With the recent news of Tennessee State University and Augustana University (S.D.) planning to add hockey in the coming years, Sports Illustrated explored another 10 schools that should add Division I hockey. Among others, the list included South Florida, North Carolina State, UCLA, and Rutgers. Adding hockey is an extremely expensive undertaking for any school, regardless of how well-established a school’s athletics program is (and Title IX compliance notwithstanding), but Sports Illustrated got us thinking and we developed a list of our own ten schools that make much more sense. Continue reading Ten Schools that Should Add Hockey Programs
Category Archives: Hockey
Augustana Announces Intention to Add Division I Men’s Hockey in 2023
Augustana continues to commit to a future Division I affiliation with the latest announcement that they are going to add men’s hockey in 2023…with no apparent invitation to a conference for the rest of its current athletics offerings or hockey. Continue reading Augustana Announces Intention to Add Division I Men’s Hockey in 2023
Denver Hockey Releases 2021-2022 Schedule
The Denver Pioneers Hockey program announced today its full schedule for the 2021-2022 season. The schedule in its entirety can be seen in the tweet below and in the image above. Continue reading Denver Hockey Releases 2021-2022 Schedule
Which Program has the Best Chance at Winning DU’s 34th National Title?
It was 2018 when Denver skiing won their 24th national NCAA title. Denver hockey secured their 8th title during the 2016-2017 season. In 2015, head coach Bill Tierney led Denver to its first men’s lacrosse NCAA championship. By recent DU standards, a three-year championship drought is too long and it begs the question of which team will win the athletic department’s next national title and when?
Let’s take a look. Continue reading Which Program has the Best Chance at Winning DU’s 34th National Title?
Denver Athletics Concludes 2020-2021 Season
Denver Men’s Golf made a final day charge but their over-par performance on the final few holes caused them to fall to sixth out of 13 teams at the 2021 NCAA Cle Elum Regional. Just the top five teams advance to nationals out of each regional and Denver fell just short of fifth-place Florida. It would have been historic for men’s golf to appear in the NCAA championships, a drought that has extended for over 61 years. Only three individual athletes remain in the NCAA playoffs. DU Women’s golfer Anna Zanusso is left as an individual athlete competing May 21st-23rd at the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. Anna Reidmiller from Women’s Tennis and James Davis from Men’s Tennis are in the NCAA Tennis Championships May 23rd-28th in Orlando, Florida.
Continue reading Denver Athletics Concludes 2020-2021 Season
Can Denver Hockey Get Bigger this Summer?
It’s no secret that Denver looks for smart and talented hockey players that fit head coach David Carle’s style of high speed, high-skill transition hockey. For many years now (pre-dating Carle’s tenure), DU has often featured small, fast, and shifty offensive players who can move and control the puck on the rush, through the neutral zone, and down low below the face-off dots. These speedsters are usually backed by a very mobile puck-moving defensive corps who can jump into the offensive zone and contribute on the scoresheet. It’s a system that typically works well for the Pioneers, as that speed and skill can create both open spaces and skill mismatches that can often compensate for a lack of size.
Smaller players also tend to stay longer in college, and are often undrafted by the NHL, allowing a program such as DU to skate a more experienced lineup vs. teams who consistently lose talent early to pro contracts. Continue reading Can Denver Hockey Get Bigger this Summer?
Top 10 Things to do Without Denver in the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament
10. Play the UMass-Amherst Drinking Game. Invite friends over and purchase a case of beer and shot glasses. Whenever the announcers say, “UMass” the first person to yell ‘Amherst’ does not have to drink while the rest of the room takes a shot. Everybody drinks if the announcers say, ‘flagship’. Continue reading Top 10 Things to do Without Denver in the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament
Denver Misses NCAA Tournament for First Time Since 2007
The long, excruciating wait is over. The Denver Pioneers’ season has officially ended. After going 10-13-1, the NCAA Tournament selection committee determined that the Pios’ resume simply was not strong enough to earn a bid to the 16-team field. This is disappointing, though not altogether surprising news for the Pioneers as they could not find much consistency over the course of a tough, Covid-affected season. The uncontrollable factors worked against the Pioneers and they didn’t do enough with what they could control and as a result, Denver’s 12-year streak of NCAA Tournament bids has come to an end. Continue reading Denver Misses NCAA Tournament for First Time Since 2007
Making Denver Hockey’s Case for the NCAA Tournament
With the top-seed North Dakota Fighting Hawks winning the NCHC championship on Tuesday over the #2-seed St. Cloud State Huskies in a 5-3 affair – the first time a program has won the regular season and postseason titles in the same season in the NCHC – attention in the conference has now turned to the Men’s NCAA Tournament and who will and won’t make the field of 16, a conversation that hasn’t been necessary since the early 1990s when mathematical rating formulas began to assist (and eventually replaced) subjective selection criteria. Continue reading Making Denver Hockey’s Case for the NCAA Tournament
Shorthanded Pioneers Drop Overtime Heartbreaker to North Dakota in Frozen Faceoff Semifinal
A single Carter Savoie power-play goal was not enough to sink the top-seed North Dakota Fighting Hawks despite a valiant defensive effort from the fifth-seed Denver Pioneers and the performance of the season from goaltender Magnus Chrona. North Dakota used a clutch, tipped shot off of Jasper Weatherby’s foot to tie the game in the waning minutes of regulation before Gavin Hain ripped a wrister from the high slot past Chrona on the power play in overtime to seal the victory for the hosts in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The fifth-seed Denver Pioneers will now leave their slim NCAA Tournament hopes up to the hockey gods and, more importantly, the selection committee. Continue reading Shorthanded Pioneers Drop Overtime Heartbreaker to North Dakota in Frozen Faceoff Semifinal