Author: Al Daniel

There is no other way to couch this matter. The college hockey community elicited its best attributes under the worst circumstances on many occasions in 2016. From officials to builders to unsung office personnel, men who covered multiple bases and made the most out of their passion for the sport left us too soon. When…

Mavis Staples ought to take over the PA system upon the final pre-holiday buzzer at every NCAA hockey venue. Staples’ “Christmas Vacation” title track serves more purposes than salvaging a little entertainment value for a slightly overrated movie. Its use at campus ice houses would help to remind us that the college hockey schedule stands…

Perhaps the Big Ten hockey conference needed the same four-year refinement period as the sport’s rawest professional prospects. After a brief honeymoon, followed by two seasons wrought with derision and distrust, the better part of its present and future membership is coalescing with competitive maturity. All but one Big Ten team has a winning record…

For the second time in the past decade, the Minnesota women’s hockey team will play on amidst the Four Nations Cup. Why that is not the case every year boggles the mind. The nation’s runaway standard-bearer may not hurt itself through its common, strategic early-November bye week. But the Gophers are the type of team…

Nonpartisan observers should root for as close an arm-wrestling match as possible at the Gutterson Fieldhouse this Friday. Maybe an indicative, textbook tie for good measure. That way, someone or other will silently watch from afar, wondering whether his input could have tipped the scale. That could be sophomore striker Cooper Marody of the visiting…