Puck University

After thirty long years, the Northeastern Huskies have won the Beanpot.  The celebration continues on Puck University, where we break down the game, Tim's reaction, and the tournament's impact on the national picture.  Is Adam Gaudette a Hobey Baker frontrunner?  Are the Northeastern Huskies--yes, those Northeastern Huskies--national championship contenders?   For Jack.

The Beanpot Semifinals brought as much excitement as expected, as Northeastern handled a fiesty BC team in the early game and BU outlasted Harvard in the nightcap.  Now it's down to Northeastern and BU, which makes for an interesting podcast between Northeastern grad Tim Williams and BU grad Chris Lynch.  We discuss the week in college hockey before getting deep in the Beanpot related weeds.  We make fun of an article in BU's Daily Free Press, recount our best Beanpot stories, break down the game, and the Northeastern fan finally stops reserving judgment on the Huskies.   The Daily Free Press - Burn the Boats:  Why BU Must Win the Beanpot

It's February, and that means it's finally Beanpot time!  The big tournament starts on Monday, and Chris Lynch from Insidehockey.com is back on the show to discuss the event.  Can Northeastern actually be the favorite?  Has BU come around enough that they can sieze the opportunity?  We talk about it from an analytical perspective, and then from a fan perspective. We also take a harder look at the Atlantic, which is wide open and worth watching in what is an increasingly weird year elsewhere.

Chris Lynch of InsideHockey.com is back to discuss big weekends for Minnesota State and Cornell, as well as more Hockey East weirdness.

On Puck University, we love to talk about the unique landscape of college hockey and the hockey-exclusive rivalries that come along with it.  This week, those rivalries take center stage as Minnesota State takes on a couple of in-state rivals in St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth.  One of the biggest eastern rivalries comes back as well, with Maine and New Hampshire going at it in Orono.  InsideHockey.com college hockey guru Chris Lynch is back again to break down the coming weekend.

College hockey season rolls on, and that means another session of Puck University.  Chris Lynch is back with the show to talk about the top schools in the ECAC.  How did Clarkson turn it around so quickly?  We then delve into accepting Penn State is here to stay, talking about the mighty NCHC, and then going into the weirdness that is Hockey East in a year where Northeastern is--dare I say it?--the frontrunner in the conference.  Chris has some interesting insights as well on what is going on at Boston University, where the record does not match the talent

It's the second half of the season now in college hockey.  With midseason tournaments dotting the landscape, 2018 has gotten underway in grand fashion.  Chris Lynch joins Puck University this week to discuss the snow in Massachusetts, the Great Lakes Invitational, why Notre Dame should move all their sports to the Big Ten and more. 

WIth college hockey off for the week to celebrate the Christmas holiday, it's time to get hypothetical.  InsideHockey.com's Chris Lynch joins the show again for the Realignment Special, where we think of creative ways to realign college hockey and add a few teams while we're at it.  What would be the ideal setup for this sport?  For us it requires adding teams, which itself requires suspension of disbelief. Warning:  Content may be unsettling for Big Ten members.

It can't be said enough:  Hockey East is having an odd year.  Insidehockey.com's Chris Lynch joins the show again to talk about an upset-heavy week, the strange year in HEA, a preview of the Great Lakes Invitational, and the fate of the "program coach" in college hockey.

It's finals season, and that means college students and hockey players alike are looking forward to an important break.  The college hockey world is getting ready for their holiday break and the near midway point of the season.  Insidehockey.com's Chris Lynch joins the show again to talk about his busy schedule as a college hockey writer in New England.  That includes last weekend's BU-BC games, as well as Saturday's matchup between Boston College and top ten team Northeastern University.   After a quick preview of the Governor's Cup finals between Alaska and Alaska-Anchorage, Chris and I get into some very preliminary Hobey Baker discussion.  Takeaway of the week:  It's a weird year for Hockey East so far. Click here for your HBO free trial through Amazon Channels.

The WCHA got hit hard by hockey realignment and the emergence of the Big Ten a few years ago.  It hasn't yet recovered, but with Minnesota State currently ranked #5 in the latest USCHO poll, Chris Lynch joins the show to discuss the conference as well as the program in Mankato.   Amazon Prime 30 Day Trial

A month and change into the hockey season, and St. Cloud State is undefeated.  Puck University checks out their early success.  The Big Ten has created another college hockey power conference.  And of course, with Chris Lynch appearing again, Northeastern alum Tim Williams and the proud Terrier have a passive-aggressive back and forth. Amazon Item of the Week Amazon Music Unlimited 30 day trial

Chris Lynch of Insidehockey.com joins me once again to discuss the nation's hockey programs as season two of Puck University gets underway.  We start, as we should, with the high-flying NCHC, then move on to the Big Ten and their good polling.  We discuss the polls themselves, and finally get into a bit of Hockey East back-and-forth between a Northeastern grad and a BU alum.   Amazon Fresh:  $14.99 a month for unlimited grocery delivery HBO on Amazon FREE seven day trial

Expansion is one of college hockey fans' favorite things to talk about, so with the offseason still in full force Puck University is offering up the Expansion Special.  Our three-member panel ended up suggesting 35 schools that we would like to see add hockey, if that weren't so prohibitively expensive.   Kindle Unlimited Up to 90% off used textbooks with Amazon

As it turns out, college hockey has a loyal following on reddit, full of fans who love to talk and tweak each other. Those redditors helped inspire me to launch this podcast in the first place, and as a reward we're taking their questions and comments on the Puck University Reddit Special.  

A little offseason isn't going to stop Puck University.  We're back with one final rumination on the season gone by, with Chris Lynch calling in to discuss the Frozen Four.  The atmosphere in Chicago was excellent, and it has us wondering if maybe the Frozen Four is best in markets that don't see college hockey very often.   We break down each of the three games that ended the season, and how Denver survived a late onslaught by Minnesota-Duluth.  The NCHC proved itself as the best conference in the country.  Chris and I also touch base on our Hobey Baker discussions from the previous episode, and whether there were any issues with Will Butcher winning the award.   Finally, we look ahead to what will be a busy offseason for college hockey, and look back at the tremendous career of Red Berenson as he departs the University of Michigan.

On a rainy afternoon in the City of Broad Shoulders, Inside Hockey's Chris Lynch calls the podcast from the United Center to discuss the Frozen Four, the path all four teams took to get there, and the Hobey Baker Award. Hear how Frank Serratore won Chris over at the Providence regional as Air Force proved themselves worthy of the NCAA field, and how Air Force won a coaching matchup for the ages in their regional semifinal against Western Michigan.  We also go over the wild North Dakota-BU game, Denver's dominance of the Midwest, and Notre Dame's amazing nine day turnaround against UMass-Lowell. Chris and I get into a little Hobey Baker talk, and for the second week I'm stumping to nobody in particular for Zach Aston-Reese, the Northeastern senior who would represent the school's first ever Hobey Baker Award winner.  Chris makes a strong case for Will Butcher, and we both discuss how Thursday night's game for Denver could sway the voting.  I've referred to Aston-Reese as the "leader in the clubhouse," but by

Apparently this weekend is all booked up in college sports, so we have to wait another week for the Frozen Four.  In the meanwhile, Puck University remains in session as I sit down with Jim Williams to discuss a topic I've always felt strongly about:  Hockey's superior draft.   As an expert on other college sports, Jim helps try and bring my crazy theory that every sport should have a draft like hockey's back to Earth.  First, we briefly discuss the Hobey Hat Trick, and why my vote would go to Zach Aston-Reese.  Then, after I bring out my crazy theory, we start to break down what other sports might look like with hockey's draft. Okay, fine, we go a bit crazy imagining fixes to problems that other sports don't actually have, such as the chaos that would erupt if football were to have a hockey-style draft, or how John Calipari might use such a draft to continue to out-recruit his basketball competition.  Eventually, after I go off on a tangent or two, we arrive back at hockey and the many things that make the

The hardest thing for a sportswriter to do is treat a game objectively when it's their school playing in the game.  To that end, my guests Dave Dondoneau--a North Dakota guy living in Hawaii--and Chris Lynch--Boston University alumnus--are at odds over one game in the West regional.   Yes folks, it's the NCAA Regionals again in the college hokey world, and we take you through each region and fill out our brackets, so to speak, right there on the podcast.   As it turns out, the three of us agree on a lot of the games this weekend, but we managed to talk ourselves into a little bit of a fun disagreement over a couple of regional matchups.  All of that bracket-filling, of course, is just an undercard for the main event of two fans going at it. Spoiler alert:  The gloves really stay on.  After all, this is college hockey we're talking about; you have to really earn a fight.  We also talk about a game that ended in a fight last weekend at the Hockey East tournament.   Inside Hockey's Chris Lynch will be on sit

How is offense like a housecat?  We begin by having Jerry York give us a great analogy to recap a great weekend of hockey here in Boston.  The top four teams in Hockey East made it to the TD Garden for the HEA semifinals and final.  Hockey fans saw an awful lot this weekend. First, you had Notre Dame's final game as a member of Hockey East.  The Fighting Irish are off to the Big Ten after the NCAA Tournament.  Their coach Jeff Jackson explained during a press conference that, while Hockey East had been welcoming to the folks from South Bend, it was never truly home.  Perhaps it just felt that way after UMass-Lowell trounced Notre Dame in their semifinal matchup. Friday night's second game was the always-heated Commonwealth Avenue rivalry, which now has a loud new chapter to their archive.  A controversial finish nearly overshadowed an unforgettable third period.  Hear what one of the central players involved in the ending controversy had to say about that fated final faceoff. It all culminated in Saturday