When Inside College Hockey debuted 10 years ago, it had a simple formula. It was ?just trying to capture the spirit of the thing.?
In the decade of its existence, Inside College Hockey did just that. Thanks to the efforts of co-founders Nate Ewell and Mike Eidelbes, and the writing talents of people like Jess Myers and Joe Gladziszewski, INCH became a second place for college hockey fans to turn to for information on the Internet, and giving some competition to the granddaddy of college hockey coverage on the World Wide Web, U.S. College Hockey Online.
But late Sunday night, college hockey fans found out that they won?t be catching up on the latest news on INCH anymore. After a great 10-year run, Inside College Hockey announced it was hanging up its skates.
The reason for it is very simple. In a letter to its readers, INCH said, ?Essentially, real life has caught up with us. Family, jobs, and other responsibilities have encroached ? not on our affinity for college hockey ? but on our ability to consistently, generate Power Rankings, First Shifts, conference notebooks, INCH Podcasts, Napkins, Hobey Trackers and all the other elements that we?ve consistently produced. It?s not fair to our loyal readers, and all of those participants that make college hockey great, to give them anything less than our best efforts.?
College hockey certainly doesn?t have the same impact as college basketball does. But college hockey does have an extremely loyal, passionate fan base. National websites like INCH, USCHO and College Hockey News have influenced, and, let?s face it, changed the way the sport is covered. Look at what I have done over the past few years. I?m not only writing game stories, features and notebooks for the print edition, but I?m supplementing it with blogs and videos.
INCH gave fans a unique perspective on the game. It may not have had the vast contributors like USCHO does, but you could always feel the passion the writers had for the game. That will be missed.
INCH has launched inchwriters.com, a site where the writers will contribute their thoughts on the sport. But INCH admits it just won?t be the same.
?When we launched this site, we felt like there was room for more college hockey coverage, and we still believe that ? our game, most college hockey fans will agree, hardly gets the attention it deserves,? INCH said in its farewell. ?We were proud to provide innovative ways to present stories and ideas that changed the way college hockey is covered by many traditional and new media outlets.
?We also thought there was room for college hockey coverage with a more national perspective, and with a sense of humor.
?We hope we?ve provided all of that, and we had an absolute blast doing it.?
Thanks for 10 wonderful years, INCH. You will be missed.
Dutchwomen down Engineers
Saturday?s 3-2 victory over Capital Region-rival RPI didn?t count in the ECAC Hockey standings because it was a non-conference, but it was a big one for the Union women?s hockey team.
The Dutchwomen evened their record at 2-2. They beat the Engineers for the first time since RPI became a Division I program (the last win was Oct. 30, 2004, when RPI was Division III). And Union scored three power-play goals in a game for the first time in its 10 years at Division I.
Union wasted a 2-0 lead, but it didn?t fold. Christine Valente?s power-play goal with 4:14 left in the third period gave the Dutchwomen the lead.
Goalie Shenae Lundberg made 30 saves for the Dutchwomen, who open ECACH play this weekend at No. 4 Clarkson on Friday and at St. Lawrence on Saturday.
Alber delivers
Boston College senior defenseman and Clifton Park native Patch Alber had two assists in the Eagles? 5-4 overtime win at Massachusetts on Friday.
Trailing by two, Alber assisted on Pat Mullane?s goal with 3:16 left in the third period. Just over a minute later, helped set up Mullane?s second goal of the game to tie it.
The assists were Alber?s first two points of the season.
Local connections
Alber won?t be the only Capital Region player I?ll be keeping up on this season.
There are three freshmen women?s players with the ties to the Capital Region. Latham?s Jordan Juron is a forward with Boston University. She has a goal in six games. The goal came in BU?s first game of the season, a 4-2 win over Boston College on Oct. 5.
Albany?s Courtney Burke is a defenseman at Wisconsin. She has a goal and four assists in eight games. Burke scorer her goal in Sunday?s 3-3 tie against Bemidji State.
Clifton Park?s Huner Davis is a defenseman at Brown. The Bears open their season Friday at Cornell.
Saints are marching
The last time St. Lawrence played a game against Maine, the Saints were humiliated by the Black Bears, 10-1, in a contest played Nov. 28, 2009, at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine. Forward Kyle Flanagan was a freshman then, but he didn?t play in the game.
Three years later, Flanagan helped the Saints to an impressive two-game sweep of the Black Bears, this time in Orono, Maine.
The senior led the Saints to a combined score of, ironically, 10-1. Flanagan had four assists in Friday?s 5-0 win. In Saturday?s 5-1 triumph, Flanagan had two goals and an assist. He scored the Saints? second goal of the game with 5:45 left in the first period, and that proved to be the game-winner.
Flanagan has the Saints off to a 3-1 start. He has five goals and six assists to lead the team and the country in scoring.
All four of St. Lawrence?s games have been on the road. They split a two-game series the previous weekend at No. 9 Western Michigan. Had Western Michigan not scored two third-period goals to win, 3-2, in the second game Oct. 13, the Saints could be 4-0. They took a 4-3 overtime decision the night before.
St. Lawrence is off this weekend. It has its home opener Nov. 2 against Alabama-Huntsville.
Dutchmen steady in polls
Union remains eighth in the latest USCHO.com/NCAA hockey top-20 poll released Monday.
The Dutchmen, who had the weekend off, got a first-place vote for the second straight week. They were one of eight teams to get at least one first-place vote.
Other ECACH teams in the top-20 are Cornell (No. 7), which got a first-place vote, Harvard (No. 17) and Quinnipiac (No. 20).
RPI got seven points.
Boston College took over the top spot in the poll following its wins over Massachusetts and Northeastern and Minnesota?s weekend split at Michigan Tech.
In the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine top-15 poll, Union slipped one spot, from seventh to eighth. The Dutchmen received a first-place vote for the second straight week.
Just like in the USCHO poll, Boston College supplanted Minnesota as the new No. 1 team in the USA Today poll.
USCHO.com/NCAA poll
Team (First Place Votes) Record Points Last Poll
1 Boston College (27) 2- 1-0 962 3
2 Minnesota (12) 3- 1-0 908 1
3 Miami (4) 3- 0-1 831 4
4 North Dakota (1) 1- 1-0 828 2
5 Denver (3) 2- 0-0 800 7
6 Michigan 2- 1-0 769 5
7 Cornell (1) 0- 0-0 666 6
8 Union (1) 2- 1-0 635 8
9 Notre Dame 3- 1-0 587 9
10 Western Michigan 3- 1-0 519 12
11 Massachusetts-Lowell 1- 1-1 473 10
12 New Hampshire (1) 3- 0-0 466 15
13 Boston University 1- 1-0 357 11
14 Minnesota-Duluth 2- 2-0 331 13
15 Northeastern 2- 1-0 267 14
16 Northern Michigan 3- 1-0 210 17
17 Harvard 0- 0-0 185 17
18 Ferris State 1- 1-2 178 16
19 Colorado College 3- 1-0 147 19
20 Quinnipiac 3- 1-1 116 20
Others receiving votes: St. Lawrence 109, Minnesota State 39, Nebraska-Omaha 28, Michigan Tech 16, St. Cloud State 12, Wisconsin 10, Lake Superior 9, Providence 8, RPI 7, Michigan State 5, Merrimack 4, Air Force 3, Alaska 3, Ohio State 3, Yale 3, Alaska-Anchorage 2, Massachusetts 2, Holy Cross 1.
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine 2012-13 Men?s College Hockey Poll
(First-place votes in parentheses)
Rank School Last Week?s Ranking 2012-13 Record Weeks in Top 15
1 Boston College, 477 (18) 3 2-1-0 4
2 Minnesota, 461 (11) 1 3-1-0 4
3 Miami (Ohio), 405 (3) 4 3-0-1 4
4 North Dakota, 387 2 1-1-0 4
5 Denver, 358 (1) 8 2-0-0 4
6 Michigan, 347 6 2-1-0 4
7 Cornell, 269 5 0-0-0 4
8 Union, 260 (1) 7 2-1-0 4
9 Notre Dame, 226 10 3-1-0 4
10 Western Michigan, 185 12 3-1-0 4
11 New Hampshire, 176 NR 3-0-0 1
12 UMass Lowell, 165 9 1-1-1 4
13 Boston University, 89 11 1-1-0 4
14 Minnesota Duluth, 77 13 2-2-0 4
15 Northern Michigan, 56 15 3-1-0 2
Others receiving votes: Colorado College, 35; Harvard, 32; St. Lawrence, 27; Northeastern, 13; Nebraska-Omaha, 12; Quinnipiac, 12; Ferris State, 8; Minnesota State, 2; Air Force, 1.
My vote
I have a vote in the USCHO.com poll. Here is how I voted:
1) Boston College
2) Miami
3) Minnesota
4) North Dakota
5) Michigan
6) Union
7) Cornell
8) Denver
9) Western Michigan
10) Notre Dame
11) UMass-Lowell
12) New Hampshire
13) Northeastern
14) Ferris State
15) Minn. Duluth
16) Boston U.
17) St. Lawrence
18) Harvard
19) Northern Michigan
20) Quinnipiac
Daily Gazette Stick Salutes
Time for my weekly awards.
Player of the Week ? Kyle Flanagan, St. Lawrence
The senior forward, who was last week?s ECACH player of the week, should win the award again this week after his efforts against Maine.
Goalie of the Week ? Matt Weninger, St. Lawrence
The junior netminder made 30 saves in shutting out Maine on Friday, and then stopped 36 shots in Saturday?s victory.
Rookie of the Week ? Kyle Baun, Colgate
The freshman forward scored a short-handed goal and assisted on Tyson Spink?s game-winning goal as the Raiders beat Bowling Green, 4-2, Saturday.
Team of the Week ? St. Lawrence
The Saints earn two very impressive wins at Maine.
If you have any comments, post them below, or e-mail them to me at schott@dailygazette.com. You can follow me on Twitter (@slapschotts) Also, please become a fan of two Facebook pages ? The Daily Gazette On Ice, and my "Slap Schotts" college hockey segment page.
Good Monday! Good Hockey!
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