 points to go with 160 penalty minutes in 140 career contests.

Drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the 12th round of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, Reirden went on to play professionally from 1994 to 2007. He collected 11-36—47 points and 181 PIM in 188 career NHL outings, including five Stanley Cup playoff games, while manning the blueline for Edmonton, St. Louis, Atlanta and Phoenix. He also played in the ECHL, AHL and IHL, and finished his playing career with one season apiece in Germany and Austria.

Following his retirement as an active player, Reirden joined BGSU as an assistant coach for the 2007-08 campaign before re-joining the professional ranks the following season as an assistant with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Alaska Anchorage Plans to Eliminate Men's Hockey Program

The University of Alaska Anchorage hockey program has soldiered on for 40 years—but next season might be the last one for the Seawolves.

UAA announced Wednesday that it was planning to restructure its athletic program, which would result in the elimination of four varsity programs: men’s ice hockey, women’s gymnastics, women’s skiing and men’s skiing, which would result in annual savings of about $2.5 million. The restructuring would also leave UAA with eight NCAA programs, all at the Division II level, following the 2020-21 academic year. Only men’s hockey and women’s gymnastics competed in NCAA Division I.

The Seawolf hockey program got its start in 1979-80 playing at the UAA Sports Center as a Division II independent under head coach and program founder Kelvin “Brush” Christiansen. UAA posted a winning record in each of its five seasons at that level, shifting home venues to the newly-built 6,200-seat Sullivan Arena in downtown Anchorage in 1983, before also moving up to the NCAA Division I ranks in 1984-85.

After one season as a Division I independent, UAA played three seasons in the short-lived Great West Hockey Conference before re-joining the independent ranks. The Seawolves enjoyed their greatest success over the next four seasons, winning at least 18 games in each campaign, and also earned three consecutive independent berths to the NCAA Division I tournament, including a trip to the quarterfinal round in 1991. The last of those teams registered a program-record 27 victories overall in 1991-92. 

UAA joined the Western Collegiate Hockey Association as an affiliate member in 1992-93, and finished 18-13-4 overall that winter. The next season it became a full-time member of the WCHA, with Christiansen stepping down as head coach following the 1995-96 season, having fashioned a 287–229–30 record over 17 years. He was subsequently replaced at the helm by Dean Talafous (1996-2001), former UAA player and assistant coach John Hill (2001-05), and Dave Shyiak (2005-2013).

The Seawolves made the WCHA Final Five three times (2004, 2011, 2014), although they have posted just one winning season overall from 1993 until the present. The 2013-14 squad finished 18-16-4 under former head coach Matt Thomas, who succeeded Shyiak beginning with that season. The program has recorded just 12 campaigns with double-digit wins since joining the WCHA on a full-time basis.

UAA moved its home games back on campus to its hockey practice home, now known as the Seawolf Sports Center, beginning with the 2019-20 season under current head coach Matt Curley, and finished 4-25-7 overall last year. The university had tentatively planned to expand the rink’s capacity from 800 spectators in the next few years, until Wednesday’s announcement. The Alaska Airlines Center, the newest UAA athletic facility that opened on campus in the fall of 2014, is not equipped with an ice-making apparatus.

UAA has sent dozens of players on to the professional hockey ranks, with at least nine former Seawolves having reached the National Hockey League to date. Mike Peluso became the first former Seawolf to hoist the Stanley Cup when he won it with the NHL’s New Jersey Devils in 1995, and Jay Beagle followed suit in 2018 with the Washington Capitals.

Members of the public who wish to comment on UAA's restructuring decision may send feedback to uaa_feedback@alaska.edu, or can attend a virtual town hall meeting and Board of Regents public testimony later this month, with information on both events available at uaa.alaska.edu/calendars/public.

UAA was set to be without a conference home following next season, along with Alaska (Fairbanks) and Alabama-Huntsville, as the WCHA men’s league is scheduled to break up. Bemidji State, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State, and Northern Michigan are all slated to withdraw from the WCHA following the 2020-21 season to reform the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, which itself originally disbanded in 2013.

Alabama-Huntsville announced earlier this year that it would be eliminating its men’s hockey program, only to have it at least temporarily saved by an aggressivefundraising campaign. Alaska (Fairbanks) announced Wednesday that it was not planning to eliminate ice hockey or any of its other nine NCAA athletic programs at present. 

NCAA Players Shine in 2020 Stanley Cup Start

Some notes on several former NCAA players from the qualifying round/round robin portion of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs contested in Edmonton and Toronto that began this month:

- Chicago captain Jonathan Toews (North Dakota) had four goals and seven points in four games in the Blackhawks' qualifying round victory over Edmonton.

- Quinn Hughes (Michigan) recorded five assists and six points for Vancouver as the Canucks outlasted Minnesota in four contests.

- Cam Atkinson scored twice and set up three other goals for Columbus as the Bluejackets rebounded to overcome Toronto in five games, the only series in the qualifying round that went the distance.

- Cam Talbot (Alabama-Huntsville) registered three victories in goal, and also posted a 1.51 goals-against average and a shutout for Calgary as the Flames eliminated Winnipeg in four games.

- Kevin Hayes (Boston College) assisted on all four Philadelphia goals in a 4-1 win over Tampa Bay that clinched the first seed in the Eastern Conference for the Flyers.

The NHL's usual Stanley Cup round of 16 began on Tuesday. Four series will be played in each city (Edmonton and Toronto), with each series a best-of-seven affair.

Three Ivy Leaguers Turn Pro

Several more Ivy League hockey players with NCAA eligibility remaining have instead signed professional contracts.

Morgan Barron (Cornell), who led the Big Red to the ECAC hockey title and a No. 1 national ranking in the COVID-abbreviated 2019-20 season, has signed with the NHL's New York Rangers after three winters in Ithaca, N.Y. A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Barron, 21, was drafted 174th overall by the Rangers in 2017. In three seasons at Cornell, the 6-foot-3 center posted 34 goals and 50 assists for 84 points. He was a first team Division I All-America selection and a Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalist last season, and was also a two-time Ivy League First Team choice and two-time ECAC Hockey First Team pick.

Jack Drury (Harvard) has passed up his final two campaigns with the Crimson to join Vaxjo (Sweden). The son of former Harvard standout Ted Drury, and the nephew of 2001 Stanley Cup champion Chris Drury (Boston University), the youngest Drury collected 29-34—63 points in two seasons in Cambridge, including a 20-goal campaign last year. A six-foot center from Winnetka, Ill., he was drafted 42nd overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2018, and was a second team selection in both the Ivy League and ECAC Hockey last year. He also skated for the United state sin teh last two World Junior Championships.

Henry Bowlby (Harvard) decided three years with the Crimson was enough, as he inked an entry-level contract with the Florida Panthers as a free agent. A 6-foot-1 center from Edina, Minn., the undrafted Bowlby, 23, registered a total of 21-24—45 points in his tenure at Harvard,  which included a 2019 NCAA tournament berth.

The Ivy League has canceled all fall sports due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has pushed back the start of the 2020-21 hockey season to at least Jan. 1.

St. Thomas to Join NCAA Division I, CCHA and WCHA

The NCAA Division I men’s and women’s ice hockey ranks will increase by one team apiece when the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) moves up from the Division III level in the next two years.

A founding member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, St. Thomas will depart that conference following the 2020-21 season to join the new Central Collegiate Hockey Association for men’s hockey in 2021-22, and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association on the women’s side at the same time.

The St. Thomas men’s team has played annually since 1920-21, save for five seasons around World War II. They boast an all-time record of 1,163-665-116 (.628), according to USCHO.com, all while in the MIAC. Since the 1983-84 campaign, the Tommies’ ledger includes 21 MIAC regular-season championships, 13 MIAC postseason titles, and 16 NCAA tournament berths, including national championship game appearances in 2000 and 2005. The program also last finished under .500 in a season in 1981-82.

The St. Thomas women's program began play with the 2001-02 season, and since then the Tommies have fashioned an overall mark of 323-140-50 (.678). They have also claimed six MIAC regular-season crowns and six MIAC postseason titles to go along with six national tournament berths, including NCAA Frozen Four appearances in both 2014 and 2019.

St. Thomas will swell the new CCHA, which is slated to begin play as a whole in the fall of 2021, to eight teams, while the Tommies women’s team will also boost the women’s WCHA to eight schools.

Harvard's Kerfoot Scores Twice for Toronto in NHL's Return

Alexander Kerfoot (Harvard) scored twice for the victorious Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday evening as the NHL returned to action for the first time in four months. The Leafs defeated their traditional rival, the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2, in an exhibition game at Scotiabank Arena as the NHL re-emerged from a hiatus that began in March due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which also canceled the remainder of the 2019-20 NHL regular season.

Kerfoot scored Toronto's second and third goals, both in the second period, against Montreal as the Leafs built leads of 2-0 and 3-1. Toronto is one of two NHL hubs, along with Rogers Place in Edmonton, that will be used during an abbreviated postseason with extra contending teams to award this year’s Stanley Cup. Eastern Conference teams will play in Ontario, while Western Conference squads will skate in Alberta, with the final round to be contested in Toronto. The St. Louis Blues are the defending champion.

The Maple Leafs will face off with the Columbus Blue Jackets in a best-of-five qualifying series that will begin on Saturday at Scotiabank Place, while the Canadiens will meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in another Eastern Conference series match-up, also in Toronto. Also on Tuesday in exhibition play, the Philadelphia Flyers edged Pittsburgh, 3-2, in overtime in Toronto, while in Edmonton the host Oilers upended the rival Calgary Flames, 4-1.

A 5-foot-10 native of Vancouver, Kerfoot, 25, played his first two NHL campaigns with the Colorado Avalanche, with whom he posted 34 goals and 51 assists for 85 points over 157 regular-season outings after signing with them as a free agent. He was traded to Toronto last July, and proceeded to tally 9-19—28 points in 65 games with the Leafs this season before it was suspended by COVID-19. 

Originally drafted 150th overall by the New Jersey Devils in 2012 in the midst of his Junior A career with Coquitlam (BCHL), Kerfoot played at Harvard from 2013 to 2017. In four NCAA seasons, he notched 36-87—123 points in 121 career outings, and also captained the Crimson to the 2017 ECAC Hockey regular-season and postseason championships, plus the 2017 NCAA Frozen Four in Chicago.

Harvard's Rathbone Signs with Canucks

Rising junior defenseman Jack Rathbone (Harvard) has left college hockey to sign an entry-level contract with the Vancouver Canucks, according to The Hockey News.

Rathbone, a 5-11, 190-pound blueliner from West Roxbury, Mass., finished fourth in team scoring this season for the Crimson with seven goals and 24 assists for 31 points in 28 games. In two seasons and 60 career NCAA contests played with Harvard, he collected 14 goals and 38 assists for 52 points to go with 22 penalty minutes. As a freshman, he helped Harvard to the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

The son of former Boston College forward Jason Rathbone (BC'92), Jack Rathbone prepped with both the Cape Cod Whalers and the Dexter School prior to skating for Harvard. A two-time captain at Dexter, he was drafted in the fourth round (95th overall) by the Canucks in the 2017 NHL Draft.

Carrier Retires after 36 Seasons with Spartans

Wishing the best to my friend, Dave Carrier, Associate Head Athletic Trainer at Michigan State University, who retired on Tuesday after 36 years as the head athletic trainer for the MSU men's ice hockey team.

Dave was a part of two NCAA championship teams (1986, 2007) with the Spartans, with whom he worked more than 1,500 games in all. Among his many accolades were induction into both the National Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame, and the Michigan Athletic Trainers Hall of Fame.

He has also served as president of the Michigan Athletic Trainers Society, and was the athletic trainer for the U.S. men's hockey team at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, among a multitude of career assignments. He was named the recipient of the Jim Fullerton Award, as announced by the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA), in 2016.

A U.S. Army veteran, Dave earned his bachelor's degree from Ferris State University and his master's degree from Central Michigan University. An avid golfer, he has also served as president of the Duck Lake Country Club in Albion, Mich., on several occasions.

Congrats on your retirement, Ace!

Lucia Named First Commissioner of New CCHA

Don Lucia will be the first commissioner of the revamped Central Collegiate Hockey Association, which is scheduled to begin play in 2021-22, according to multiple sources.

Lucia, 61, a Grand Rapids, Minn. native and a former defenseman at Notre Dame who was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1978, served as an assistant coach at Alaska Fairbanks and then Alaska Anchorage from 1981 to 1987. He then took the reins at UAF for six seasons and paced the Nanooks to three 23-win campaigns as an independent.

Lucia then moved on to Colorado College for six more seasons, where he was named both the Spencer Penrose Trophy winner and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Coach of the Year in 1993-94, and also guided the Tigers to the 1996 NCAA championship contest after again winning WCHA Coach of the Year accolades. He took the top job at the University of Minnesota in 1999 and stayed for 19 seasons. He also led the Golden Gophers to six consecutive Big Ten regular season championships after the program left the WCHA.

As an NCAA head coach from 1987 to 2018, Lucia compiled an overall record of 736-403-102 (.634). He led Minnesota to back-to-back national titles in 2002 and 2003, the first NCAA Division I hockey school to do so since Boston University in 1971 and 1972, and altogether guided his teams to a total of 18 NCAA tournament berths, 11 conference regular-season titles, and four conference playoff championships. He also recorded 23 seasons of at least 20 wins apiece.

The "new" CCHA will consist of Bemidji State, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State and Northern Michigan, all current members of the WCHA along with UAF, UAA and Alabama-Huntsville. The original CCHA dissolved in 2013 after 42 years of play.

Adams Chosen as New GM of Buffalo Sabres

Kevyn Adams (Miami) was named the new general manager of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. A product of Clarence, N.Y., Adams has worked in various roles within the Sabres organization since 2009 after retiring as an active NHL player. He won the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.

After two season of junior hockey with Niagara (NAHL), where he averaged a point per game in 95 outings, Adams, a center, skated four collegiate seasons with Miami (Ohio). He collected 69 goals and 102 assists for 171 points in 151 appearances with the then-Redskins, while also helping them to their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance as a freshman in 1993.

Drafted 25th overall by the Boston Bruins in 1993, Adams turned pro in 1996-97 with the expansion Grand Rapids Griffins, then of the International Hockey League, where he scored a career-high 22 goals. He split the next three seasons between the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and their American Hockey League affiliate in St. John's. He recorded a career-high 35 assists and 50 points with St. John's in 1998-99, and in 161 career AHL regular season games registered 38-67—150 points .

Adams played a total of 540 NHL regular-season games with Toronto, Columbus, Florida, Carolina, Phoenix and Chicago, from 1997 to 2008, and notched 59-77—136 points before retiring as a player following the 2007-08 campaign. He twice helped Carolina to the Stanley Cup final, in 2002 and 2006, and scored 16 goals in the regular season and postseason combined in 2005-06 as the Hurricanes claimed their first-ever Stanley Cup championship.

Adams, 45, joined the Sabres organization in 2009 as a development coach. After two seasons in that capacity, he served the next two years as an assistant coach with the NHL team before spending the following six seasons as Buffalo's director and youth hockey supervisor. He was then named Senior Vice President of Business Administration in 2019, and was working in that role when he was tabbed as general manager.

Adams also served the last seven years with the Buffalo Junior Sabres (OJHL) as that club's president. In addition, he coached their entry in the 2019-20 Quebec PeeWee Tournament.

Alumnus West New Interim Coach at UAH

Lance West is the new interim head hockey coach at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

West, who skated at forward for the Chargers from 1991 to 1995, was elevated to the head job following the resignation of head coach Mike Corbett, who had guided UAH since 2013-14, and assistant coach Gavin Morgan.

The UAH hockey program, which has more than 40 years of history from the club level to the NCAA, last month was terminated for the second time in a decade due to financial concerns, including those sparked by the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A major public fundraising campaign brought in more than a half-million dollars in under one week to help enable the Chargers to play at least the 2020-21 campaign, which will be their last in the current WCHA before seven of its teams leave the conference to form their own league.

UAH went 48-181-24 altogether in Corbett's seven seasons at the helm, including 2-26-6 overall in 2019-20. In their history, the Chargers have earned two NCAA Division II national titles (1996, 1998) and two NCAA Division I tournament berths (2007, 2010).

West, 49, served as an assistant coach at Alaska (Fairbanks) from 2007 to 2018 before overseeing the Nanooks as their interim head coach for 2017-18. The British Columbia native then returned as an assistant to Huntsville, the place where he recorded 45 goals and 68 assists for 113 points to go along with 100 penalty minutes in 108 career outings with the Chargers.

West ranks 15th-time in career points at UAH, and also tallied a pair of hat tricks in his time with the Chargers. Immediately after finishing his collegiate playing career, he spent 10 seasons as a volunteer/assistant coach with his alma mater before going to Fairbanks.

ADDENDUM: On July 22, UAH elevated West to permanent head coach of the Chargers.

Cashman Takes Helm at Dartmouth

Former Quinnipiac University defenseman Reid Cashman is the new head men's ice hockey coach at Dartmouth College. Cashman, 37, who played at Quinnipiac from 2003 to 2007, succeeds Bob Gaudet, who mentored Dartmouth, his alma mater, for the last 23 years.

A native of Red Wing, Minn., Cashman spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach with the NHL's Washington Capitals, following a pair of campaigns with their AHL affiliate in Hershey, Pa. He was an assistant at Quinnipiac from 2011 to 2016, where he helped the Bobcats to the NCAA title game in his final season behind the bench there.

A junior hockey product of Waterloo (USHL), Cashman skated in 151 career collegiate games on the Bobcats blueline, notching 23 goals and 125 assists for 148 points to go with 246 penalty minutes. He recorded 32 or more assists in each of his final three campaigns, and was a two-time All-America and All-ECAC Hockey selection. He also helped Quinnipiac to three 20-win campaigns, plus the 2007 ECAC hockey championship game, and was named the 2004-05 Atlantic Hockey player of the year in Quinnipiac's final season in that conference.

After departing Quinnipiac as player, the undrafted Cashman played five seasons of professional hockey. He skated in the ECHL with Columbia, Wheeling and Cincinnati, and in the AHL with Toronto, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Milwaukee, before finishing his career in 2010-11 with Linz EHC (Austria) and then subsequently returning to his alma mater as an assistant.

Sharks Select Brett Riley as First Head Coach

Long Isl‎and University has hired Brett Riley (Hobart) as its first-ever NCAA Division I men's hockey coach. He spent the 2019-20 season as an assistant at Colgate University.

Riley is the grandson of former Army hockey head coach Jack Riley, the son of former Army head coach Rob Riley, and the nephew of current Army coach Brian Riley. A native of Needham, Mass., he played at Hobart from 2010 to 2014 as a forward before entering the coaching ranks.

Riley, 29, served as head coach at Albany Academy from 2014 to 2017 while also working as a scout for Charlottestown (QMJHL) his first two seasons. He then started the NCAA Division I men's hockey program at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania, where he stayed for two years. He led the Colonels to a 16-8-2 overall mark in 2018-19, in their first season on ice, before moving on to Colgate.

LIU, which intends to begin play in the 2020-21 campaign, has yet to announce a roster, schedule or home arena for the Sharks.

Alabama-Huntsville Drops Men's NCAA Hockey Program

The death knell has sounded once again for the University of Alabama-Huntsville men’s hockey program—and this time it looks to be permanent.

Citing COVID-19/financial difficulties, UAH administration announced today that it was discontinuing the Chargers hockeyprogram, effective immediately, along with the men’s and women’s tennis teams. Scholarships will be honored if players choose to remain at UAH, while they will also be allowed to transfer to other schools without penalty.

Charger Hockey had faced the chopping block before, when the program was shut down temporarily in the fall of 2012 before being revived soon after.

The program, which was an independent at the time after the College Hockey America conference disbanded, later joined the Western Collegiate Hockey Association where it spent its final seven seasons, finishing 48-181-24 overall. The “Hockey Capital of the South” now joins the likes of Fairfield, Findlay, Illinois-Chicago, Iona, Kent State and Wayne State among the modern-era schools that dropped NCAA Division I hockey in the past few decades.

UAH went 2-26-6 for the 2019-20 season, and finished last in the WCHA. The Chargers’ last game ever was a 4-1 home loss to Bowling Green at VBC Propst Arena in Huntsville on Feb. 29. The program’s last victory came on Feb. 1, when the Chargers defeated visiting Michigan Tech, 3-1.

The Chargers began life as a club program in 1979, winning three national club championships, and then had a brief foray in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics before joining the NCAA in 1985 as a Division II independent. After two seasons at that level, UAH moved up to NCAA Division I for five seasons, also as an independent, before dropping back down to Division II, where they won NCAA national championships in 1996 and 1998 while also recording two runner-up finishes.

After NCAA Division II hockey was discontinued in 1998, the Chargers returned to Division I as an independent, where they went 21-5-1 in 1998-99 before joining the CHA for 11 years. In that span they won league regular-season championships in 2001 and 2003, and claimed two CHA postseason titles in 2007 and 2010 that also earned them automatic berths to the NCAA Division I tournament. The Chargers fell by a goal both times, to Notre Dame in double overtime in Grand Rapids, Mich., the first time, and then to Miami (Ohio) three years later in Fort Wayne, Ind. The CHA itself then dissolved in 2010, leaving the Chargers without a conference home.

UAH then spent the next three years as an NCAA Division I independent before joining the WCHA. The program’s final overall record at the NCAA varsity level was 456-570-82 (.449), with Doug Ross winning a school-record 376 NCAA games in all as head coach from 1985 to 2007. His son, Jared, played in 22 career NHL games with the Philadelphia Flyers, and scored 73 goals in four seasons (2001-2005) at UAH while playing for his father. The Chargers' most famous hockey alumnus is undoubtedly goaltender Cam Talbot, who spent three years in Huntsville (2007-2010) and has since gone on to backstop 314 NHL regular-season games with the New York Rangers, Edmonton, Philadelphia and Calgary, in which he has recorded 150 career wins along with 22 shutouts.  

Along with Alaska Anchorage and Alaska (Fairbanks), UAH was slated to be one of just three schools left in the WCHA after the 2020-21 campaign as Bemidji State, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State and Northern Michigan were due to withdraw from the conference to form the new Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

ADDENDUM: The Chargers got a reprieve of at least one season after a week-long GoFundMe fundraising campaign that ended on May 29 netted over $500,000 in online donations.