Vegas prospect Brandon Kruse registered nine goals and 34 points in 38 games during the 2019-20 season for Bowling Green (photo: Isaiah Vazquez/BGSU Athletics).
Defending MacNaughton Cup champion Minnesota State is the favorite to repeat as league champions, garnering six first-place votes in the WCHA preseason coaches’ poll.
In addition, Bowling Green senior forward Brandon Kruse and Minnesota State junior goaltender Dryden McKay shared WCHA Preseason Player of the Year honors.
Mavericks freshman Akito Hirose was the pick for Preseason Rookie of the Year.
2020-21 WCHA Preseason Coaches’ Poll
(First-place votes in parentheses, total points follow)
1. Minnesota State (6) 86
2. Bemidji State (1) 79
3. Bowling Green (3) 78
4. Michigan Tech 64
5. Northern Michigan 63
6. Lake Superior State 49
7. Alaska 40
8. Ferris State 35
9. Alaska Anchorage 28
10. Alabama Huntsville 18
Coaches’ Preseason All-WCHA Team
F: Griffin Loughran, Jr., Northern Michigan
F: Brandon Kruse, Sr., Bowling Green
F: Connor Ford, Sr., Bowling Green
F: Lucas Sowder, So., Minnesota State
D: Elias Rosén, So., Bemidji State
D: Chris Jandric, Jr., Alaska
G: Dryden McKay, Jr., Minnesota State
A rendering of what the new Arizona State rink may look like when completed in December 2022 (rendering: Arizona State University).
A brand-new $115-million, 5,000-seat arena at Arizona State has been approved by the university’s Board of Regents’ Finance, Capital and Resources Committee, according to ArenaDigest.com.
Final approval for the dual-sheet facility could come as soon as next week.
The new arena, which would be the home rink for the Sun Devils’ hockey program, would be located on South Packard Drive in Tempe, on a site next to Sun Devil Stadium and just east of Desert Financial Arena, near the former site of Packard Stadium.
Currently, ASU plays out of Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe, a building that seats less than 800 spectators for hockey.
If the new rink gets the green light by the Board of Regents on Nov. 18, construction could begin in January and would be completed in December 2022.
Naming rights to the arena have been sold for $16 million, but it was not disclosed who had purchased the naming rights.
The women’s WCHA announced a partial schedule on Friday, paving the way to return to play starting November 20. For now, teams will play eight games each – four weekend series and a bye week – over the course of five weeks from November 20 – December 19.
There simply is no “one size fits all” solution for preparing to play collegiate athletics during this pandemic. Some sports and conferences have been able to take cues from each other and follow similar blueprints, but for a number of reasons, that hasn’t been possible for the women’s WCHA.
Three WCHA teams’ institutions – Minnesota, Ohio State and Wisconsin – call the Big Ten home. Four – Bemidji State, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State and St. Cloud State – are members of the Division II Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
Although there’s no such thing as Big Ten women’s hockey, the Gophers, Buckeyes and Badgers are bound by that conference’s protocols. Using football as the measuring tool, the Big Ten has the most stringent Return to Play rules when it comes to Covid-19. (Read more about their process here.)
To be clear on this, NSIC schools are meeting national, state, local and NCAA protocols surrounding Covid-19. The Big Ten has implemented their own protocols and thresholds that exceed those put forth by any other conference and they’ve mandated that none of their member institutions can face opponents that don’t adhere to their set of standards.
Thus, in this first part of the schedule, the Big Ten schools play each other and the NSIC schools play each other. The exception is Minnesota Duluth.
“Duluth found themselves in a bit of a unique position. Because they are University of Minnesota system (school), they’re closer to the Big Ten protocols as a university than not,” said WCHA Commissioner Jennifer Flowers. The Bulldogs were able to meet the Big Ten’s thresholds and will be playing games against teams in each of the two groups.
The conference – and Flowers – very much want to avoid any “us vs. them” or separation rhetoric among the programs in the WCHA. None of this situation is anyone’s fault, it’s simply the parameters that the conference has to work within.
One major reason the WCHA was ready to announce their schedule and look ahead to a season is that they were finally able to understand what could be done to bridge the gap and ensure all seven teams were meeting these elevated standards. Flowers expects the WCHA Return to Competition plans to be finalized and made available this week.
“(What) happened very recently was understanding the path that we have for our Big Ten institutions to be able to compete against our non-Big Ten institutions. We have a lot to still work out there and unpack there,” said Flowers.
“Once we knew what it’s going to take in order to play these games, we could start to make some decisions based on who’s capable of that right now … I think if we tried to figure out the entire schedule and tried to get everything perfect from the get go, we wouldn’t be playing yet… This is what we know we can do right now. This isn’t a forever solution to our schedule… That is what needed to happen to get started on November 20.”
There is no way to prepare for every eventuality. There are a number of questions that Flowers has no answer for, not because they haven’t been talked about or considered, but because a number of things are simply unknowable. If the conference waited until they could confirm, validate and plan for everything, the season would never begin. But that wasn’t a reason not to try to plan and start the season, said Flowers. If they waited for certainty, the season wouldn’t happen. So instead the conference on what they could do – create a plan to get the teams on the ice.
“(We decided) we cannot control this whole season, so let’s control the little pieces that we can. Let’s figure out how to get started, because we don’t know what January and February are going to bring, regardless,” Flowers said. “We stayed the course. We kept the focus on what we could control. We played the cards we were dealt. This is our path. So this is the path we’re going to take and it might not be the same path as we come into January, but this is a path that gets us games before the break and that was the goal the whole time … we wanted to get back to competition as safely as we could. We’re very optimistic that everything we have in place is going to allow us to play into December, and then into January, etc. If something happens and it only goes away, at least we can say we did our very best to do it the best we could.”
As the WCHA was meeting and trying to finalize their first half plans, the Wisconsin football team was forced to cancel two football games due to the number of Covid-19 cases among their players and coaches. In mid-October, the Center for Disease Control released a report that explained how a hockey game in Florida resulted in 13 positive cases among players and rink staff. Around the same time, the Yale men’s hockey team reported 18 positive cases in about three days.
Those events really helped put into stark relief what they’re working with and what’s at stake, said Flowers. It helped them tighten up their protocols and double back to make sure they are not making any of the mistakes laid out by the CDC.
They have not yet discussed what the postseason might look like, Flowers said, though they have agreed any game between two members of the league will count towards conference standings. With four WCHA teams ranked in the preseason top 10 and all of them playing each other in this first part of the schedule, Flowers said everyone is conscious of trying to find variance and balance in the schedule.
The goal is still to get every team 22 or 24 games this season and Flowers is hopeful to have the second half of the schedule released by the end of November or early December.
“I’m not sure that we’ll be balanced. I’m not sure that everybody will play everybody twice, the way that we’re used to, but I do think everybody will play everybody.”
RIT’s Gene Polisseni center will be dark this season as the men’s and women’s hockey seasons – along with all other winter sports – have been canceled (photo: Omar Phillips).
Rochester Institute of Technology has canceled all winter sports, including men’s and women’s hockey, for the 2020-21 season due to what it says are “ongoing health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In addition to hockey – RIT’s only D-I sports – wrestling and men’s and women’s basketball, swimming and diving, and indoor track and field are canceled.
“This was a very difficult decision and we understand the disappointment this brings to our student-athletes and coaches,” said RIT president David Munson in a statement Monday afternoon. “But given the rise in COVID-19 in our community, as well as across the nation and globe, this is the right thing to do for athletes and community safety.”
While the men’s Atlantic Hockey and women’s College Hockey America conferences are still scheduled to play, RIT’s statement said it “felt the obstacles were too high to play during a global pandemic.”
“Campus leadership has been meeting regularly to discuss the prospect of safely conducting winter sports competitions under the backdrop of extensive NCAA, New York State Department of Health, and university guidelines aimed at keeping our community safe,” said RIT athletic director Lou Spiotti Jr.
“In spite of our efforts, the virus continues to spread throughout the region and we could not justify a season of competition for any of our teams.”
A statement on behalf of the RIT men’s team was posted on Twitter shortly after the announcement by senior forward Jake Hamacher:
Most of RIT’s Division III teams participate in the Liberty League. That conference became the eighth D-I conference to cancel its winter season on Monday.
As recently as two weeks ago, the RIT men had anticipated starting play this Friday, November 13.
Four other schools with D-I hockey are members of the Liberty League: Clarkson, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, and Union.
The NCAA recently approved a blanket waiver allowing all student-athletes across all divisions to retain their year of eligibility for the 2020-21 academic year.
Dryden McKay is back to lead Minnesota State from the crease (photo: Minnesota State Athletics).
Defending WCHA regular-season champion Minnesota State is the unanimous favorite to repeat as league champions, garnering all 10 first-place votes in the WCHA preseason media poll.
The media poll voting board was made up of one representative from each of the league’s 10 markets.
Minnesota State junior goaltender Dryden McKay was the media pick as WCHA Preseason Player of the Year, while Michigan Tech freshman Carson Bantle was the media choice for Preseason Rookie of the Year.
2020-21 WCHA Preseason Media Poll
1. Minnesota State
2. Bemidji State
3. Bowling Green
4. Northern Michigan
5. Michigan Tech
6. Lake Superior State
7. Alaska
8. Ferris State
9. Alaska Anchorage
10. Alabama Huntsville
Preseason Media All-WCHA Team
Forwards: Griffin Loughran, Jr., Northern Michigan; Connor Ford, Sr., Bowling Green; Owen Sillinger, Jr., Bemidji State Defensemen: Elias Rosén, So., Bemidji State; Jake Willets, So., Ferris State Goaltender: Dryden McKay, Jr., Minnesota State
Minnesota captain Sammy Walker celebrates a goal during the 2019-20 season (photo: Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Athletics).
Minnesota has been tabbed the favorite in the 2020-21 Big Ten hockey preseason coaches’ poll.
The coaches also selected Preseason All-Big Ten teams, highlighted by a pair of 2019-20 individual award winners.
ALL-BIG TEN FIRST TEAM
Sammy Walker, F, Minnesota
Alex Limoges, F, Penn State
Cole Caufield, F, Wisconsin
Cam York, D, Michigan
Dennis Cesana, D, Michigan State
Strauss Mann, G, Michigan
ALL-BIG TEN SECOND TEAM
Johnny Beecher, F, Michigan
Mitch Lewandowski, F, Michigan State
Brannon McManus, F, Minnesota
Jackson LaCombe, D, Minnesota
Spencer Stastney, D, Notre Dame
Tommy Nappier, G, Ohio State
HONORABLE MENTION
Ben Meyers, F, Minnesota
Quinn Preston, F, Ohio State
Gustaf Westlund, F, Ohio State
Dylan Holloway, F, Wisconsin
Owen Power, D, Michigan
Matt Hellickson, D, Notre Dame
Ty Emberson, D, Wisconsin
BIG TEN PRESEASON COACHES’ POLL
1. Minnesota
2. Michigan
3. (tie) Notre Dame
3. (tie) Ohio State
5. Wisconsin
6. Michigan State
7. Penn State
Wisconsin finished No. 2 in the 2019-20 USCHO.com rankings and begins 2020-21 at No. 1 (photo: Wisconsin Athletics).
With seven first-place votes, Wisconsin is the No. 1 team in the preseason USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll.
Also with seven first-place votes is No. 2 Cornell, which finished last season No. 1 in the USCHO.com rankings.
Third-ranked Northeastern garnered the other first-place vote.
In order, the rest of the top 10 are Minnesota, Ohio State, Princeton, Clarkson, Minnesota Duluth, Boston University and Mercyhurst.
Four other teams also received votes.
The USCHO.com Poll is compiled weekly during the season and consists of 15 voters, including coaches and women’s hockey writers from across the country.
All eight NCHC teams will play a 26-game conference slate for a total of 104 conference games in 2020-21.
The NCHC season will be divided into two portions. The first portion will take place at Baxter Arena in Omaha, Neb., where all eight teams will compete in the ‘pod’ from Dec. 1-20. The second portion of the campaign will consist of regular travel hosted on campus sites, beginning in January. Forty of the 104 games will take place in the pod, while the remaining 64 games will occur in campus arenas.
With the focus on the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches, staff, and officials, the conference has intentionally attempted to limit team travel this season. Because of this, NCHC teams have been divided into two divisions based on geography for 2020-21 scheduling purposes: East and West.
The East Division consists of Miami, Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State and Western Michigan. The West Division consists of Colorado College, Denver, North Dakota and Omaha.
Teams will play each of their divisional opponents six times (18 games total) and each cross-division opponent twice (eight games total), with all cross-division clashes taking place in the Pod.
“The ingenuity of our membership to think creatively about how to construct a schedule that focuses on the health and safety of people associated with our programs has been impressive,” NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton said in a statement. “The geography of the conference makes it nearly impossible to truly regionalize the schedule, but through this unique approach, we were able to build something that provides deserving student-athletes the competitive experiences they’ve earned, while prioritizing their health and safety.”
The 2020-21 pursuit of the Penrose Cup begins in the pod on Tuesday, Dec. 1 with a doubleheader between Colorado College and host Omaha, as well as St. Cloud State taking on No. 18 Western Michigan. The other four teams get underway Wednesday, Dec. 2 with defending Penrose Cup champion and top-ranked North Dakota battling Miami, while a top-5 tussle takes place between No. 3 Minnesota Duluth and No. 5 Denver.
During the three weeks in the pod, games will take place Tuesday through Sunday, with Monday an off day. Most weekdays (Tuesday-Friday) will have two games per day, while weekends (Saturday-Sunday) will have three games per day. Each team will play 10 games in the pod, with two games against one division foe, along with the eight cross-division games. Each team will have two sets of back-to-back games and only one game during their final examination period in the pod.
After a short break following the conclusion of the pod on Dec. 20, the second portion of the season gets underway on Thursday, Dec. 31 as North Dakota travels to Omaha to start a two-game set. All eight teams will play their rival/travel partner on each of the first two weekends of the New Year (Dec. 31-Jan. 3 and Jan. 8-9).
The second portion of the season runs through Saturday, March 6, with teams only traveling to division foes.
In addition to a third two-game series against their rival/travel partner, which takes place at the end of the scheduled regular season, each team will play home and away series against their other two division foes, as well. Teams will play 16 games during the January-March travel portion of the season (eight home and eight away), with two conference-wide off weekends (Jan. 29-30 and Feb. 19-20) to allow for flexibility in the schedule. The bye weekends occur following both sets of three-game series.
Nearly every conference game in 2020-21, including games in the pod, will be available with a subscription to NCHC.tv. More information on NCHC.tv subscription packages and subscription renewals will be announced on Tuesday.
Game times for the pod will be determined by the conference and announced soon. Game times for the second portion of the season will be determined and released by the host institution.
The NCHC’s return to play protocol and overall COVID-19 testing plans will also be released in the coming weeks.
At this time, no changes are planned for the 2021 NCHC tournament.
Any possible non-conference games would not occur until after the New Year, though no decisions have been made.
Bowling Green and USA Hockey announced Saturday morning that the exhibition game between the Falcons and NTDP scheduled for tonight, Nov. 7, has been postponed.
The two teams are working to reschedule.
The exhibition was set to be the first full competition for the Falcons since March 7, who will now begin their 2020-21 slate of games Nov. 13 at home against Adrian. The game will be the first of a 28-game regular-season schedule.
More details regarding the game against Adrian on Nov. 13 will be released in the coming week.
At this time, it has not yet been determined if fans will be able to attend. Updates will be posted as they become available.
Gracie Ostertag and Minnesota will kick off the 2020-21 season two weekends from now (photo: Brad Rempel/Minnesota Athletics).
The WCHA women’s conference will start the 2020-21 schedule the weekend of Nov. 20-22.
WCHA schools will play eight league games from November 20 to December 19 before breaking for the holidays. League play will resume as early as Jan. 1. The post-holiday schedule will be released in the coming weeks.
“We look forward to dropping the puck on our season later this month,” WCHA commissioner Jennifer Flowers said in a statement. “One of our primary goals throughout our return to competition discussions has been to provide our student-athletes the opportunity to compete safely in a meaningful season. We are pleased to have determined a path that allows that to happen. We continue to navigate the ever-changing landscape and remain committed to playing as complete a schedule as possible.”
WCHA officials and member institution administrators are finalizing return to competition protocols that will be implemented upon approval. The protocols, along with state, local and university safety guidelines, will be in force at all WCHA arenas throughout the 2020-21 season.
“I want to commend our administrators, coaches and league staff for the work they’ve put in to building our return to competition plan,” Flowers said. “We’ve engaged in several months of in-depth discussions as we worked through the challenges presented by the pandemic to craft a plan that addresses the health and safety of all.”
The full schedule will feature 24 conference games for each team, plus an additional four games per school against Arizona State at Big Ten venues.
The Sun Devils travel to Michigan Nov. 14-15.
“Officially seeing part of the schedule and being able to prepare for a game again is exciting for our team, and I know the guys are itching to get back on the ice against someone in a different colored jersey,” said Arizona State coach Greg Powers in a statement. “To be able to kick off the Big Ten season at Michigan and Yost Arena is a great opening test and our guys will be ready to go.”
The 2020-21 schedule will conclude March 18-20, 2021, with the Big Ten tournament.
Big Ten hockey teams will follow the same medical protocols that were developed by the Big Ten Return to Competition Task Force and announced on Sept. 16, 2020, including daily antigen testing, enhanced cardiac screening and an enhanced data-driven approach when making decisions about practice/competition.
Arizona State University has agreed to adhere to the same testing protocols as the Big Ten.
Game times and television designations, as well as the remainder of the 2020-21 schedule and further details regarding the 2021 Big Ten tournament, will be announced at a later date.
No details were announced regarding spectators at games.
Zach Dubinsky tallied two goals and 12 points over 22 games last season for RPI (photo: Liz Brady/RPI Athletics).
The BCHL’s Salmon Arm Silverbacks announced last week the signing of forward Zach Dubinsky, who played the 2019-20 season at Rensselaer.
Dubinsky is still enrolled at RPI and is taking classes remotely. He’ll return to campus when it is deemed safe to do so, much like several other college hockey players who still have junior eligibility.
In August, the NCAA changed a rule in which “student-athletes whose institutions will not be playing during the fall semester will be permitted to participate in non-collegiate, amateur competition on an outside team during the fall 2020 term. These student-athletes may compete on an outside team while remaining enrolled in their NCAA institution, which typically would not be allowed.”
“We are extremely pleased to add Zach to our roster, who already has experience at the NCAA level,” Silverbacks GM Brooks Christensen said in a statement. “We feel he will be an impact center for us. He has a strong hockey IQ and he’s a high character kid. We’re looking forward to having him in our lineup.”
Dubinsky recorded 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) in 22 games for the Engineers last season as a freshman.
American International announced Friday the hiring of Matthew Woodard as a new assistant coach.
Woodard, who graduated with degrees in criminal justice and psychology, competed in 133 games for the Yellow Jackets, notching six goals and 23 assists for 29 points from the blue line from 2005 to 2009.
Following a two-year professional playing career, Woodard began coaching, spending two seasons at Manhattanville coaching the women’s team. From there, he made the jump to coaching at the Division I level at RIT, where he was an assistant from 2013 to 2017.
More recently, Woodard spent 2017-19 at Yale and was an assistant coach at Dartmouth for the 2019-20 season.
Mitchell Miller is no longer an Arizona Coyotes prospect or a North Dakota hockey player (photo: UND Athletics).
Just one day after the Arizona Coyotes officially renounced Mitchell Miller’s NHL draft rights, North Dakota announced Friday that the team has cut ties with the freshman defenseman.
The Coyotes drafted Miller in the fourth round (111th overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft on Oct. 7.
The announcement from North Dakota came in the form of a letter from university president Andrew Armacost.
“Dear UND Campus Community,
I have been closely monitoring the situation concerning Men’s Hockey student-athlete Mitchell Miller, who was involved in a situation as a youth in 2016. We expect our students to live by our values in the classroom, in the community and when representing the University on the field of play.
After much consideration and discussions with Mitchell, the Miller family, our Athletics Direction, Bill Chaves, and coach Brad Berry, I have decided that the best course of action for Mitchell and the University is that he no longer be a member of the UND Men’s Hockey program. Mitchell may remain a student at UND and we will continue to support his future intellectual and interpersonal growth.
We wish Mitchell well in whatever path he chooses in his future endeavors.
Lastly, I want to thank coach Berry and Athletics Director Chaves for working with me as we navigated through this difficult decision together, and for working with Mitchell and his family.”
Travis Roy played 11 seconds for Boston University in his lone game 25 years ago this month (photo: Travis Roy Foundation).
There may be no man who has ever had a shorter college hockey career.
And there is likely no college hockey player who ever had more of an impact.
Travis Roy, whose entire college hockey career lasted just 11 seconds before he was tragically paralyzed, died on Thursday at the age of 45 from complications related to a surgical procedure.
To say it left the college hockey world – and better said a large part of this entire world – devastated in hardly hyperbole.
I never had the opportunity to get to know Travis Roy well. I enjoyed the couple of times we met for brief moments. But having personally been around the college hockey game since Travis’ tragic accident in October 1995, I know thousands of people both in hockey and out who have been impacted by Travis Roy and the work he has done.
So simple would it have been for Travis Roy to simply disappear from the limelight. The son of a former college hockey player, Lee Roy, Travis was somewhat diminutive in stature when he arrived at Boston University in the fall of 1995. His injury came as he tried to lay a body check on a North Dakota player, a display of the spunk and grit that made him so desirable to college coaches.
Well documented to this day, Roy lost his balance and went head first into the boards, creating a spinal cord injury that left him a quadriplegic using only his fingers and mouth to function for the remainder of his life.
Instead of sulking, Roy proved his character from just seconds after the injury.
I remember hearing his father, Lee, speak at a charity event in Connecticut in the summer of 1997. Travis, himself, had hoped to speak that day but wasn’t feeling well. Lee, though, recounted the moments immediately following the injury, still being placed on a stretcher and backboard at Walter Brown Arena.
“I made it,” were the words the Travis said to his father.
Many who knew Travis well prior to him matriculating at Boston University recount how his goal in life was to play college hockey. His message to his father proved that success.
Little did anyone know or understand that those words had so much more meaning.
The reality is, if Travis Roy uttered those words in the days or minutes before his passing – “I made it” – no words would hold more truth.
Travis Roy and Jay Pandolfo share a laugh after the 2018 Battle of Comm Ave charity game (photo: BU Athletics).
Travis Roy accomplished so much in the 25 years since his accident.
No day was ever easy. His life required 24-hour care. He needed assistance with anything that you and I may take for granted.
But in those 25 years, Travis Roy became a collegiate graduate, a motivational speaker, a philanthropist and, more than anything, an inspiration to the thousands upon thousands of people whose life he touched. His foundation has raised millions for spinal cord research and will continue to do so in his passing hoping to achieve his goal of those suffering an injury similar to his would never need a wheelchair.
Travis’ life ended just nine days after the 25th anniversary of the accident that changed his life. Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen spoke to him recently for a feature than ran in the newspaper last week.
In that piece, Travis had a quote that personally moved me: “I’m 45 years old. I know that’s young. But I do feel old. There are things that wear you down when you live in a wheelchair for 25 years. But I have been so fortunate, and all the people who have helped me are still with me. There are people that are so worse off than me, and I want to help them.”
Travis, tonight we all mourn the fact that you’re no longer with us. We were the ones who felt fortunate to be around you. And I believe we all hope that tonight you feel like a young man ready to lace on the skates again for the great hockey team upstairs.
Travis Roy passed away Thursday at 45 (photo: Travis Roy Foundation via Twitter).
Travis Roy, who was paralyzed by an injury on his first shift playing for Boston University in 1995 and became a celebrated motivational speaker, died Thursday, his foundation announced. He was 45.
Roy cracked his fourth vertebra and damaged his spinal cord 11 seconds into a game Oct. 20, 1995. The injury left him confined to a wheelchair but he spent the next 25 years raising money for paralysis research.
“I want the next generation, my niece and nephews, not to have to see their friends go through this,” Roy told USCHO in 2015. “I want to be a part of putting an end to paralysis.”
Travis Roy drops the ceremonial first puck before the 2018 Battle of Comm Ave charity game (photo: BU Athletics).
Boston University said it was mourning Roy’s passing.
“His story is the epitome of inspiration and courage, and he was a role model and a hero to so many people,” a school statement said. “Travis’ work and dedication towards helping fellow spinal cord-injury survivors is nothing short of amazing. His legacy will last forever, not just within the Boston University community, but with the countless lives he has impacted across the country. Our sincere thoughts are with his wonderful family as well as his vast support group of friends and colleagues.”
Bemidji State kicks off the WCHA regular season Jan. 1-2 against Alaska Anchorage (photo: BSU Photo Services).
The WCHA has finalized an 18-game league schedule for the abbreviated 2020-21 men’s hockey season.
Each WCHA team will play a single series against the other nine league schools with all but three of the games slated to be played in January and February 2021.
Additionally, league teams will play a total of 38 non-league games beginning Nov. 20. Due to limited opportunities for contests against non-league opponents this season, 30 of those games will pit WCHA teams against each other in games that will not count in the league standings.
While every WCHA team will face at least one other league opponent in non-league competition, Alabama Huntsville and Bowling Green are the only WCHA teams scheduled to face teams from outside the league. The Chargers will visit Robert Morris on Nov. 20-21, the opening weekend of the regular season, while Bowling Green will travel to Robert Morris on Nov. 24 before a home-and-home series with Mercyhurst, Nov. 27 (away) and Nov. 29 (home).
BGSU will visit Quinnipiac Dec. 18-19 and host Robert Morris on Dec. 29 to conclude the non-league season for the WCHA. The Falcons are also slated to play a road exhibition game against USA Hockey’s NTDP on Nov. 7.
In addition to state and local health and safety guidelines in force at each WCHA campus, the 2020-21 schedule will play out under the WCHA’s return to competition protocols. Those protocols will include COVID-19 testing for players, coaches, staff and game officials as well as social distancing requirements at all WCHA rinks.
The chase for the MacNaughton Cup will begin on Dec. 2 when Northern Michigan visits Lake Superior State for a single league game. Minnesota State will visit Alaska Anchorage Dec. 18-19 for the only other WCHA league games currently scheduled to be played prior to the end of the calendar year.
League play will begin the weekend of Jan. 1-2 with five league series – Alabama Huntsville at Michigan Tech, Alaska Anchorage at Bemidji State, Alaska at Lake Superior State, Bowling Green at Ferris State, and Minnesota State at Northern Michigan.
The regular season will conclude Feb. 24-27 with each school playing a home-and-home series with its designated travel partner- Alabama Huntsville vs. Bowling Green, Alaska vs. Alaska Anchorage, Bemidji State vs. Minnesota State Ferris State vs. Lake Superior State and Michigan Tech vs. Northern Michigan.
The weekend of March 5-6 has been designated as a bye weekend for all 10 schools and will be used as a makeup weekend should any league series or single games be postponed.
The league series breakdown for each team will be four home, four road and one home-and-home for a total of nine home and nine road contests. All game dates are subject to change.
The format for the 2021 WCHA postseason tournament is will be determined in the coming weeks. The postseason will play out over the weekends of March 12-13 and March 19-20, with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA tournament.
Mitchell Miller played the 2019-20 season with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm (photo: Tri-City Storm/USHL).
North Dakota freshman defenseman Mitchell Miller was involved in bullying and assaulting a black and developmentally-challenged schoolmate four years ago when he was 14 years old, according to a report in AZCentral.com.
Miller was also selected by the Arizona Coyotes in the fourth round (111th overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft earlier this month.
The child Miller bullied and assaulted in Sylvania, Ohio, Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, has come forward with his family to bring his story to light.
“He pretended to be my friend and made me do things I didn’t want to do,” Meyer-Crothers said to AZCentral.com. “In junior high, I got beat up by him. Everyone thinks he’s so cool that he gets to go to the NHL, but I don’t see how someone can be cool when you pick on someone and bully someone your entire life.
“It hurt my heart to be honest. It’s stupid that they (Coyotes) didn’t go back and look what happened in the past, but I can’t do anything about it.”
The Coyotes released a statement pertaining to drafting Miller:
“Our fundamental mission is to ensure a safe environment — whether in schools, in our community, in hockey rinks, or in the workplace — to be free of bullying and racism. When we first learned of Mitchell’s story, it would have been easy for us to dismiss him — many teams did. Instead, we felt it was our responsibility to be a part of the solution in a real way — not just saying and doing the right things ourselves but ensuring that others are too,” the statement said.
“Given our priorities on diversity and inclusion, we believe that we are in the best position to guide Mitchell into becoming a leader for this cause and preventing bullying and racism now and in the future. As an organization, we have made our expectations very clear to him. We are willing to work with Mitchell and put in the time, effort, and energy and provide him with the necessary resources and platform to confront bullying and racism. This isn’t a story about excuses or justifications. It’s a story about reflection, growth, and community impact. A true leader finds ways for every person to contribute to the solution. We all need to be a part of the solution.”
Miller also noted that he sent a letter to all NHL teams addressing the issues, and also released a statement:
“I am extremely sorry about the bullying incident that occurred in 2016 while I was in eighth grade. I was young, immature and feel terrible about my actions. At the time, I did not understand the gravity of my actions and how they can affect other people. I have issued an apology to the family for my behavior, completed cultural diversity and sensitivity training and volunteered within my community with organizations such as Little Miracles. Over the past four years, I have had a lot of time to reflect and grow and I am very grateful to the Arizona Coyotes for taking a chance on me. I promise not to let them down. Moving forward, I want to be a leader for this cause and help end bullying and racism.”
According to AZCentral.com, a spokesman for North Dakota said the school was aware of Miller’s past and was aware he had communicated the incident to all NHL teams prior to the draft. The spokesman said the incident happened four years ago.
*** UPDATE: On Thursday, the Coyotes announced they had renounced their rights to Miller. ***
“We have decided to renounce the rights to Mitchell Miller, effective immediately,” said Coyotes president & CEO Xavier Gutierrez in a statement. “Prior to selecting Mitchell in the NHL Draft, we were aware that a bullying incident took place in 2016. We do not condone this type of behavior but embraced this as a teachable moment to work with Mitchell to make him accountable for his actions and provide him with an opportunity to be a leader on anti-bullying and anti-racism efforts. We have learned more about the entire matter, and more importantly, the impact it has had on Isaiah and the Meyer-Crothers family. What we learned does not align with the core values and vision for our organization and leads to our decision to renounce our draft rights.
“On behalf of the Arizona Coyotes ownership and our entire organization, I would like to apologize to Isaiah and the Meyer-Crothers family. We are building a model franchise on and off the ice and will do the right thing for Isaiah and the Meyer-Crothers family, our fans and our partners. Mr. Miller is now a free agent and can pursue his dream of becoming an NHL player elsewhere.”
Former All-American goaltender Bobby Goepfert has been named the volunteer assistant coach of the Boston University men’s hockey team.
Goepfert will serve as the Terriers’ goaltending coach, replacing Brian Eklund, who moves on after serving in the role for the past four seasons.
Just last month, Goepfert had been named a volunteer goalie coach with Long Island.
Most recently an assistant coach for the USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, Goepfert played professionally for nine seasons, including six years in Germany and a pair of stints in the AHL.
“We are very excited to add Bobby to our program,” said BU coach Albie O’Connell in a statement. “He has been a proven winner throughout his coaching and playing careers and brings a ton of knowledge to our staff. Our young goalies will be in great hands and we feel that Bobby can really help these guys continue to develop.”
Goepfert previously served as the head coach of the Syracuse Stars Premier team in the USPHL as well as an associate head coach for the organization’s U16 squad.
A sixth-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2002 NHL Draft, Goepfert was a two-time All-American at St. Cloud State after beginning his collegiate career at Providence. As a senior in 2006-07, he was named to the Hobey Hat Trick.
Goepfert, a native of Kings Park, N.Y., played for Team USA at the 2003 World Juniors and posted the top save percentage in the tournament (.937). Prior to his collegiate career, Goepfert was named the USHL Player and Goaltender of the Year in 2001-02 for Cedar Rapids.
After retiring from his playing career in 2016, Goepfert began his coaching career on Long Island working as a skills director at The Rinx in Hauppauge, N.Y.
Bobby Brink should be an offensive catalyst this season for Denver (photo: Nick Monaghan/DU Athletics).
One conference plans to begin its season in a bubble.
Two others will be adding teams as part of a scheduling alliance.
And another is at the mercy of half of its members and their all-sports conference on when play can begin.
Such is the stranger-than-fiction scenarios that Division I men’s college hockey teams and their six respective conferences face as they hope to begin competition, playing games for the first time since March 7 and doing so amid plenty of uncertainty created by COVID-19.
College hockey is unique compared to other NCAA sports. Though considered a “winter sport” for classification, college hockey is the only sports that spans across three different seasons, typically beginning in October and wrapping up at the Frozen Four in early April.
This season, though, is already facing setbacks and current reports indicate that the earliest any games will be played will be November 13. Intra-conference play will be extremely limited, and conferences are doing absolutely everything they can to limit travel.
Some conferences face far different conditions than others. Hockey East, for example, is so regional in its membership that most teams can play one another by hopping on a bus three-to-four hours prior to faceoff time.
Other conferences face a very different situation. The NCHC is so geographically spread out that the conference plans to bring all eight of its members to Omaha for the month of December a simulate something similar to what the NHL and NBA successfully executed over the summer months, playing in a bubble (the NCHC is using the term “pod”).
Life in a bubble … err, “pod”
The NCHC’s approach is to split the eight teams into two groups – one featuring Denver, Colorado College, North Dakota and Omaha and the other with Miami, Western Michigan, Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State. While teams will play only opponents within their group on campuses from January 1 through the completion of the season in early March, the opening month playing in a pod in Omaha will allow inter-group play of the two groups over a three-week span.
“Ultimately, it came down to what the safest and most responsible way in which we could start competition,” said NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton about the pod his league will employ. The NCHC possesses one of the broadest geographical membership of any league with teams as far east as Oxford, Ohio, and as far west as Denver and Colorado Springs.
“Our geography is obviously very spread out,” said Fenton. “So, there was challenges trying to create a schedule that was somewhat regionalized and limited travel, particularly air travel. The membership was focused on a solution that would allow for competition that was kind of across the entire conference but mitigated that longer travel.
“Our ability to play a few games – 10 games per team – in a centralized location provides the opportunity to get the season off on the right foot and the right start.”
To date, the NCHC is the only league that has announced any sort of a “pod” approach and likely will be the only one that will. The WCHA would be the next best candidate for such the largest geographic footprint (Bowling Green, Ohio to Fairbanks, Alaska). At this point, though, the WCHA has not announced its plans to return to play.
Nick Blankenburg emerged as a force on the Michigan blue line in 2019-20 (photo: Michigan Photography).
Big Ten, Atlantic Hockey picking up independents
Two conferences that are expanding – not their permanent membership, but in terms of teams on their schedules – are the Big Ten and Atlantic Hockey. For scheduling purposes only, each conference is adding one of the Division I independent teams – the Big Ten allowing Arizona State to play all of its members this season and the NCAA’s newest team, Long Island University, playing against each and every member of Atlantic Hockey.
Atlantic Hockey is taking a similar approach to the NCHC in terms of geographically dividing the league. The eastern group will consist of AIC, Army, Bentley, Holy Cross and Sacred Heart while the western group is made up of Canisius, Mercyhurst, Niagara, RIT and Robert Morris. Teams in each group (Atlantic Hockey is also using the term “pod” but only to simulate grouping, not to suggest a single-site bubble) will play one another five times. Additionally, every team will play Air Force, the one geographic outlier, twice and every school will also play two scheduled non-conference games against LIU.
Each Atlantic Hockey team can also independently schedule up to four additional non-conference games.
“We put this schedule together to maximize the student-athlete experience,” said Atlantic Hockey commissioner Bob DeGregorio. “We found a way to schedule up to 28 games while maintaining a focus on the health and safety of all parties by reducing travel times and overnight trips as much as we could.”
The Big Ten’s approach will be somewhat similar, scheduling four league games between each of its seven members and then adding four homes games for all seven teams against Arizona State. The Sun Devils, a successful independent program for the last five seasons, probably faced the most ominous threat due to COVID and related travel restrictions in NCAA hockey. And while playing a 28-game schedule made up entirely of road games against Big Ten opponents isn’t enviable, it does save the season for the Sun Devils.
“Obviously, there’s some caveats to [playing 28 road games],” said Arizona State head coach Greg Powers. “It is what it is. We’re the ones who aren’t in a league yet. That’s on us. We couldn’t see a pandemic coming so it’s nobody’s fault.
“Luckily there was a league out there generous to make us a part for a full season. We had some other opportunities and this was the best opportunity for our student athletes. We’re going to make the most of it and have fun with it.”
As mentioned earlier, Hockey East, and for that matter the ECAC, have somewhat enviable geographic footprints to approach scheduling during this pandemic. Though the two conferences hardly face the same hurdles.
Hockey East, the first conference to announce its intention to play this season way back in July, will play only conference games with a schedule still yet to be announced. All travel to and from games will be via bus with the only overnight trips involving teams heading to or from either Maine or Vermont.
All other schools can and will bus down and back on the day of games, the longest trip among them from New Hampshire (Durham) to Connecticut (Storrs), a trip of approximately 140 miles each way.
“We’re planning on playing conference only because that’s the best model of our conference where we can take advantage of our geography,” said Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf. “We’re trying to do this as safely as we can but also build something that is sustainable.”
Carl Berglund led UMass Lowell with 12 goals in 2019-20 and finished second in scoring for the River Hawks (photo: UML Athletics).
When Hockey East announced these plans in late July, New England had one of the lowest COVID-19 infection rates in the nation at the time. Since then, though, some New England states have spiked in cases with both New Hampshire and Massachusetts announcing that hockey rinks would close for two weeks in each state. Though those closures didn’t impact colleges, it’s proof that issues could arise at a moment’s notice.
In the ECAC, the ability to assemble their schedule has proven a bit more daunting since the Ivy League, of which six of the 12 ECAC teams are members at the all-sports conference level, has said that no athletic games can be played by their member institutions until after January 1, 2021.
And while the six Ivy League teams have always started later than the rest of the conference – typically four weeks behind – holding play until the New Year makes it challenging for commissioner Steve Hagwell and his staff.
“With half of our members that can’t play in the fall semester, we’re looking at a January start date for league play,” said Hagwell, who noted that other schools in his league may also follow the Ivy League teams and hold off play until January. “We have members that want to play and are interested in playing and, if they can find opponents, will play likely some time in November and December.”
A big question for fans: will there be any at games?
If you watched any of the NHL playoffs, you saw just how eerie it can be to play hockey without any spectators allowed in the buildings. It’s still unclear whether or not fans will be allowed when college hockey returns, and it’s likely a matter that will be handled on a state-by-state, possibly even a campus-by-campus basis.
“I couldn’t tell you [whether schools will allow fans]. States and schools have different guidelines for that,” said Metcalf, who, in Hockey East, has two schools – Vermont and Maine – operating in states currently with some of the lowest number of COVID cases in the country. “It certainly seems like most institutions will start with no fans, whether it be Hockey East or elsewhere.
“That’s a local decision for the schools or the states to decide. There would be no need [for the leagues] to get involved in that, especially if it’s a revenue opportunity for one of our schools.”
Where attendance – or lack thereof – at games could have the biggest impact might be the postseason. If fans won’t be allowed or there are major capacity restrictions in a given state, it is possible that leagues that play their postseason championship in NHL-sized building – Hockey East at the TD Garden in Boston and the NCHC at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn. – might consider moving the tournament to a smaller venue.
“As of right now, we’re on as far as dates and format for the existing championship,” said the NCHC’s Fenton. “Certainly, we’re having conversations with the Xcel Energy Center and among our members about alterations we may need to make to the championship structure. But no decisions have been made on that.
“As we get into the first part of the new year, I think that will be the time that potential alterations could come to the championship. And it’s going to be guided based upon health and safety of everyone involved. What’s going on in each of our markets and what’s going on, in particular, in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul market where the Xcel Energy Center is.”
Dryden McKay is back for his junior season at Minnesota State (photo: Minnesota State Athletics).
Preparing for the inevitable
If you’ve paid attention to sports that have returned to date, absent of playing the entire season in a bubble, that it is impossible to restart without vaccination of all involved and believe there won’t be issues.
Each league will develop its own protocol. Testing at many schools, particularly ones with football and other sports currently in operation, is already in place. But that doesn’t mean that an outbreak won’t happen.
Thus, expect most leagues to build contingency plans should players on individual teams become infected with COVID-19. It is likely that most teams will have “bye weekends” placed throughout their schedules which would allow for games to be made up should there be a need to postpones games – or entire weekend series – because of infections of the virus.
“The approach we’re taking to the schedule is that we’ll build a base schedule,” said Hockey East’s Metcalf. “But we are building in what we call ‘flex weekends’ where if we have an interruption to the season that any of our teams could be available to play a makeup game or series.”
Certainly, this global pandemic has altered so much of each and every individual’s life. How we do business, how we educate ourselves, how we operate on a day-to-day basis is so different that it was the last time a goal was scored in a college hockey game.
But the efforts of many should give a glimmer of hope to college hockey fans that the teams that they passionately follow could soon return.
“I’ve been really proud of college hockey because of the solidarity and togetherness we’ve all shown in trying to find a variety of ways to bring competitive experiences to men and women across the country, experiences they deserve,” said Fenton. “It’s been crazy in a sense that we’re talking about a dealing with things that in our wildest imaginations we didn’t think we’d be discussing.
“It’s great to see people with plans to get back out there. Hopefully we can start successfully and finish successfully.”
