Time to rev the awards engine back to full speed. Today, we head East to ECAC hockey. In what was a very good year for the league, Yale, Cornell and Princeton all made the NCAA Tournament, and St. Lawrence just missed by the skin of their teeth. In the preseason we ranked both Princeton and Cornell, but totally missed the boat on Yale (who didn’t?) and St. Lawrence.
Getting the easiest award out of the way right away, our ECAC coach of the year is Yale’s Keith Allain. Allain led the Bulldogs to the ECAC regular season and tournament titles, with [...]

First of all, take a peek at the header switch at the top of the page, updated with the logos of the four participating teams at next weekend’s Frozen Four.
Now, to the task at hand. This year, 4 seed Miami (22-12-5), 3 seed Vermont (22-11-5) and 4 seed Bemidji State (20-15-1) will join top seeded BU at the Frozen Four in Washington DC. At first glance, this is reminiscent of the 2001 Final Four, in which 1 seed Michigan State joined 5 seed Florida and 8 seeds North Carolina and Wisconsin. As expected, Michigan State rolled through the two games [...]

First of all, congrats to the Vermont Catamounts. Vermont became the first team to advance to the 2009 Frozen Four with a double OT win over Air Force. Air Force got absolutely robbed of a goal late in the game, and Vermont came up with a great goal to win it in double OT and advance to the game.
And while we’re on the subject of that game, congrats to Air Force for their spectacular season. Andrew Volkening came out and shut out Michigan and held his own against a very talented Vermont team. I picked Air Force to make the [...]

The folks over at The Rookies previewed the NCAA Tournament, and they asked me to write the previews for North Dakota and Cornell, so if you want to check those out click here. Obviously I picked both the teams I wrote about to win, because who wants to write about a loser?
In other news, Air Force took down #1 seed Michigan earlier today, which doesn’t come as too much of a shock to those of you who have watched college hockey all season. Michigan had tons of talent, but Andrew Volkening brought the noise today and held off the Wolverines.

So we come to our final bracket, in which the #1 overall seeded BU Terriers reside. BU is the 3rd ranked offensive and defensive team in America. They are also the 2nd best team in the country on the power play, and 11th on the kill. So as you can see, they’re going to be tough to beat. Led by the most talented player in the country in Colin Wilson, BU has a great mix of players up front with Wilson, Nick Bonino and Chris Higgins.
Not only do they have those guys, but they have a nice blend of youthful [...]

It’s a couple years old, but damn I love that picture. It must be the helmets.
Anyways, the East regional in Bridgeport is definitely the most balanced of the four regionals. It features two conference champions, a team that was in the Frozen Four last year, and one that is back to the tournament after a looooooong absence.
The #1 seed Michigan Wolverines are incredible up front, led by a Sophomore trio that actually reminds me of North Dakota’s amazing trio two years ago of Jonathan Toews, TJ Oshie and Ryan Duncan. Aaron Palushaj and Louie Caporusso were each in the top [...]

Grand Rapids is the site of our Midwest Regional. It features three very good teams, three in fact who could win the regional, but it also features the best team in the country, and my pre-tournament pick for the national championship.
The Fighting Irish come in on a hot streak, having won both the CCHA regular season and playoff championships. The Irish can bring it both offensively and defensively. Although players like Erik Condra, Christian Hanson and Ryan Thang steal all the headlines, Calle Ridderwall is the player who leads this team with 17 goals. The Irish don’t have a player [...]

Starting our bracket breakdown is the West regional in Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. All regionals are going to be wide open affairs. This Friday-Saturday regional is no different. It features a coach going against his old coach, the WCHA tournament champs, and the only Hobey finalist in the region.
Denver, the 2nd place team in both the WCHA regular season and conference tournament, locks horns with Miami, a team that quite frankly shouldn’t be in the tournament. Their best non-conference win (and indeed their only wins) was against RPI. They have however swept both Notre Dame and Michigan, so the talent [...]